Mobile Commons

Recently, we released a new and improved version of our mData Service. Simply: mData is the easiest way to share searchable information on every mobile phone. You can power mData by uploading a simple spreadsheet or by tying it into an existing web service. Users can then perform queries on that database by sending simple SMS messages with query parameters.

Watch a short, 3-minute screencast on the new mData.

In our new release, we focused on improving the reporting and making it easy for our customers to contextualize the results from their users and constituents. Search is a powerful tool and the data from search queries helps our customers learn a lot about their constituency’s priorities.

For example, if an organization only publishes static web pages, wallet cards, or PDF files, they’ll never learn which information their audience responds to—users will only get static information. Using mData, queries can be compared against each other.

The other thing we realized is that people are used to querying the entire web, where there is plenty of information, though much of it isn’t very good. By contrast, many of our customers are established and trusted sources of information and giving them a way to publish and easily maintain their own search benefits consumers and them. However, one of the tough things about maintaining a searchable database is telling people that you don’t have any results for their search. With our new mData, we’re ranking the top missed queries for our customers and contextualizing them so that they have a roadmap for doing new research and adding new results to their database, creating increasingly better resources for their audiences.

The new mData is a big step forward in taking the research of an organization and turning it into an easily maintainable consumer utility. It’s easy to use for organizations, easy to use for consumers—and with the new release, the quality of information will only get better with time.

CREDO Mobile, using technology from Mobile Commons Paul Notzold and artwork by Tom Tomorrow, won a Cannes’ Cyber Lion for an amazing campaign in San Francisco. The campaign featured projections on the sides of buildings around the city with people interacting with them and changing them by text message.

Agencies involved: ss+k, neverstop

The Personal Democracy Forum is the leading event where professionals in the technology and political worlds interact in a meaningful way. The attendees are high level from campaigns and organizations. The speakers are first rate luminaries in their fields. Everyone interested in the intersection of technology and civic life should attend.

If you do attend please come to the panel: Mobile Politics: How to Unblock the Future which will include Becky Bond from Credo Mobile, Scott Goodstein from the Obama campaign, Catherine Geanuracos from Live Earth and me.

Credo Mobile has done some of the most innovative and effective mobile Get out the Vote programs. The Obama campaign has integrated mobile into their media strategy better than anyone else. I will be discussing various ways campaigns and organizations are using mobile as well as the policy issues that effect mobile innovation.

Michael Bassik of MSHC Partners has been a pioneer in the use of mobile with his clients, notably the Human Rights Campaign. He’s been using Mobile Commons’ software to win Pollie Awards and is the recipient of this year’s Big Idea Chair Award from Yahoo! Recently, we had a brief conversation with Michael asking him about some of the highlights he’s had using Mobile Commons to build lists and achieve superlative response rates.

Q: Just to get started, how long have you been using mobile technology with your clients?

Michael Bassik: We began experimenting with mobile in 2005. We teamed up with a handful of local candidates to test the use of text messages to register voters in urban neighborhoods and university campuses. We recognized early on that mobile technology would one day have a tremendous impact on the electorate.

And what prompted you to make the jump and try mobile in the first place?

MB: Without sounding cheesy, we really believe in innovation. MSHC was the nation’s first microtargeting firm serving Democratic candidates and progressive causes. And in 2004, MSHC Partners became the first traditional political communications firm to open an interactive marketing practice. When we saw commercial marketers embracing mobile, we knew we had to try it out.

When you’re working with your clients on their media strategy, what are the best indicators that a mobile component would be a good fit?

MB: A strong, loyal activist base is a must. You bring your phone into bed with you. It’s with you in the bathroom. You take it on your vacations. As such, those signing up for mobile alerts are likely to be your most ardent supporters. You don’t need a ton of people to have a successful mobile program, but you most certainly need an enthusiastic following.

Second, there has to be a need for immediate or on-the-go communication. If your organization is dependent on happenings in the news cycle, mobile is likely a good solution. Or if your supporters aren’t the type to be in front of their computers all day, we’d consider mobile ahead of other interactive strategies.

Any great mobile success stories?

MB: We helped prove that text messages before Election Day can increase voter turnout. The power of this new medium to increase civic participation is really thrilling.

Ed. Note: Michael is talking about a study done by New Voters Project, Working Assets (now CREDO Wireless), University of Michigan, and Princeton to measure the cost of getting out the vote. SMS alerts proved the most cost effective.

Mobile Commons and Convio just completed a data-sharing integration, you were one of the first to take advantage of it with your client, HRC. Has the integration made a difference in your mobile programs and list size?

MB: Database integration between mCommons and Convio has given a tremendous boost to the HRC Mobile Action Network. We literally doubled the size of our list in under a month.

What about using mobile with other media such as outdoor advertising, print, and live events? What are some of the benefits?

MB: The best ways to generate mobile subscribers are with sign-up sheets at live events and on your organization’s website. Outdoor advertising, print advertising and announcements at live events have proven fairly ineffective acquisition tools.

But we expect this will soon change. As more and more people know what to do when we tell them to “Text HRC to 30644,” the more we expect live event announcements and advertisements to help drive sign-ups.

Other than sending out alerts, what other kinds of other mobile programs have you done with your clients?

MB: I think we’ve tried it all. We’ve sent alerts, petitions, patch-through calls, coupons and fundraising appeals. We even worked with mCommons to project incoming text messages on the screen at U2 concerns.

As a consultant, what are some of the benefits of using an on-demand software platform like Mobile Commons?

MB: The platform is very easy to use. The ability to send breaking news alerts in a matter of seconds sets it apart from any other mobile platform we’ve tried.

Any closing thoughts on mobile?

MB: We’re starting to see organizations use mobile to communicate with supporters during natural disasters. And we’re seeing candidates using their cell phones to send updates while on the road. The non-profit and political arenas have yet to experience a breakthrough mobile moment, but we know it’s coming soon and we’re happy to be along for the ride.

People want what they need when they need it. It’s as simple as that.

Often that need is specific helpful, information to allow people to make choices. Parents confront these choices every day, and for the past few years, they’ve been turning to a trustworthy blog - Z Recommends - for help. And while Z Recommends has had the information parents need, they haven’t always been able to provide that information when and where parents needed it - until now.

Parents are major consumers of plastic baby bottles, which are made by a multitude of manufacturers and sold by even more retailers. Now parents are being told that these bottles might contain a carcinogenic substance called BPA. The bottles with BPA are not labeled. Parents need to know when they buy the bottle if it contains BPA.

Z Recommends has ingeniously used our mData application to make that information available to everyone by SMS. All anyone needs to do is text - ZRECS and the brand name of the bottle - to the short code 69866 and instantly learn whether a bottle is safe for a baby. All Z Recommends needed to do was upload a spreadsheet into the mData application and they were good to go in seconds.

What you need, when you need it. It’s as simple as that.

Kip Williams at DIAtribe has a great post about the FCC. FCC policies also have huge implications for mobile communication. Read more about that here.

Last month, the American Association of Political Consultants presented their annual “Pollie” Awards for outstanding political media. The awards for mobile – all four of them – were awarded to campaigns using the Mobile Commons platform.

It’s Our Healthcare won the Gold and Sliver for its text to screen campaign.

Bronze went to the DCCC for its State of the Union campaign.

Honorable Mention went to the Human Rights Campaign’s mobile action network.

We would like to thank these organizations and their partners - Blackrock Associates for It’s Our Healthcare and MSHC Partners for Human Rights Campaign.

Our clients and their partners continue to amaze us by using our applications in innovative ways. We’re very grateful.

Mobile Commons and Convio and Get Active recently announced an integrated partnership. Until now mobile data was special because it stood outside of the rest of your data and information. Now all of your records are where you need them and it makes all of your data more powerful then ever.

For example:

• If someone signs up on Convio or Get Active, they can be automatically signed up to the mobile channel.

• If someone opts over their mobile phone in at a live event they can automatically have an email waiting in their in box waiting for them when they get home.

• You instantly know who responds how to mobile, or email and send out the most effective messages to your constituents.

• As widgets increase your presence across the web, you can easily spread their reach to 250 million mobile phones.

• If someone seeks some information over the mobile phone they can be instantly added to your database.

This brings us a giant step closer to our goal of having all of your data and information work together. It immediately allows you to grow and use your database to greater effect. Click here to read how people are beginning to use our integrated solution.

Different members of Mobile Commons are going to be on the road and we wanted to share our schedule. We love to meet up with customers and people interested in mobile when we’re on the road, so if our geographies will overlap, drop us a line.

• Benjamin Stein is going to be at Txting for Health at Stanford University on February 29th and March 1st. He’ll be leading a workshop on mobile technology on Saturday the 1st.
• Chris Muscarella is going to be at SXSW from March 8th-March 10th. He’ll be speaking on a panel at 2pm on Sunday the 9th called Mobileactive: How Mobile Technology Impacts Politics and Vice Versa.
• Jed and Chris will be at the MEC Education Conference in Tempe, Arizona from March 10th-12th. We’ll be demoing some great ways to bring mobile into an educational setting.
• Matt Bieber will be at IPDI in Washington, D.C. on March 4th and March 5th. Matt will be on a panel called Nobody Leaves Home Without Their Cellphone: Mobile Strategies for Political and Advocacy Campaigns at 3pm on the 5th.
• Jed and Chris will be at the NTEN Conference in New Orleans, LA from March 19th-21st. They’ll be speaking on several panels and there will be a big annoucement.
• Jed Alpert will be at the Aspen Institute’s Arab-U.S Media Forum in Dead Sea, Jordan from March 26th-28th.

Hats off to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for their fantastic use of mobile surrounding President Bush’s State of the Union address!   The DCCC ran a number of mobile programs around the event, but the award for Most Innovative has to go to their “George Bush Lie Detector” text messaging initiative.

Each time President Bush said something in his speech that the DCCC felt was untrue, the Dems sent their subscribers a “Lie Detector” text message that challenged the president’s assertions and provided their own perspective on the issue at hand.  Incredible - even while the president of the United States spoke uninterrupted to the Congress and the nation, his opponents were able to respond and get their own message out in real time.  The Democrats didn’t have to wait until the president was finished speaking in order to offer their rebuttal - they could do so point-by-point, in exact parallel with the president’s speech, and without even having to ask viewers to step away from their televisions!