Chris highlighted this PSFK article on how young people valued the sharing of an experience more than living the experience itself.
Like the tourist, they want to share. But today they share that memory instantly via email and MMS to their friends on Facebook or readers of their blog. They share so that other people can see the photo of a moment that they actually didn’t see. And the motivation? For social status: to bolster the image their friends and network have of them.
I wonder if equally, Blyk could become something to be shared and that the action of sharing becomes something of value in itself and not only the service. A service you could virally send to your friends as quickly as an MMS ? What would that look like?
May 5th, 2008
There is something not quite groovy when two large corporations launch something that has to do more with emotions and art than with bars of soap at 3 cents, or a 15% discount on design jeans…. Madonna left Warner earlier this year to continue her money-making career - and dancefloor filler tunes, with an outdoors events company whose name says very little to the little people - me, who go to concerts and gigs. Reason? Money in Music at the Moment is Made on Merchandise …. mmmmmm . . . And less on the Music tracks…. I’m on Vodafone, so lucky me, I’m one of the punters that this week can download a new track from her album every day. Yeepee-Hey. “Candy Shop” is the first available jewel, and it’s not bad, so I set it as my ringtone of choice. Tomorrow, we’ll see what we get. Am I not going to buy the album? Oh no. The album will be bought, and downloaded to my iTunes, and then onto my iPod. So why did I pay £1.5 for the priviledge? Because Mobile Music is Marketing Magic Moves these days. I basically paid to sample the music. Of course, I could do that on the Radio, but it’s not the same. I got the track First. I got the ringtone First. It’s all about the NOW. Times are a-changing, said Bob Dylan. I feel like I’ve just been to a sample sale, which is what haute-couture designers do for good clients - or “victims” like me, whose delight for shoes, bags and frocks has got me onto the VIP list of many of them. You go to the showroom, sample the new stuff, order the ones who will be ready for you in months, and than take a freebies-keepsies home. Madonna’s tracks this week are my little snippets of music. My sound aperitif, a round of tapas this week for us all. Is this freak or unique? I rather say it is clever. Small and well packaged, it managed to create buzz and a bit of revenues for an industry that is dying. How will the live gigs connect to our mobile world then? I know that all those texting and see your message on the ticker line above the stage is funny, but is boring as the day goes by and alcohol and heat make people text rather stupid stuff not funny anymore…. I want to do more with my phone and my music, but for now, I’m happy to see how this week of musical canapes goes. …. where’s my champagne, by the way?
April 21st, 2008
It’s been fun today, amid all the April foolery around, to see techie blog Techcrunch apparently confused (at least for a few moments) by the Times (London) report of the launch of a new mobile social networking service ‘Sniffu.com‘, which allows users to track friends’ location. I may, of course, be proved to be wrong but for me the quote from CEO Brian Levin, “You can ‘sniff’ yourself if you really need to,” seemed to clinch the giveaway.
My pre-teen household experienced its first Fool’s Day spoof at 7.00 this morning. It seems 12-year-olds are not only old enough to own phones, but also to work out how to withhold caller ID 
A cute spoof arrived from Blyk (click ‘Y’ for air-freshening scent delivered directly through your phone’s speaker).
April 1st, 2008
