Who will be the #1 social network in 2012?

With Forrester predicting Facebook and Amazon as 2012′s major mobile players, another ComScore study speculates on the rise and expansion of overall social networking. And we ponder the relationship between the two…

Social platforms are still in the early stages, growing and evolving almost faster than they can be tracked. Social in general continues to gain ground as a dominant source of online content, accounting for 16.6 percent of minutes spent on the web towards the end of 2011. ComScore’s recent report on social networks showed that, while leader Facebook continues to dominate the arena (three out of four US users are Facebookers), relative newcomers like Tumblr, Pinterest and Google+ are also climbing the popularity pole.

Twitter held the no. 2 spot in the category as of December, drawing 37.5 million unique visitors and surpassing its biggest competition from 2011, LinkedIn, whose audience clocked in at 33.5 million at the end of last year.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean there isn’t healthy competition brewing out there. According to ComScore’s findings, in the past six months Google+ has reached 20.7 million US visitors, while Tumblr hit 18.8 million. The network we find the most impressive/interesting is Pinterest, which has managed to draw 8 million unique visitors – mostly women! – without the clout of a gargantuan network of products such as Google’s.

And where does mobile fit into all of this?  Plastic Mobile of course sees it as a key resource to all platforms, and a crucial leveraging point for those looking to get a leg up on the competition. Melody Adhami, our President and resident mobile guru weighs in: “all of the social networks should be paying attention to mobile because it is a) where their audience is spending most of their time and b) an obvious way to reach that audience on an intimate and consistent level – meaning, those networks who can remain relevant in the mobile space will win more ‘facetime’ with their customers. Now, that doesn’t mean just offering a mobile friendly version of their site. It means taking advantage of the inherent features of the phone and the way people are using mobile to make sure users are accessing your social brand vs. your competitor’s on mobile.”

And according to an article in the New York Times, it seems other industry leaders are in agreement: “Mobile is the new face of engagement,” says Ted Schadler, principal analyst at Forrester. “Businesses should stop thinking about it as a small Web site on a tiny computer, and start thinking about mobile as being deeply embedded systems of engagement. That turns out to have huge implications.”

What do you think? Who will be the next big social network powerhouse in 2012? Will Facebook maintain it’s dominance, or will Twitter close the gap? Or will both of them lose out to Google+, or the underdog with girl power, Pinterest? And, more importantly (to us, at least), how will mobile tie into the social media battle for total world domination (or something)?

Tweet us with your favourite network, mobile 2 cents or just general musings about social networks and their future bearing on our LIVES!

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With the recent launch of the new, re-designed Air Miles mobile application for iPhone and Android devices, and Plastic Mobile headquarters is still buzzing with excitement. While Air Miles collectors are mastering the check-in challenge making it a huge success, we’re finding it tough to keep up with our check-ins. We’re clearly not the only ones addicted to the game and enjoying the improved mobile application!

We hit a major milestone yesterday with Air Miles, claiming the  #1 Lifestyle application and is now throned as the 9th among the Top 25 in the App Store and still climbing! The Facebook App Store page even dedicated a post to us!

Check it out here and be sure to like it and share it with your friends.

The loyalty mobile application, the first of its kind in Canada, allows you to get on-the-go access to AIR MILES Reward Program. Get access to your account balance and information, browse the complete dream rewards catalogue, get up to date in-store bonus offers at sponsor locations through in app LBS, and double your earnings with the Check-in challenge.

Its been a full 3 weeks since Dx3 Canada wrapped up and the buzz around the event still remains. Although we miss all the excitement from participating, we’ve been thrilled to see all the takeaways from Canada’s first ever digital trade show.

One such takeaway? Custom mobile solutions are serving as a channel of engagement and communication between brands and their customers.

Watch Sparksheet, an award-winning multiplatform magazine, as they question Melody Adhami president and COO of Plastic Mobile, at Dx3 on the direction and successes of mobile commerce.

Two days, 3,469 Canadian Marketers and one remarkable event. That was this year’s Dx3. On January 25 and 26, the Toronto Metro Convention Centre was filled with tonnes of engaging conversations around Canada’s digital advertising, marketing and retail landscape.

Plastic Mobile was very proud to be a participant in the inaugural forum for Canadian digital innovation.

For me, some of the highlights included, Visa’s touchless payment transaction ice cream exhibit, which not only kept my team full of delicious ice cream, but also demonstrated to attendees the future of NFCs. Visa’s Derek Colfer gave a session on the future of NFC in the Canadian mobile industry, saying that it’s still going to take awhile for things to get going. He cautioned his audience to consider that it took nearly a decade to get the credit card chip and PIN rolled out in Canada, so we shouldn’t expect to see mobile payments rolling out in 2012. Nevertheless, the Visa booth allowed visitors to practice using NFC technology to get some ice cream. Pretty awesome.

Also, Doug Stephens, President of Retail Prophet Consulting, and Candice Faktor of ShopCatch began the second day of Dx3 with an interesting keynote on the retail space. Stephens was a man of the future, looking ahead into retail 20 years from now, whereas Faktor focused on present-day retail. Both speakers concurred that mobile has shaken up the retail industry unlike anything ever before seen.

Another exciting event was the startup “pitch-off” at the Intertainment Media Incubation Zone. Five contestants were given five minutes each to pitch their plan. The winner was the Toronto-based startup, Stylsize, who showcased their very cool online retail mobile solution with its advanced apparel-fitting technology.

Two interesting mobile-related myths that were actively debunked at the show were about group buying and broadcasting apps. There was a charge to make attendees better understand that the emphasis for group buying is not about “will I make a profit?”, rather customer acquisition. And that broadcasters are missing the mark by creating apps that just copy their TV experiences without adding value and making them “Mobile friendly.”

And of course Plastic Mobile was there, bringing the mobile-retail relationship to life with our interactive candy shop, which was the talk of the Dx3 highlight list.

After such a great forum this year, we can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2013.

The inaugural Dx3 was a huge success! A pat on the back to the team that worked so hard to bring this digital forum together for the very  first time.

Also a resounding success at Dx3 was our Plastic Mobile Candy Shop, a creative exhibit illustrating the growing relationship between mobile and retail and the future of m-commerce. Our candy shop was the talk of the show (not to brag) and so much fun for our whole team – possibly because they sailed through the whole forum on a serious sugar high!

As well, a shout out to bNotions, who’s team of developers stayed corralled in a boxing ring for 48 hours until they completed a program. Whoa. That’s digital determination. We like to think our candy helped them get through the crunch, but whatever stimulants they  used to complete the job, amazing work!

Plastic Mobile’s CEO and COO, Sep Seyedi and Melody Adhami, had a great time speaking and being interviewed about their thoughts on the future of mobile and commerce and their team’s awesome booth. Plastic Mobile can’t wait for next year’s Dx3 – who knows what we’ll come up with next?!

Shame on you if you missed the first-ever Dx3, but check out this video of our slightly silly, totally interactive and undeniably adorable mobile candy buying experience.

1. Don’t build an app just for the sake of building an app- Businesses are starting to recognize the enormous potential to interact with customers through the mobile platform. As this area expands everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon, especially if their competitors are already embracing the mobile space. The automatic reaction that I often witness is a panic stricken one attached to the words “I need an app… Can you make me an app?”. This reaction is also paired with the misconception that a ‘mobile strategy’ is essentially having an app. Examining the business model to determine the most relevant path into the mobile space, be it a mobile website, an application, or a mobile campaign of sorts might encourage businesses to be more objective with their approach.
2. An app will not solve all your mobile needs- Although an app can serve as a tool to utilize the mobile channel, businesses need a strategy that could come in the form of a combination of SMS campaigns (if need be), mobile websites, mobile commerce, mobile social programs and/or perhaps a tablet strategy.  Exploring mobile commerce capabilities, customer engagement practices, along with possible loyalty programs that are built into a mobile campaign would be a more comprehensive way to tackle mobile.
3. One size does not fit all: As a marketer you don’t need to reach far beyond your personal experience to figure out that mobile is different than the website/online experience. Apps or mobile websites are not just mini websites, and “porting” your site into an app/mobile websites is not a mobile strategy. Mobile devices are used differently, so you don’t just take all of your content and move it onto 320×240 pixel screen. Ask yourself: ‘how much time will my user spend navigating a website on their mobile device?’.  Be selective about what you put out in the mobile space and remember that generally less is more.  Also, take into consideration that mobile usage happens at different times of day, and in different settings for the user, so what you serve should be relevant to time and location.
4. If you build it they wont come: An app or a mobile website is like any other product which requires a promotion and distribution strategy. Identify your target audience, assess your distribution channels, and give your audience an incentive to use/download your product. It may seem elementary to point out that existing and potential customers aren’t psychic, and they’re certainly not browsing the various app stores to see if your brand has decided to offer mobile services.
5. Although this would suggest that you will need to build apps across the various platforms, its important to focus on the old principle of “quality over quantity”.  So if you are at a cross road and deciding between doing an HTML5 app that will work on all platforms, I would recommend that you go for quality (in native form), rather than quantity (in HTML5 form). Disclaimer: HTML5 can be very useful, even in-app, but must be handled with expert care and used for certain design patterns.

As we sat amongst our hacks/hackers peers and colleagues from the publishing world, we were giddy with anticipation to do a live demo our new platform Joomo. Joomo is an automated platform that enables anyone to create high-quality custom native mobile applications across all mobile devices. With a web-based studio you can create, edit, track and customize every aspect of your app, all for free.

When our host, Phillip Smith, told the audience that Plastic Mobile is going to build an application in the duration of our 8 minute presentation time slot, there were many skeptical faces in the crowd. Now I’m not going to toot the Joomo horn, and write about how unbelievably easy to use it is, or the incredibly engaging user experience, or how it’s simply visually stunning. And I’m certainly not going to get into the whole native back end discussion and the genius behind that, rather I’m just going to let you witness how Melody and Sep delivered as promised, and built an app for ’29 Secrets’ in approximately 5 minutes.

Warning: The quality of the video is not Oscar-worthy, but then again that’s usually how it is when something rare and awesome happens and we spontaneously try to capture it. Think of UFO videos-never great.

Our Melody Adhami (aka Queen of Apps) speaks with Rob Woodbridge for UNTETHER.tv. The interview discusses the fast growing pace of mobile, how companies should implement an effective mobile strategy, as well as predicting the future of the mobile space.

See video below. Here’s the full article.

Great news from the Plastic Mobile office, we’ve been honored with the FWA Mobile Of The Day (MOTD) Award for our Pizza Pizza Ordering App. Check out the link here. Also, our project is featured on the FWA’s homepage.

The FWA, stands for Favourite Website Awards, is an industry recognised award program, established in 2000, showcasing projects which use cutting edge technology, “together with inspirational ideas, that lead the way for future generations.”

We are so happy for this prestigious award and be recognized among our peers in mobile and for our work on the Pizza Pizza app.