An exclusive podcast with Bob Rosenschein PLUS a look at some recent mobile advertising stats from the U.S., Vietnam, and Japan.

The 450+ attendees at Think Mobile that descended on NYC in March can count themselves lucky. We were treated to an excellent line-up of 60+ top-notch speakers, chosen by my esteemed colleague Matthew Snyder, Founder & CEO of ADObjects, a strategic cross-media consultancy, for their insights, ideas, and willingness to share both. Feedback from my panel on Mobile Search & SEO has been overwhelmingly positive, in part because Matthew and I brainstormed and purposely brought together an eclectic mix of individuals passionate about their work and the mobile industry at large.

I was so impressed by the caliber of speakers (Michael Slinger, Manager, Google: Rachel Pasqua, Director, Mobile Strategy, iCrossing; and David Berkowitz, Director of Emerging Media & Client Strategy at 360i) that I have decided to showcase each individually on MSG. (I had the opportunity to do a video interview with David and will be back with more on that, and his views on social media and mobile search, once the bnetTV team has edited the footage and posted in the video player in the sidebar.)

Today I kick off this “mini-series” with Bob Rosenschein, Answers Corporation CEO and mobile search “guru” (my description- he’s far too modest). The company’s social search service WikiAnswers.com has seen some stellar growth, according to comScore. In March, the measurement and market research firm reported that WikiAnswers.com U.S. unique visitors reached nearly 19 million in January 2009, compared to 729,000 in December 2006. During this time period, WikiAnswers.com’s market share increased from 4 percent to nearly 35 percent, vs. Yahoo! Answers, based on U.S. unique visitors. Overall, WikiAnswers.com was identified as the fastest growing top 200 U.S. domain for all of 2008.

Another milestone: Answers Corporation counted 10 million questions in the WikiAnswers.com Q&A database. (Answers Corporation acquired the WikiAnswers.com database in 2006, and since then questions have increased over 35-fold.) As Bruce D. Smith, Chief Strategic Officer of Answers Corporation, who leads the Community Development team, put it in a recent release: The WikiAnswers community is “experiencing exciting growth,” with over 500 volunteer supervisors and millions of contributors, supported by our 12-member Community Development Team.

Social search meets mobile? Regular readers will know I am excited about this combination. (In fact, I commented on this emerging business model in recent-release white papers from mobile search companies Taptu and abphone.) In view of WikiAnswers.com’s increasing popularity, I decided to take a closer look at the company’s future roadmap. I caught up with Bob to get the inside track on his company’s mobile ambitions, discuss the key criteria for an optimal mobile search experience, and the role of mobile advertising in the scheme of things.

Listen to the podcast. [16:18]

By way of background, Answers Corporation, founded in 1998, was formerly known as GuruNet. It changed its name to Answers Corporation in 2005. The company is best known as the owner of the popular social knowledge Q&A site WikiAnswers.com, and the “encyclodictionalmanacapedia” Answers.com. Answers is a Google AdSense partner, meaning thatAnswers.com and WikiAnswers.com show Google performance ads on their pages.

WIKIANSWERS.COM: It’s a fast-mover. “On WikiAnswers, people type in the questions; other people answer them; and hopefully, over time, we get the best possible answers. Our goal is to give the best answers anywhere on the Web, for any kind of question.”

MOBILE SEARCH: Bob can’t give specifics and I respect that. But he can give us an indication of what is in the pipeline. As he put it: “I will say that the area of delivering our answers on mobile is obviously of enormous interest to us this year and next year.” While companies can tailor their services to specific platforms and devices, Bob doesn’t recommend it and hints that his company is focused on “adapting our product lines over time to work on all of the mobile devices, and of course we mean smartphones, but not only smartphones — anything with a Web browser.”

OPTIMAL USER EXPERIENCE: Quick answers in fewer clicks is the algorithm for mobile search success. “We believe that there’s too much information overload.” The problem is that search engines are really good at searching the Web, but what do they deliver? “A page of links; of links to other sites, but you know what? The mobile world still has slow browsers….If you get a list of links to pages that are mobile pages, you’re almost afraid to click on one of them. How do you know if it’s going to be a 5 second page or a 25 second page?” You don’t know. “Our goal is to give people useful information in fewer clicks. And so that’s actually a very good hint towards how we see the mobile world evolving and what we think we might be able to add to it.”

MOBILE SEO: Is the end-game about delivering answers on the go? If so, then what is the potential impact on SEO? In a word: Profound. Bob points out that Google’s introduction of a canonical element aimed at assisting SEO clearly recognizes mobile content is different from the Web. “In other words, you can now make a page that exists in different forms, give it a canonical name, and tell Google that this is the canonical page. This is the real page, and all these other things are just adaptations of it for different user experiences and phone factors, especially mobile. So, Google is being advised that this is the same page as another page in a legitimate fashion such that it doesn’t hurt SEO.

PUBLISHER TIPS: Brand is everything, which is why companies must deliver a quality user experience that begins with the basics, such as presentation. “Users will have even less patience on a small device. You have to get it right and it’s a really different ballgame in terms of presentational dynamics.” Google and Yahoo will continue to be important, and I think the challenges for the rest of us [will be] to find our place in this new world…. [It] will boil down to user experience. In the words of Tim O’Reilly; ‘How do we get users to visit our content in an age where they are free to choose content?’

MONETIZATION & MOBILE ADS: Google changed the rules when it introduced text ads on their pages that didn’t look like text ads. “Google zagged when everybody else was zigging, and they did something very brilliant.” But the real lesson we must apply to mobile is relevancy.  ”It is attractive to the user; it’s more trustworthy. But if that weren’t enough, it is informative and not interruptive.” But even relevant ads might not convince users to accept mobile advertising, according to recent research from Nielsen Mobile (via Citi Investment Research, a division of Citigroup Global markets). Bob was kind enough to share a short excerpt and some surprising stats from the client report, written by analyst Mark Mahaney. Under the heading: “There is a material consumer resistance to mobile advertising,” Mahaney states privacy concerns and users’ skepticism are holding back mobile advertising in the U.S.

Meanwhile, we learn from the Thanh Nien Daily that mobile advertising is booming in Vietnam. Quoting Aaron Cross, managing director of The Nielsen Company in Vietnam, who spoke at a two-day conference on Integrated Marketing in Vietnam which wrapped up last Friday in Ho Chi Minh City, the post reports (according to the Nielsen Mobile Insights Survey 2008) almost half of mobile owners in Vietnam receive advertisements via SMS each month.

The majority of those ads are read by consumers. The survey also said 74 percent of people in HCMC and Hanoi, the country’s two economic hubs, own a mobile phone. Over half (58 percent) of the country’s urban population, and a third (37 percent) of rural residents own cell phones. But the way isn’t clear for mass marketing yet. Cross pointed out the new anti-spam government decree, which took effect last month in Vietnam, protects consumers from receiving unwanted messages on their mobile phones. However, cost-conscious Vietnamese consumers are open to “hot deals and great value to relieve pressure from their monthly budgets.”

Mobile advertising is also gaining traction in Japan. This post, quoting Tom Bowman, BBC.com’s VP international ad sales who spoke at the Digital Symposium hosted by Habari Media last week in the Western Cape, argues consumers are “almost twice as receptive to mobile advertising as to magazine advertising, making it the highest priority for prospective advertisers.”

WHAT’S NEXT?: The industry has to sort out business models. Is it sponsorship? Is it an animated display ad? Or is it some kind of click-through only on performance ads? “But I’m going to say something very flippant now: “Who cares? …It’s a branding opportunity… and sometimes you subsidize one part of your business with another.” Bob would rather “get the service right and figure out how to monetize later.”

Special thanks to Alison Minaglia at Technology PR for the image of Bob addressing the ThinkMobile audience!

Mobile social networks (or at least the clever ones) are mapping out business models that allow them to transition from being meeting places for communities to being marketplaces for commerce.

It’s early days and there are no easy answers - all the more reason to attend Mobile Advertising & the Rise of Social Networking: What does it mean for Brands, Agencies and Service Providers?, a Knowledge & Networking Seminar organized by AIME, (The Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment), this Thursday in London.  The seminar provides the perfect opportunity to explore key learnings with industry pioneers and network over drinks. (The event begins at 6:30 p.m. and wraps up around 11 p.m. More details on the program and venue here.)

One company I look forward to hearing is Flirtomatic, a pioneer mobile flirting service that has had great success monetizing mobile users through conversation with added fun and great content such as virtual flowers and kisses. The company recently extended its reach to enable members to give the objects of their affection real gifts including chocolate and sexy underwear. As Matt Dicks, Commercial Director for Flirtomatic, put it in an interview with AIME’s Andrew Darling: The approach to mobile advertising is about marketing entertainment and content services as part of its mobile social network. “It’s about integrating ads and brands into the fabric of a social networking service - enabling premium gifting between users and using advertising to support content.”

Other speakers on hand to share their experiences/vision include:

• Nandi Gurprasad, VP of Alliances, Bango
• Dusan Hamlin, Joint Managing Director, Inside Mobile
• Mark Brill, Chairman Mobile Council, DMA
• Henry Stevens, Director of Media and Entertainment, GSMA

I’ve been invited to present the results of my new-release white paper (Mobile Advertising For The Masses). In it I road test the mobile ad networks offered by three mobile social networks and document the results. (Look for the free download later on in the week.) I also conclude with my three principles for interacting with mobile social networkers on their terms. (After all, those are the rules here!)

1) Make the most out of mobile analytics offered both by the ad network and an independent vendor to match your marketing message/campaign with the community.

2)Consider virtual gifting and other schemes to provide something of value to users and their community.

3)Participate actively in the community and interact with members to build relationships and enable them to deepen their relationships with each other by providing tools that will let them do what they are there to do: Keep in touch with friends, connect with people who share their interests and share content and feelings with the community.

If you want to meet up or catch-up during the seminar, then please reach out to me directly, or contact Andrea Henninge (andrea@msearchgroove.com) to schedule a briefing.

Disclaimer: Bango is an MSG sponsor.

I avoid using the term “mobile guru” to describe myself. (A Philosophy of Science degree has made me humble. “True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.”-Socrates )

Get the Bango Whitepaper

However, I am deeply honored that Bango thinks of me as such: communicated in their press releases, corporate messaging and on the cover of my new release mobile advertising white paper, Mobile advertising for newbies. As of today it’s available for free download here, and already the congratulatory emails are pouring in. As Glenn Roland, who is active on the dotMobi Advisory Group, writes: “I just got done reading your white paper on Mobile Advertising. Nice job! I thought it very insightful and a good read on an emerging space.”

I am overjoyed that my work has impact, and I hope it will provide some guidance to the Long Tail of publishers and advertisers that want to move into mobile but need some help.

In the meantime, thanks are in order to my esteemed colleague Maria Sanchez. Brainstorming sessions with her were both fun and fruitful. (Full disclosure here: Maria is a Bango marketing manager. She also calls them as she sees them.) Her keen observations and good-natured rants, which she posts regularly on the mobislim blog, are a perfect complement to my in-depth analysis and user-friendly clarification of the range of mobile advertising and mobile analytics tools and techniques at your disposal.

I was also inspired by the writings of Tomi Ahonen and Jonathan MacDonald - both figure prominently in the white paper. (As they should!)

The purpose of this hands-on research - a how-to white paper covering the basics of mobile advertising and mobile analytics - is to give readers the inside track on the procedure to set up and measure the results of three mobile campaigns. I chose to use a small-scale mobile site created by Bango called Mobislim, which offers a light-hearted look at weight-loss tips.

But my investigation into mobile advertising won’t stop there. This white paper marks the launch of a dedicated blog here at MSG. Marketers that can’t wait can also visit the accompanying Mobislim blog to see the three campaigns cited in this white paper. You’re also welcome to try out your own mobile advertising campaigns there and direct traffic to the Mobislim mobile site if you don’t have one of your own.

Creating a mobile site for MSG is next on my list, and I’m investigating options. Wapple appears to be a good place to start. (Who knows? That learning process might turn out to be the stuff of a mini white paper…After all, it’s all about breaking down the barriers that keep us from embracing mobile. With the right tools, mindset and how-to tips publishers can move full-steam into mobile and jumpstart this exciting industry…)

Where do we go from here?

As I write in my conclusion: “Mobile advertising is a brave new space with new rules and new rewards. As publishers and advertisers we should be conscious that our efforts to achieve our business objectives can be compared to a marathon with no finish line.”

Success is a journey, not a destination. Great to have you along for the ride!

Disclaimer: Bango is an MSG supporter.

In theory, it should be a breeze to deliver the right content to the right user over mobile. The mobile is a personal device and marketers can dive deep into data collected by mobile operators and the growing number of companies staking their turf in the mobile services and advertising value chain based on their ability to gather and wield analytics.

But a recent Media Post interview with Bob Walczak, CEO of mobile ad network MoPhap, points out that behavioral targeting (BT) has quite a few hurdles to clear before it can be as powerful and effective as its online counterpart. A huge problem is the mobile browser, which can’t handle cookies and can’t develop detailed profiles of how individuals sue their mobile phones. As Walczak puts it: “[U]ntil that hurdle is addressed, you really don’t have anything that can legitimately be known as behavioral targeting. The essence of behavioral targeting online is the marriage of supply of publisher inventory and the demand for advertisers, and vice versa — but no network in mobile has been able to make that happen. Essentially both publishers and advertisers have been flying blind.”
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With all the excitement around BREW 2007 it was easy to miss the formal launch of the BREW Consumer Portal, which pairs content discovery with a storefront where users can buy and download content they like. (Details in this release.) However, it speaks volumes about Qualcomm Internet Services (QIS) and what we can expect of its on-device portal (ODP) strategy. The core of the offer is uiOne, the customizable user interface platform QIS inherited from Trigenix, following the company’s acquisition in late 2004. Since then uiOne has since evolved into a product portfolio combining a store-front, a home-screen replacement and a skinning application.

NTELOS, a U.S. mobile operator serving Virginian and West Virginia, has announced its intention to offer the BREW Consumer Portal later this year. Like many ODP offers, QIS lets operators manage the back-end to configure the destination’s look and feel through banners, icons and graphics, and promote BREW content and apps. I’ll have more on QIS and its ODP strategy in my upcoming VisionGain report. Likewise, I encourage you to check out Activating the Idle Screen: Uncharted Territory, a comprehensive white paper on the subject from Informa Telecoms & Media. (Link located here and under White Papers on this page.) Andreas Constantinou, one of MSG’s authors, also contributed to the report.

The following is an in-depth examination of the mobile search and content delivery landscape based on the competitive intelligence white paper presented at the March 2007 mobile search conference.

1. Mobile content: More effort than its worth?
With an avalanche of pre-packaged and user-generated mobile content slated to come online this year, subscribers can’t say they dont have choice. But they can complain about the tedious navigation process they have to endure to find, access and buy content they like.
Recent usability studies, from Sweden’s Mobile Matrix, argue mobile portals must bring content to users within six clicks. The same studies conclude that a whopping 65 percent of content is positioned too far from the home page, making it invisible to users. Indeed, the vast majority of content may as well not be on offer because it is buried deep in confusing – oftentimes counter-intuitive – hierarchical menus and positioned too many clicks from the portal home page. A recent Informa Telecoms & Media benchmarking study found that users typically have to click through 10-40 screens, and spend more than two minutes to download some of the most popular ringtones or games. Mobile devices with their screen-size limitations and restricted input capabilities only exacerbate the problem.
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