Over the past few years, as I've got more and more involved in digital, it's been interesting how the conversations about 'mobile' have developed.
We used to think about apps (and really only about one device) in isolation from any other 'desktop website' work we were doing, whilst championing Responsive Design in internal meetings and pitches; "A nice idea, but people don't really go on real websites on their phones do they?"
That was 2009-10, and finally now the research agencies have caught up and given us some stats to say that yes, people do want to 'use the internet' from their more mobile devices. And clients are starting to get this too. So that's good.
The challenge right now seems to be this: "We get that mobile's important, but does this specific experience we're creating need to work on mobile?"
Well I have a counter question: Does the experience we're creating need to be shareable? Given that client's acceptance of social channels is probably a few years ahead of mobile, I'm guessing the answer will be yes. People seem to get now that it's a good idea to make your content malleable enough that people can re-blog, share, save, whatever. Why haven't people got that it makes sense to make your experiences relevant regardless of the device they're using?
I wonder if this will help - I've noticed amongst friends, and totally anecdotally, that there's a new kind of sharing developing around cool digital stuff: Don't just post a funny youtube video on your facebook wall, why not just get your phone out in the pub and all watch it together? If you're looking at for a romantic holiday, why not just view the web page together on an iPad in the living room?
If you want people to share and enjoy your content, it needs to be shareable not just with a like button, but with a real thumbs up in real time. And it's not just the format that needs to work - the content itself needs to recognise that people aren't necessarily sat down in front of it with time on their hands. But I think that's another blog post...