The Journalism Research and Development Centre University of Tampere

 

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Virpi Oksman

Second generation mobile media and newspapers
 
 

An Audience Study

The purpose of the study was to investigate the possibilities of mobile media for news and other newspaper content delivery, from the user's point of view. The party comissioning the study is the Finnish Newspapers Association, in co-operation with the Scandinavian Newspaper Technology Association (NATS) and the European Technical Newspaper Association (IFRA). VTT Information Technology carried out a review on technical devices for the news delivery. The Journalism Research and Development Center made an audience study. This study was conducted to benefit the newspaper publishers and the developers of mobile devices.

The study was carried out in Finland, a country which has some special features in the field of communication. Currently Finland has most mobile phones in the world per capita (over 50.1 per 100 persons). This figure is expected to grow still higher. The percentage of the Internet usage is one of the highest in the world. Finns along with Scandinavians and Japanese read most newspapers in the world, and subscribing to newspapers is also common.

In the last few years there have been some rapid changes in the field of newspaper publishing in Finland. The media houses have been investing more and more for publishing newspapers on the Internet. This year, 1998, most of the member papers of the Finnish Newspaper Association are on the Internet. It is estimated that in the near future, media houses which previously concentrated on publishing traditional newspapers, will also publish an electronic newspaper on the Internet and some special news for the small mobile devices.
 

Former research and some experiences

Former studies show that people seem to experience a mobile device as a personal communication medium. A newspaper can have more than one reader, a television and a radio usually belong to a whole family, but a mobile devices like a GSM is considered something that people feel belongs to one individual alone; it is their own media.

People also want other kind of contents for a mobile than just entertainment. The group which is most interested in mobile information services travels a lot, carries already at least their second GSM and uses the Internet. In Finland short text messages have also attained great popularity especially among the young people. Text messages are used mainly for personal communication between friends and relatives. This usage has become so popular that it already forms a special subculture of communication.

In Finland Alexpress has a short news service. Short news appear as text messages on the GSM or a communicator screen. One of the main advantages of GSM news is to get information almost in real time.

The experience of Alexpress shows that people prefer text over voice for news delivery. In one of the news formats the headlines come first to the screen. Then a phone number appears where one can call and hear more about the particular news item. Subscribers did not find this format very tempting. It might be that people think that they do not need to be active in order to get more information, since they have already paid for the service. People prefer short and informative text as the best format for mobile news.

However, users feel more familiar with the feedback model as a form of interaction. Alexpress gets a lot of feedback about their news. Alexpress’s short news is little known and has not been marketed for the wide audience yet.
 

The supplementary role of mobile media for news delivery

In this research qualitative methods were chosen for studying possible users’ ideas about the mobile media, to let the interviewees own voices to tell what they think. Single and group interviews were used to investigate the role of mobile media in the daily life of interviewees and to find out ordinary users’ visions for future usage of mobile media. Altogether 26 single and 10 group interviews were carried out. The chosen groups consisted of people who travel a lot, students, the elderly, home-makers, modern farmers in Northern Finland, people who play on-line games (gamblers), PC enthusiasts, people in the travel business, journalists etc.

It does not seem that the figures for newspaper reading are going to drop very dramatically any time soon in Finland. This differs from the situation in the United States, where newspaper reading has been decreasing for a long period of time, ever since households have had televisions.

This study demonstrated that the interviewees prefer a newspaper not only for its information value, but also for the reading convenience and newspapers’ role in their daily routine. Compared with technical devices a newspaper is easy and quick to read. Interviewees thought that one of the greatest disadvantages of news delivery into mobiles is that the Internet still loads very slowly into small mobile devices.

Many of the interviewees saw the role of the mobile media as supplementary in relation to other media in their daily lives. They thought that they could use mobile media mainly when other media, newspapers or the Internet are not available. Traveling in and out of the country, outdoor activities, free time spent in a coffeehouse skimming the "situations vacant" section, were mentioned as possible situations for using mobile media.

Tommi, a 32-year old project manager who travels a lot mentioned a possible situation for use: "When I’m my second day abroad, and I wake up in the hotel in the morning I would like to get a fresh Helsingin Sanomat into my mobile phone somehow." Mika, a 30-year old journalist told: "When I’m fishing far away in some forest lake, it would be very handy to get news into my mobile."

Special working environments were also mentioned as possible situations for use. Arctic safari guides in Lapland, farmers, and professional drivers need to get information about the weather during their working day. In general, situational information like weather and news about traffic were most often mentioned as valuable contents in the mobile media.
 
 
 

 

These are some contents the interviewees named as possible for the mobile media:

weather, traffic, direct connection to Emergency Center

news: local and global

sports: formula racing, football, ice hockey, horse racing, on line games etc.

culture: movies, theaters, book reviews, music, free time happenings

timetables: buses, trains etc.

maps, navigators

situations vacant

advertisements as quick flashes or according to one’s own choice

commercial services: on line shops, information of prizes, open hours

e-mail, the Internet, chat

statistics, newspaper archives

text (voice), picture, video picture

personalized news: "the mobile talks to me"

 

News should be personally interesting

Mobile media as a small device has some restrictions for news delivery. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston) has been developing the idea of news personalisation: a subscriber may choose those news items that personally interest him or her. Information is then filtered through the individual user model.

The interviewees in this study wanted to choose the contents according to what they think is personally interesting. Some also wanted the device to talk to them and give them advice. For example Pekka, a 36-year old arctic safari guide proposed an approach of text messages to his mobile to be something like this: "Good morning Pekka:) Today it will be raining all day in Rovaniemi:(. Take your raincoat with you. Towards the end of this week the sun will shine again:).

The people interviewed preferred text messages over voice for news delivery. They thought that the text messages were less susceptible to disturbances like rush. Text messages are also easier to save and watch again when wanted. The interviewees also thought that the text is a more correct way to approach people and it can even be experienced as more personal than a voice. In a personal media a user is very likely to notice a text message.
 

Advertising and commercial services

One important question concerning a newspaper’s content in mobile media is advertising. Satellite positioning makes it possible to use a mobile for different commercial purposes for example for advertising. This would make it possible for shops and restaurants to send advertisements of their discounts to mobiles which are located near them at the moment.

Interviewees had very different thoughts about possible advertising in their mobiles. Some people were strictly against advertising in their personal mobile. Others thought that they could take advertisements if this would lower the price of the network. Lassi, a 20-year old student stated: "If the advertisements come just as quick flashes and then disappear, and if they don’t cause any disturbance, then I think they could come into my mobile - after all they are useful information about what you can buy economically. "

The most important thing concerning advertising in mobiles is that the advertisements should not cause any disturbance to other communication, for example, for the phone lines or for the network. Different choices should be available for an individual: no advertisements at all, some advertisements with a lower price for the network or all kinds advertisements with a considerably lower price for the network.
 

Profiles of possible users

Different categories of possible users can be seen on the basis of the interviews. The group which is least interested in mobile media can be described as the unawere. They have relatively little interest in news and mass communication in general. Their daily life is spent mostly in their homes and they have few hobbies or interests outside home. If they have a GSM it is mainly used for communication with friends and relatives.

This group does not want make any efforts in order to get news. Allthough they would like to get news for their mobiles if there happen some sort of catastrophes near their homes. Weather was also mentioned as a possible information service.

Marianne, a 39-year old mother of two, described her own relation to mobile news: "They [mobile news] would not interest me. I’m never so eager about news that I would like to make some efforts in order to get them. It is easier to watch television while doing something else at the same time."

The second group consists of people whose interest towards new media is rising. They follow different media, mainly newspapers and television and are interested in local and global news.

This group has an active lifestyle. Work, studying and hobbies are part of their daily lives. They have at least some experience of using the Internet.

This group values freedom of choice very highly. Their hobbies, interests and lifestyle defines the contents of the news they would like to get for their mobile media. They are willing to invest to get new media only when a practical combination of service and device is available. Many of them are considering buying a new, lighter GSM than they carry at the moment. If a person of this group does not own a mobile, he usually explains that he does not want to be ‘reachable’ all the time. Enki, a 31-year old writer and a journalist, who did not have a mobile, is a case in point, but at the end of the interview he changed his opinion:"If they [mobile devices] will change how I’m dreaming, then I think it would be very tempting to have one."

The most interested group in mobile media can be described as leaders and enthusiasts of new media. They already have some sort of mobile media at their disposal: a communicator, a laptop with Internet or a GSM with news service. They are usually carrying their second GSM.

In their relation to technical devices and news services they are critical experts. Leaders and enthusiasts of new media usually work or study in a field which demands some sort of creativity and processing of data. A curiosity and willingness to experiment and learn new things motivates their use of new media.

Mikko, a 16-year old highschool student and a computer consultant could be described as a leader and an enthusiast of new media. Mikko has seven computers in his room at home. He has a regular GSM and a Nokia Communicator. Mikko reads a newspaper in mornings. He finds news, computer documents and movies the most interesting television programs. During the day he follows news through the Internet in real-time. "I can’t really explain why...I guess it is the continuous desire for knowledge".

Another 'heavy user' of new media is 34-year old Teija, who has been working several years in Latin America as a development coordinator. Now Teija lives in Finland. Teija has a regular GSM and a laptop with the Internet. Teija subscribes to two Finnish newspapers, which she reads in the morning, while she listens to radio news. When she comes home in the evening she puts on the television: "Sometimes I may watch as many as ten television news broadcasts during the day". For Teija, a very important vehicle of communication is e-mail. Teija is a subscriber on several international mailing lists, mostly concerning Latin America. Teija uses the Internet daily to read some Finnish and Latin American newspapers, every now and then subscribing books concerning Latin America from virtual bookstores. At the moment Teija is considering buying a new mobile, and a service which interests her most in her own mobile is e-mail and in the long run the Internet. "I’m really glad I have the Internet. I would not manage without it."

Both Mikko's and Teija's cases show that the people who use new media, especially the Internet, for searching news and information, tend to use other media for the same purpose as well. In Mikko's case the point of using the Internet for news delivery for the Communicator or PC during the day was his desire to get news in real time. This news channel was not a replacement for any other media but more like its own 'real time media'. For Teija, the Intenet served as a provider of 'personalized news', focusing on her special interest in news and information from Latin America.
 

Visions of mobile media usage

In the study the interviewees were asked what kind of mobile devices they would like to use and for what kind of purposes.

Among the answers the first type shows the importance of choice and multiplicity for the user. It can be called as a desire for a perfect connection or described as a working info center at one’s fingertips. This device would consist of a large amount of different services, e.g. a map where you can navigate on a very good screen. All kinds of information storage would be available: pharmacies open, weather, happenings, timetables, connections to all emergency numbers and phone catalogs. The idea of the perfect connection is based on having a lot of developed content services. The device could also be used for interactive journalism, giving feedback and having a conversation between a reader and a journalist.

In the second type, two highschool girls described a filming mobile as their dream device. This could be a mobile which one could use for sending text-messages and video messages. Directing mini-movies would probably especially interest young people. Video messaging would also be useful for different purposes: for journalism, for marketing, for arranging video conferences etc.

In the interviews it appeared that many people would like to have a mobile device to be something that one can assemble oneself. This vision could be named the individual combination. The basic device should be very small and light. The complete device could be a mosaic of what an individual user wants to have: a journalist might need a recorder and a camera, a music lover would enjoy listening to music and radio with the earphones. A money card and keys were also mentioned as possible functions people would like to have for their mobiles.

Some people found it difficult to have all the functions placed in one device. One solution to the problem would be to disintegrate the mobile into different parts, as a disintegrated mobile. This would be easy to carry around: one button in the teeth, one on the ear and the keyboard in the pocket or in them hem of the coat. Different hands free-systems would also be handy, for example for those who drive a lot. Nevertheless, most people who were asked did not care for the idea of something attached in their teeth or under their skin.

In the long run, the disintegrated media would travel with such an ease that you would be able to forget that you are carrying a mobile with you. One can see this as a positive vision, but some people also expressed some fear for the technological devices starting to dictate their lives somehow too much.

An interviewee of older generation mentioned an electronic journal, a small, light device about the size of the wallet as a possible mobile media. An electronic journal would be technically simple. It would carry news and some articles loaded into it every morning and during the day. It would enable writing short text messages and sending text files. It could be a good device for the elderly and bedridden.
 

Conclusion

The people interviewed in Finland saw the possibility of mobile media mostly to be supplementary in relation to other media. They perceived a mobile first and foremost as a personal device, which would seem to support the idea of personalized information services in mobile media.

It should be noted that possible usage is difficult to imagine in a situation where the device and the service does not yet exist. Innovations for mobile journalism have to be developed in co-operation among the professionals of making media content and of developing mobile devices.
 
 
 

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