Cell Phone RSS: "Can you read me now?"

We’ve been hoping to get RSS on cell phones for a while and are starting to see it happen.

Text-based RSS is a natural for delivering news to small cell phone screens. Cell phones are already more of a utility device in Europe and anecdotal research shows us that teens are pushing us, kicking and screaming, towards “Swiss army cell phone” status here in the States.

Poynter shows us that European teens are using cell phone text messaging more than the Internet to communicate. For news, these same teens rely on the Internet more than newspapers. All points to keep in mind if you are trying to reach this increasingly influential audience.

Technology’s impact on consumer behavior is always fun to watch. But as Shel Holtz notes, we should be pragmatic and focus on strategies to reach our goal instead of the latest shiny bead that catches our eye (he notes with a new Dell computer en route to his home for Christmas).

So if this research is the shape of things to come, how will public relations adapt to reach our target audiences? Dan Forbush is rounding up a few PR bloggers to consider this in late January for his  Global PR Wiki project. We'll also make some predictions for group dissection discussion.

In a heat of masochism, I signed up for this event. So I'll be shifting my gaze from my navel to the crystal ball. One prediction I’ll make now—regardless of what future technology may bring, most news releases will still suck.

Comments

[Mike]

You can get RSS on any cellphone that can check email - http://www.newsinmotion.net . Its free, i use the service personally and its amazing.

[Kevin Dugan]

Great news. I can step down from my soapbox now?

[John Goodall]

If you are looking for a full featured mobile RSS solution for your cellphone check out ....

www.litefeeds.com

Feeds are cached,compressed and optimized for mobile usage. Saves on your data charges and very fast and simple to use. Just scan and click your feeds ... no typing.