The Results are in! Apps vs. Mobile Websites

We all know the importance and prevalence of mobile in today’s age. With half the people in the world now engaging with content on a mobile device, the question is no longer if people are engaging with mobile, but how are people are engaging with mobile? Well, we’re glad you asked.

According to Nielsen's latest report, over 89% of time spent on mobile devices is in apps. This means out of the 2 hours and 19 minutes people are spending on their mobile devices each day, 2 of those hours are spent engaging with apps.

Not only are people spending more time using apps, but they are spending more time in apps per session than mobile websites. Here’s what Adobe found:

• Smartphone users spend almost 3 times as long in mobile app sessions as they do on mobile website sessions

• Tablet users spend 4 times as long in mobile app sessions as they do on mobile website sessions

But moving beyond statistics, let’s get into the why. Why are people engaging longer and more frequently with apps? The good news, for both your content and your audience, is that apps provide a unique way of connecting with people through their attractive interface, instant accessibility, and convenience to people’s lifestyle.

Take the Facebook app for instance. People use the Facebook app over the mobile website because of its more frequent and accessible content. It allows people to engage with updates and notifications in a more efficient and enjoyable way that fits into their on-the-go daily lifestyle. On the other hand, accessing the mobile site requires you to open a browser, then type in the website address, then type in your login information, and then… are you asleep yet? Apps allow users to get the instant access they need with just the tap of a screen, giving you the opportunity to catch the attention of your audience in ways you never could before.

Congratulations! You’ve now caught your audiences attention, but what about keeping it? Because apps are natively built to function across specific mobile devices and operating systems, the overall experience is more enjoyable as it's tailored to that specific device’s interface design. This includes the navigation throughout the app, media presentation, the ability to access content offline, and integration with other built-in capabilities of a mobile device such as social sharing and syncing calendar events. To put it simply, when it comes to spending time on a mobile device, people will keep engaging with something that’s enjoyable, easy, and fits in with their overall lifestyle.

And let’s not forget about direct communication. Because an app is present on a device’s interface, organizations can use features such as push notifications to communicate messages directly to their audience’s devices. Whereas mobile websites require a user to intentionally conduct a one-way search in a browser to access content, apps allow you and your audience to engage in more two-way communication.

Having a mobile website and mobile app presence are both incredibly valuable, but when it comes to engaging with content, apps have the majority vote. While a mobile website has its value in giving an organization an upper hand in search-ability, apps deliver an interface that gives end-users a more enjoyable experience of media, text, navigation, and ultimately an organization's brand. This makes the small time investment of downloading an app worthwhile, as it produces more frequent and extended engagement from your audience.

In the end, it all comes down to how your audience currently interacts and expects to interact with content on a mobile device. We believe (as do the statistics), that apps give you the unique opportunity to create a deeper connection between your content and your audience. By creating an app for your organization, your content can receive the visibility and engagement it deserves.

Your Media is More Popular Than You Think

“The wifi’s down...”

Unless you have an unlimited data plan, this phrase often instills a slight internal panic. Whether it be a business trying to perform its daily activities, students studying in a cafe, watching Netflix at your house, or trying to pass time at the airport with Youtube videos, we live in a world that is heavily dependent on the internet and our devices.

While this attachment to our devices isn’t anything new, our time spent using them to consume digital media is definitely growing. So much so, that when an internet connection is lost, we suddenly feel a gap - not just in the use of our devices, but also in our daily media consumption habits we are used to.

According to Nielsen’s recent report, a continued growth in digital use is fueling an increase in media time spent. Among 18-34 yr. olds there has been a 53% growth in digital video viewing. However, this isn't just a trend for the millennial - digital media consumption has increased by 80% for ages 35-49, and by 60% for ages 50-64. In fact, digital media surpassed overall consumption on a TV screen in 2014.  

So why do all of these numbers matter? Well, for today’s content providers, delivering your content through effective digital mediums has never been more important. With this scale of growth and interaction, people are naturally developing a standard and an expectation for how they engage with media, both on their devices and on the web. The design, interface, reliability, and overall delivery of the content has become vitally important when it comes to meeting your audience's expectations. Whether it be presenting lecture videos, a sermon archive, or promotional video material, these digital channels provide schools, churches, businesses, and many other organizations a unique opportunity to maximize their audience's engagement with their media.

A good first step is to know how and where your audience is engaging with media. Thanks to a recent study from comScore, we know that the majority of people consume media within mobile apps, accounting for 52% of all digital media use. To break it down further, mobile usage makes up 60% of total digital media time, and desktop-based media makes up the remaining 40%.  Zooming in on just mobile video viewing, video streaming app downloads increased by 44% in 2014, and mobile video is predicted to represent 69% of all mobile traffic by 2018.

Key takeaway? Both mobile and desktop have the influence to help expand the reach of your media, while providing an opportunity to create deeper connections with your audience. No matter what your individual communication strategy needs are, developing an effective digital content strategy will be worth the time and investment.

Here at Subsplash, our heart is to help simplify your process, while giving you the tools to beautifully present your content. This was the foundation of developing Subsplash Cloud, an all-in-one solution for delivering your media. With one place to upload, encode, and manage your media, your content can be delivered through apps, the web, and your podcast feed - all with the click of a button. We want you to reach as many people as possible, and are passionate about helping you deliver a more delightful, enjoyable experience to your audience. We'd love to help get you started.

The Mobile Revolution and the Church

7:00am hits, phone alarm goes off. Eat breakfast and check Twitter for morning news. Play your favorite Spotify playlist on your morning commute. Check notifications on your lunch break. Pay for coffee with the Starbucks app. Text family about dinner plans. Watch the hilarious Jimmy Fallon video your friend sent. Snap a pic of the breathtaking sunset. And much more in-between.

Sound familiar? Maybe the details differ for everyone, but one thing is the same for us all: mobile has become woven into our daily lives. With mobile passing the TV as “America’s first screen”, and people spending almost 2.5 hours daily engaging with apps alone, content consumed on a mobile device isn’t something to brush off as a passing trend.

In fact, we say with confidence that mobile has become vital. With the revolution of apps, mobile devices can now sync our daily, necessary, and leisurely activities all in one control center. People are relying on their devices to consume and communicate what is useful, helpful, and empowering in their daily lives.

[Enter the Church] These are the people that make up your congregation. These are the people that are actively seeking how to use their devices in greater and better ways. These are the people that can greatly benefit from your church’s resources beyond the Sunday service. With the global reach of the app stores, churches and ministries now have an amazing opportunity to enter the space of mobile technology and use it to provide a vital function in their congregation’s daily lives: hearing the Gospel, and staying connected to Christ’s Church.

This is a call to action. An action that we’ve seen countless churches use to fulfill their mission to spread the good news of Jesus, and use technology to be an active presence in the lives of those they shepherd. From more app downloads than members in their congregation, to increases in sermon downloads, to increases in giving, we’ve seen churches like The Village Church, Elevation Church, Fresh Life, and many others find great success through The Church App Platform. By making sermon archives, blogs, push notifications, giving, and other resources instantly accessible, apps can help you meet your audience in their context, on their time.

Think about the people that work weekends and can’t make it to Sunday services. Think about those that need your pastor’s weekly blog post to encourage their spirits. Think about the people who will share sermons via their social channels and will reach their friends and families as a result.

While there are a lot of overwhelming and uncertain ramifications that may accompany the mobile revolution, we challenge you to look at the great and powerful ways technology can be used for good. Here at Subsplash, we are passionate about using technology and delightful design to help make the most of your Gospel content. We want to see the Gospel shared to the ends of the earth. With The Church App Platform you can easily create and manage your own mobile apps, putting your content in the hands of a wider audience. We’d love to help you get started.

Facebook Home: A new idea + its implications.

Although one of the most noteworthy and impactful ideas of the 21st century, Facebook has lost some steam. A company built for moving life and interaction to internet browsers has not adapted as seamlessly with the mobile growth and culture that has occurred in just the last few years.

The biggest mistake Facebook has made (as acknowledged by Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO) was hedging a bet against mobile apps. Predicting that apps were fleeting, and that we would eventually use our phones in the same capacity that we use our desktops, Facebook spent considerable time and effort on optimizing their website for mobile phones. There were a few problems. The multiple bugs that made the site repeatedly crash and painfully slow weren’t just a quick fix. Frustrations and numerous poor reviews by customers were more than Facebook could toss aside. In 2011 they made the decision to start over and build custom apps for each OS, in a move that changed the developing culture at Facebook. Fast forward a couple years, and not only has Facebook made leaps and bounds to improve their mobile presence, but they’re rewriting the whole experience, cue Facebook Home. Facebook Home is an integration with the Android OS that allows Facebook to be the lock screen on your device. From what we’ve seen so far of Facebook Home you will be able to browse pictures, see status updates, and send and receive messages, without ever having to activate or engage an app. Facebook Home will be first released on the new HTC First, and will be available for download on several existing Android devices as well. The creation of Facebook Home could be a game changer for the social network, and eliminates the need and potential overhead of creating a mobile phone specifically for Facebook.

Although in itself Facebook Home is a new idea, we can’t help but be reminded of Windows Phone’s Live Tiles. The ability to have content that is customized to your interests and social life immediately displayed on the home screen of your phone seems to be the connecting idea. While Facebook is just one piece of the puzzle that is Live Tiles, you have to wonder how much traction Facebook Home will get by being the only auto-populating screen on your phone?

So what does this mean for the future of smartphones, and life as we know it? Will having Facebook so easily integrated with our mobile devices cause us to spend more time than we already do interacting with technology instead of those around us? How will this change the game for other companies that are trying to further intertwine themselves into our lives and our smartphones? Will they have the capability to be our first thought as soon as we power up our devices in the morning and as we set them down as our heads hit our pillows at night? How do you feel about Facebook Home? Are you intrigued, wary, or excited about this new technology?

Mobile Trends of 2012... and a Happy New Year!

2012 was a great year for us at Subsplash and for technology in general! One of the ongoing stories of the past year has been the incredible growth in the mobile market. There are more people than ever using smartphones, and it’s very clear that this trend isn't slowing down anytime soon, although it currently only represents 1/6 of all mobile devices worldwide.

There are over 1.1B smartphone subscribers in the world today. The US is currently only second to China in mobile usage and experienced a 50% growth in 2012, but the real growth has taken place outside the US as mobile goes global. Several platforms and operating systems make up the smart phone realm, but far ahead of the rest is Android. Although talk of Apple and iPhones is often ubiquitous, Android growth was nearly 6x that of the iPhone in 2012.

With an ever changing landscape, tablets have to be taken into consideration on the mobile front as well. In the US, 29% of adults own a tablet of some sort, up from 2% less than 3 years ago. This past holiday season proved just how integral tablets are to people’s lives. Adults aren’t the only ones yearning for tablets, in fact 48% of American kids asked for an iPad for Christmas, which I'm sure lead to a lot of animosity toward Santa. Not only that, but mobile devices and tablets made up 24% of Black Friday shopping (which is still the US’s top single day for shopping revenues).

Mobile is changing how people live and the speed at which information is transferred. It won’t be long before most simple activities can be controlled from your smartphone, and we’re almost there. More than 84% of people worldwide say they can't go a single day without their mobile device. Could you?

A few more mobile stats:

-1.1 B smartphones in the world

-45% of adults in US use smartphones

-Android makes up 52% of market

-Apple is 35% of market

-Android has had 25 Billion downloads... Apple hit that 6 months ago.

-More than $100 B was spent on mobile media globally

*All information was gathered from Mary Meeker's presentation " Internet Trends" which can be found at http://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-2012-internet-trends-year-end-update-2012-12?op=1