You hear that? … What about that? …  Still can’t hear it?  What you’re probably not hearing is the sound of people talking about your brand online.  Right now, you could be missing tens, hundreds, thousands, perhaps even millions of consumer led conversations about your brand.

Unconvinced?  If you’re based in America, how many times in the last six months have you heard a friend utter the word “Snuggie” or a “ShamWOW!” versus the number of times you’ve actually seen an advertisement for a “Snuggie” or “ShamWOW!”?  If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably heard the words uttered and seen them printed on social networks more than you’ve actually seen the commercials.  Brands infiltrate both in person and online conversations every second of every day.  While you can’t eves drop on every voice to voice conversation about your brand, it’s now easy to find out what people are saying about your brand online. (more…)

Last Thursday, the Windows Mobile Developer Team (@wmdev) announced via Twitter that Windows Mobile 6.5 is done:

“For the record, Windows Mobile 6.5 is DONE… complete… looks really good IOHO and every bit functional. ping us if u want to know more.”

I’m excited to hear about this Windows Mobile release.  Though, I switched to a Nokia E71 last week (largely for the form factor), until then, I’d been using Windows Mobile phones as my primary mobile devices since I started working on the first Windows Mobile Palm Treo in 2005.  Windows Mobile is a robust OS, though from a usability perspective, in previous versions, it’s had some oddities, which took getting used to.

In Windows Mobile 6.5 Microsoft seems to have addressed several of these usability issues by introducing a new, friendlier user interface, gesturing capabilities, and these cool features: (more…)

I was pumped when I heard that the Nokia E71x on AT&T was finally available.  I’d tried the unlocked Nokia E71 (the model without the “x”) and thought it was great.  All indications from AT&T were that the E71x would be even better than the unlocked E71 because it would be loaded with additional software.  I figured this was as close as anyone could get to being an “iphone killer” – QWERTY keyboard, compatability with the new Nokia Messaging 1.1 client, great hardware and more… What could be better than ‘the world’s thinnest smartphone’ packed with new software?!  Apparently, quite a lot… Much to my dismay, the Nokia E71x from AT&T isn’t actually as useful as the unlocked E71 because it (gasp) doesn’t sync with a Mac! (more…)

I’m a big fan of the Pulse Smartpen from Livescribe.  If you’re unfamiliar with this work of genius, it’s a computer in a pen.  It allows you to record what’s being said as you take notes and links the two together, which makes it much easier to listen to everything someone is saying rather than struggling to write it down in your notes as they’re saying it. (more…)

Ahhh… It’s a new day, and there’s yet another 3rd party developer jumping on the Twitter train…

TwitPub is a 3rd party developer that is leveraging Twitter’s infrastructure to monetize tweets through subscriptions. TwitPub is run by AdExcel Online Networks Sdn. Bhd., which is based out of Malaysia. TwitPub operates a bit like a premium SMS subscription (though not on your mobile) – users pay to subscribe to the private tweets of content owners/ publishers.  The idea is that content publishers sell access to their private tweets, which can contain information about any number of topics (daily horoscope, finance alerts, music news, etc… anything – you get the idea).  (more…)

Fox Interactive Media (FIM) recently soft launched Twitgoo, a new media hosting site that makes it easy to post text, images, and video to Twitter. Twitgoo was incubated inside of Photobucket, and unlike many of it’s competitors, it was built to scale, leveraging the same core infrastructure as Photobucket and Tinypic (which process more than 10 million uploads a day and more than 5 billion image requests daily). (more…)

Last week at CTIA in Las Vegas, I met someone from “Billing Revolution“, a company that is trying to make mobile payments easier…a lot easier….and cheaper.  If you’ve ever tried selling something from a mobile phone, you know how much of a hassle it usually is.  Arranging sales through premium SMS or integrated carrier billing is a nightmare, and in the case of premium SMS, the experience for the consumer is equally bad.  Billing Revolution seems to be changing mobile billing for the better. (more…)

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to test drive three of Nokia’s latest mobile phones: E71, E75, and N97 and see the latest “Nokia Messaging” app in action. (more…)

I recently installed a Pioneer AVIC-F900BT in-dash bluetooth hands-free, nav system and car stereo in my Smart car. Until January 1st, 2009, when California passed a law that prevents drivers from fiddling with their mobile phones while driving, I’d never seen the point of in-dash navigation systems. I’d successfully used Telenav and Google Maps in my car for years without getting into an accident, but the prospect of getting a ticket was enough to convince me to change my mind. (more…)

Today, I’m excited to launch SocializeMobilize.com.  On it, I’ll be publishing articles about social media, web 2.0, mobile, and mobile and web convergence.  You’ll also find all of the legacy content from my former blog, socialmedia.vox.com, which I started in 2006.  Under “services” tab, you’ll find more information about me and the consulting practice I’ve been running since 2003.

Why did I start a new blog when I already had one?

In 2006, I started a blog about social media and mobile on Vox, a community powered, free blogging platform run by SixApart.  I originally started blogging as an online experiment, prompted by conversations I had with colleagues at SplashData, who I met while consulting at Palm, Inc.  SplashData made a mobile blogging platform that was acquired by SixApart, and they encouraged me to try Vox, which had just launched.  Interested in the socialization of the web, and curious about blogging, I used Vox as a way to express my thoughts and start conversations about web 2.0 and, occasionally, mobile convergence. (more…)