What Now? Consumption Habits?

2. What are MY content consumption habits, at that point?

Not sure. I'm guessing that I'll still rely on blogs a great deal. I like the idea of blogging and there is a plethora of legit bloggers producing really excellent work. I have no reason to think that blogs will suddenly cease to interest me. Cover your eyes and ears blog-haters but maybe blogs are going to be the newspapers of my generation? They're not going anywhere anytime soon.

I'm ok with being entirely online. With the advent of internet TV, both in original and syndicated content, I'm wondering if everything won't come from the 'net? Windows 7 is heavily emphasizing home networks as something even the most tech-handicapped (this was found on the Official WindowsVideos channel) can create/use/maximize them. Now, we can link together our computer, gaming system, Blu-Ray player, television and stereo into one large network, streaming video and audio both ways to every device in our house, with all of the content coming from the net. Cable TV should be bracing themselves for a big change.

In undergrad, having not the money to subscribe, the time or energy to walk across campus to my tiny mailbox to pick up a stack of paper with day-old-news, I made the jump to an almost all-online news consumption habit a few years ago. I can't remember the last time I sat down with a mainstream paper to read about the news. In the past couple of years, almost all of my news consumption is online as even the slowest newspapers have finally begun to realize that this internet thing may be for real and as a result, have digitized their content for internet reading. While I can enjoy and sympathize with the nostalgia for the good ol' days of newsprint, I'm not sure its continued existence is as important as some of the Armageddon forecasters seem to think it is. Journalism will be ok without newspapers: there are enough journalists that care deeply enough about their craft and jobs that they'll figure out a way to make it work and even the most skeptical folks will come around eventually.

I am guessing that I'll be using mobile devices a great deal more to consume my news. As smartphones continue to evolve and tablets become more prominent, mobile users will be in heaven. You'll be able to consume your news wherever you go. Even now, you can watch live sports on the go with the correct subscription. This idea of mobile content is where we're headed. It's nice to sit at your computer watching streaming video. It'll be cooler to do it while walking down the street.

TweetDeck and Other Twitter Apps

As someone who regularly uses Twitter (yet doesn't actually tweet all that much), some may find it odd that I rarely, if ever, actually visit Twitter.com. While I have nothing against Twitter's website per say, I do find that user an application for my Twitter viewing is much better. I've tried many (and given them a fair shake) desktop apps ranging from Tweetie to twhirl to Twitterrific to TweetDeck and on the iPhone, I've tried TweetDeck and TwitterFon.

By far, my favorite, on both platforms, is TweetDeck. The layout is simple and user-friendly. It's a full featured app that is powerful yet accessible. It's easy to navigate, easy to pick up yet easy to utilize to its full potential.

I do find it interesting that there is such a proliferation of Twitter Apps readily available for free use. Unlike the other major social networks, such as Facebook or MySpace, Twitter Apps have thrived to the point that I'm not sure I know of any of my friends who actually utilize Twitter by going to the service's actual website. The app experience allows your feed to be open all the time, running in the background, allowing quick access for checking Twitter whenever you want without having to visit the site. I guess I've become the de-facto app guy for the class so it probably doesn't come as a surprise that I support and use an app for this but in this case, the app geniunely makes a Twitter experience easier and more effective.

Mobile Options

I was thinking that either an app or mobile site would be a must, although I lean more in the direction of a mobile site. Most phones are still without Flash support for their browsers, although it is supposedly coming to the Mobile Windows, Android, etc. based phones (Pre, Blackberry) but not the iPhone, which has posited Apple as the fastest growing company in terms of market share in the mobile phone industry. The lack of Flash support renders an increasing number of websites nearly unusable, formatting aside. While we discussed that its possible to scale and scroll through a site, it's undeniable that a website designed for viewing on a larger screen has a dramatically different experience on a mobile device without a mobile option.

Take ESPN.com, which according to Alexa, is the 61st most visited site worldwide, 16th in the US. ESPN's site is loaded with Flash video and without the mobile option, it loses much of its appeal. However, that mobile option streamlines the site significantly without removing much content. It's formatted for a smartphone's screen, not a lap or desktop's. As more and more people buy into the smartphone idea (7m iPhones were sold in 3Q 2009 alone), we need to somehow acknowledge and cater to this growing segment. While the browsers on these devices are becoming increasingly powerful and are less of a limitation, the size of the device and more specifically, it's screen is. Links are unusable without sizing and scrolling and only the most dexterous of users can click on a small hyperlink without a zoom. The mobile option (or app) eliminates the step of zooming, scrolling, etc. While it may only be my own laziness, I much prefer visiting sites with mobile options than ones without.

Almost every major site on the web has one. I'm thinking we should have that option as well if the user so desires it.

The iPhone Experience

Colin asked in a post how many people in class have iPhones so I'll weigh in with an emphatic yes. Why so emphatic? Because it's literally changed my life and my ability to consume information. Prior to the iPhone, smart phone (more or less the Blackberry) users were left to surf the net with a pseudo-browser that butchered whatever website you would be reading, reducing whatever carefully designed thoughts that existed within into a mess of text blurbs and bad pictures. One would have to scroll down through page link by link until you'd get to what you wanted. The connection was typically slow and some websites would be rendered useless by the butchered format.

However the iPhone launched with the same (more or less) version of Safari that Mac users had grown accustomed to. It allowed for websites to be viewed in their intended format (minus Flash) and gave the iPhone user a similar experience to browsing on a full-sized computer. Still, the iPhone was more or less an advanced phone. However, with the launch of the iPhone 3G and the App store, it became increasingly obvious that the iPhone no longer was a jazzed up phone, but a small, fully featured computer in your palm. One could play games, pay bills, etc. while keeping all the features of the phone and browser. It allowed an iPhone user to literally do whatever they wanted to do on their desktop while remaining wherever they happened to be.

Thus, if you want to read the news, pull out the iPhone. If you need a map, pull out the iPhone. Email? Texting? Internet? Banking? Gaming? Check, check, check, check, check. The way you consume information totally changes. Need to check a score? Screw going to a computer or TV, pull out the iPhone. Need to check stocks? iPhone. Need to read a book? Write a blog entry? You get the idea.

Now, do I think that the iPhone renders old-school journalism obsolete? Absolutely not. Does it mean that old-school journalists need to stop dragging their feet and get moving? Absolutely. Just because I have an iPhone does not make me immediately want to turn to TMZ or, quite frankly, trust anything they say. Far from it. But it does make me want my information faster. Do I still want it from a reliable, intelligent source? Without a doubt. Initially, this may make journalists have to worker harder and faster but every job is speeding up in the new century. It doesn't mean that it has to be done with shoddy workmanship. Other industries have learned to streamline and efficiently their processes and products. Those that haven't (American automakers, I'm looking at you), are failing. People can sit around lamenting the past all they want. It won't change where we're going and it doesn't mean that where we are going is a bad, destructive place. It can be a great, glorious place but only if people want to embrace it and use it effectively.