Today’s youth can be looked at as the first true ‘early adopters.’ They are the first generation to have carried mobile phones and used the Internet since they could press keys. As a result, they are growing up with a different mindset where mobile is inextricably tied to their lifestyle.
For them, interactivity is a given, and technology has made participation a reflex. Seamless access and effortless consumption of mobile multimedia have become an expectation among youth, and they establish their brand preferences based on ease of delivery and breadth of offerings. As a result, brands must help to facilitate 1:1 communications rather than interrupt them. Youth are demanding that we move from mobile media placements wrapped around long-term content to ‘reflex’ media placements focused on ‘this moment.’
A great example of this is the news today that IM client Babuki is resurrecting the Free SMS app on Facebook. The service stopped recently due to lack of funding. According to an email sent on Facebook:
You can now send free text messages from http://apps.facebook.com
/babuki-sms using all the same networks as before (they’re using our technology to support the service). Babuki.com have also developed a Desktop Instant Messenger for Facebook where you can chat to all your Facebook, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, Gtalk, Livejournal and MySpace friends (it works on Macs and PCs)
To download it just visit http://apps.facebook.com
/babuki-im or Babuki.com
(they’ve also integrated the SMS functionality into their instant messenger).
It will become increasing important for brands to insert themselves into such “ephemeral” services that enable the instant communication youth are used to. Furthermore, one of the main barriers to adoption of mobile services for youth is price. Given that this P2P generation is used to getting everything for free, brands are perfectly positioned to step up and provide this utility. Expect to see more ad-supported and sponsorship initiatives bundled with such “reflex” tools in the future.
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