I have followed the evolution of mobile phones for years and find the developments fascinating, but then I’m weird. I think this is totally relevant to libraries. See the end of this posting for 5 reasons why, but read this article first:
From cNet:
More Americans cutting the landline cord
“More Americans are ditching traditional landlines in favor of cell phone services, according to the results of a federal survey released Wednesday.
More than one in six American households, or 17.5 percent, depended solely on cell phones for their telephone communications during the first half of 2008, up from 13.6 percent a full year earlier, according to survey results released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And 13.3 percent of American households reportedly received all or almost all of their calls on cell phones despite having a landline telephone in their home.
The group relying most on cell-only service was unrelated adults living as roommates (63 percent), followed by adults aged 25-29 years (35.7 percent), and renters (33.6 percent).
Men (18 percent) were more likely than women (14.4 percent) to be living in households with only cell service, while adults living in poverty (26 percent) and adults living near poverty (22.6 percent) were more likely than adults with higher incomes (14.2 percent) to be living in households with only cell phones.”
“The findings mirror those released by Nielsen Mobile in September that found more than 20 million households in America, or about 17 percent, had dumped their landline service for cell phones. And the trend is expected to continue as more Americans feel the squeeze from the weakening economy. Many see traditional phone service, which averages about $40 a month, as a household expense that can be cut, especially since more than 85 percent of the U.S. population own a cell phone.”
So why does this matter to libraries? Here’s 5 quick thoughts:
1. Mobile phones were one of the key issues in the last general election in the US. It materially affected polls enough that they ended up being totally wrong a few times mostly due to the impact of phones in differential ways on key population demographics. Are your library surveys and pools taking this fact into account?
2. Cel phones are not just about being phones. Most futurists are acknowledging that the iPhone is about being a phone any more than the Kindle is about being an eBook reader. These devices are holding content that’s part of our business plans – eBooks, news, audiobooks, video, gaming, virtual conversations, social websites, songs, software tools, and more. Just studying the top app downloads for the iPhones and there’s a library story in every one. Are you developing a strategy for studying the changes in user behaviours as the mobile revolution evolves?
3. With economic disruption I predict that this trend will accelerate. People are cutting household expenses. People are unlikely to give up their phones but, in a choice between landline and cel, landline loses. If they can get their web access through cable, satellite or wireless then landlines will be gone faster. Are your patron records for telephone contacts up to date? Instead of “Do you want fries with that?” can we have ciric staff start checking contact record info strategically?
4. People are more mobile now and certain segments of our users are so mobile that they are rarely near their landline. I’m thinking users like students (teens and college), Moms, business professionals, etc. These tend to be key strategic user populations in most libraries.
5. And the number one reason why cel phones matter? They align with the way we tend to collect user data. Library cards are usually issued to individuals not households. Landlines tend to be households and shared. Mobile phones tend to be personal and used by individuals. With 85% of Americans having a personal phone, do you want to connect with your users / members at a personal a level or risk playing broken telephone with a household? And with the ability to have your number follow you mobile phones may be more sustainable as data. Of course, I haven’t even gotten into texting and SMS which is growing boundlessly as a communication medium that is less intrusive. And I hate to mention that the same populations that are going mobile are reducing their addiction to e-mail.
Just remember that you can really only see change when you’re looking for it. When I grew up EVERY house had a televison antenna on it. Look at the roofs around you now. No antennas. Maybe a pizza dish satellite receiver hanging out a back window, more likely a cable wire heading into the home. And of course, analog signals end in February 2009. Just about everyone will be digital and the web will be on TV. What does the library look like then? But that’s another posting.
Mobile phones are critical to library digital strategies. (BTW, if you know people who don’t have mobile phones, that’s not really relevant. Libraries are mandated to serve everyone – even the digitally enabled.)
Stephen
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