Addicted to the Fourth Screen

The next big PR trend of which has already started to take over in the midst of 2009 is "mobile" technology/media, especially social media. Nowadays, smartphones are everywhere; it seems as if everyone either has an iphone or blackberry. In some countries, people do not have/use computers yet only clench to their smartphones simply by choice. Our society seems to have adapted the need to stay in ceaseless communication with work, school, friends, etc. by using this "fourth screen." God forbid our wifi malfunctions and we cannot check our Facebook accounts and post new status updates every hour of the day! Ever since media crossed over to mobile, not only have our lives become more convenient and time efficient, they have become a lot more productive. Gaps between work and home no longer exist. It's hard to miss out on important news/personal happenings when one is in constant contact with the world/networks every second of the day no matter where they might be.

The web goes mobile and of course social media tags along as well. Most networking sites have mobile versions including: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, YouTube, Flickr, etc. According to Mark Walsh's article, comScore: Mobile Social Networking Picks Up, social media usage on the fourth screen keeps escalating. He mentions that mobile versions of Facebook and Twitter have attained U.S. audiences in great numbers (25.1 million & 4.7 million). The heat keeps cranking up, Walsh notes "as of January, 17.1% of U.S. mobile subscribers went to a social networking site or blog compared to 13.8% in October, according to new data from comScore MobiLens." Of all interests, mobile net browsing had directly followed mobile social media in terms of preeminence. Walsh states, "web browsing was the next most popular activity, with 28.6% surfing the mobile Internet (up from 26.8% in October), followed by game-playing (roughly flat at 21.7%), using downloaded apps (19.8%, up from 18.3%), social networking (17.1%) and listening to music (12.8% versus 11.6%)."

Since, 43 million+ people in the States use smartphones, it is vital for PR professionals to figure out ways in reaching them via the fourth screen hence this trend will only continue to grow. Whether it be people emailing, blogging, checking web/networking sites, browsing the internet, etc., this can work to a great advantage for the PR industry. The more our society is in contact with media/ sites online, the more opportunities for PR professionals arise.