If you though that it was enough me having my two two-penneth worth on the goings on in the world, you certainly won't be interesting in seeing what these two young bucks have to say. However, if your appetite for opinion is not satisfied then they may be worth a peek.
Both are Account Execs at Movement, having joined at the turn of the year and have both started their own blogs as part of an IAB social-media training course.
And if you want something else to read over, an ex-colleague and friend, Murat Mutlu, has a very well regarded blog that is certainly worth a butchers at: Mobile Inc
So apart from attempting to introduce a new term into the common vernacular, what exactly is a Hip Hop, Bhangra and National Anthem singing sock doing on YouTube?
Promoting Ringtagz ringback tones of course.
This series of videos (which you can see on the YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Ringtagz) has been created by the fantastic guys at Movement*
* Full disclosure necessary - I'm the Technical Director at Movement but, as the results positively verify, had very little to do with the output in this case!
Ringback tones have never made much headway into the market in the UK - where consumers appear to be more interested in sharing their taste in music with those near to them using ringtones rather than more discretely with those that are trying to get hold of them - but are massive on the Continent and particularly in Asia.
One of the main challenges with ringback tones is the need for operator partnership. In the operator-dominated market of the UK, the incumbents appear to have been reluctant on such a service, focussing instead on driving subscription revenues with downloadable content which require less technical integration.
Ringtagz are currently only available on Orange: http://orange2.ringtagz.co.uk/ (check out the educational/ instructional video in the top-right) - with a broad array of tracks, tones and customisations available. But still, ringback tones are far from commonplace. The tipping point should come, but will need one or two of the other operators to step into the market to provide the critical mass of consumers taking up the service.
In this modern mobile world of smartphones, apps and the ever-connected device, ringback tones can provide that element of personalisation and individuality irrespective of the users device and, when you put aside some the industry snobbishness that is sometimes directed towards "mobile content", the right choice of ringback tone, really can make your callers proud, dance and laugh...
Anyway. I have finally become immersed in social media. I started with the professionally acceptable LinkedIn and graduated - with a supporting role being played by a combination of friends' peer pressure, work colleagues' expectations and sheer curiosity - through Facebook, onto Twitter and finally, believe it or not, to Foursquare.
And so I'm left on the brink of the next logical step. A blog.
My first question is "What?". What do I blog about?
Social networks have a (sometimes tenuous) purpose - LinkedIn, to lubricate the professional wheels; Facebook, to keep in touch with and maintain your network of friends; Twitter, to catch and share the breaking and trending news and crazes (I see it as the modern equivalent of housewives chatting over the garden fence); and Foursquare, to... well..... I'm still working that out but I think it's all about one-upmanship (I'm the mayor of 5 places don't you know?). So what's the point of a blog? Or should I say, what will the point of MY blog be?
Blogging about family and friends does not fit the bill. At least not unless I want (another) injunction against me. That leaves my professional life, so I've decided to use this blog as an extension of my tweeting - to pass comment on what I see in the world of mobile (with odd forays into the wider worlds of digital and marketing and maybe the odd tangent into football, public transport or whatever takes my fancy).
I hope that at least some people take the opportunity to read the odd blog, and maybe even come back, and this becomes more than just a place for me to mutter to myself, a digital soapbox so to speak.
But if that is what it is then at least it will have found its purpose.
