The No.1 communication opportunity in 2010 – will you be there?
At the 2009 Hillsong Conference, Pastor Joel Osteen from Lakewood Church held up his bible and asked the audience to lift up their Bibles and repeat after him.
"This is maaa bible…” Many of you may well know the rest.
Instead of heavy leather cased bibles being lifted up, the darkened stadium of 20,000+ was lit up by thousands of small screens. The audience had lifted up their Bible of choice – their mobile phone.
This was strong indication that everything had changed. The mobile revolution was well and truely underway.
In the last decade TV was predicted to be the place of convergence. Apple released Apple TV, Microsoft did the same. But it has never really taken off. They all got it wrong. TV isn’t going to the first place of convergence.
It’s your mobile phone.
(Google got it. Why do you think they aren't building computers, but are building a phone?)
The mobile phone is becoming the No.1 communication channel to access social media, for personal phone usage and to access the internet. (It’s inevitable that the next stop on this revolution will be free to air TV.)
Why is it important?
Because when a person is making a decision to buy a product, or go to your church where do you think they are going to check you out? On their phone.
If your primary audience can't google you on their phone. You've probably lost them already.
The burning question is for your church or organisation – are you there yet?
You better get there quick. Your primary target audience is already there. They are already:
1. Paying their bills
2. Banking
3. Shopping
4. Talking
5. Creating/editing sending videos
6. Playing games
7. Accessing Facebook
8. Watching videos on Youtube
9. Twittering
10. Buying, recording & listening to music
11. Checking out real estate
12. Reading the paper
Again – is your church or organisation there yet? Are you going to get left behind?
Some churches that I know of have got it. They realise that the next generation is a mobile generation. They get it and are there.
The burning question for the rest of us is – when will we be there?
Despite having recently be labled a Macfag by a commentor on my blog (yes you can laugh now), I feel that I should (ney, NEED to) point out that MS had Windows Media Center a good couple of years before Apple released Apple TV.
However you are correct, TV hasn’t (yet) proven to be the great area of convergence that both MS & Apple (& others) were hoping it would be (altough there are some interesting things happening with game consoles). Hmmm I wonder, how could a church interact with people via XBox Live?
My boss (@bobbygwald) was at that conference and told me the same story. It’s amazing to be alive during a major shift in how people read God’s Word, let alone be blessed to be a part of it.
To add some stats to back up your post, YouVersion is currently sitting on almost 3.5 million mobile phones and December saw 500,000 new downloads alone. As we roll out new apps for more platforms, we expect a major uptick in download rates.
Mobile is big. http://twitter.com/ScottMagdalein/status/7447161061
Hey Scott,
Thanks for your comment. Your boss is spot on.
In.Credible stats.
Looking forward to what you do in the future!
Neil,
I do know that some people watch church online via Wii – saw it last week.. interesting!