In an informative TechCrunch article from Josh Constine on Tuesday, he noted the blistering pace of desktop to mobile-only users that Facebook is experiencing. According to Facebook’s 10-Q SEC document 102MM people accessed Facebook solely from mobile in June (roughly 10% of the 955MM total) which constitutes a 23% jump from the 83MM reported in March.

The challenges are pretty obvious. A smaller screen equals less display ads and fewer opportunities to compromise value for ad real estate. But isn’t that what this entire ad revolution is about? Isn’t it about finding better ways to evolve the brand-to-consumer connection that involve more value for the consumer? Obviously, brands have learned that content is king – and many have developed internal publishing efforts, work directly with external publishers or perhaps even acquire publisher platforms (I believe this will become more prevalent in the future, it’s way too fragmented for long term stability). But there’s more to this revolution, and I believe we’re just getting started and mobile is forcing the pace of innovation.

When apps really started to take off many said ‘apps will replace websites’ – right, just like social replaced email. And thus, rightfully so, many brands started to play in the app space. I believe there is still a lot of ‘value’ to be discovered between brands and consumers in this space. But, apps aren’t the ‘solve’ here either – just a component.

Facebook, in my humble opinion, has the most high-profile and high-stakes incentive to innovate on the mobile revenue challenge now driven by pressure from it’s public offering and ownership. So perhaps those geniuses will figure something out first and perhaps it lies in gifting or another form of mobile revenue not entirely obvious at the moment – I’m not saying I have the answer, does anyone?

Jason Small
Social Media and the Big W
Founder
www.SocialMediaandtheBigW.com

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