Media organizations need to invest in building a mobile workforce

Now is the time for media companies to make up for their print>web problems by investing in mobile now.

Remember the whole print to web transition? How news organizations failed (along with other businesses) in early web attempts due, in part, to people making decisions without having personal web experience? The same thing could happen with mobile.

I do not just mean investing one or two people. Developing one mobile app does not count. Spending money on smartphones for top executives also does not count.

But how would smartphones help you might ask? Generally, journalists agree that smartphones help - but they don't really know how.

Here's how I think smartphones help journalists:

Be more efficient AND produce more quality and timely content AND improve engagement with and understanding of audiences.

Be a mobile consumer

Plain and simple the best way to understand something (as an objective observer) is to use it. How do you figure out what Twitter is all about? First step: join Twitter. Second step: use Twitter. The same thing holds true for journalists (or anyone) and smartphones. The first step is getting a phone (see the sidenotes at the end of this post about that topic). The second step is using the phone (actually using the phone every day and trying new things).

Getting and using smartphones as a person - not a journalist - will help journalists understand best what mobile audiences want and need in mobile news apps, websites and services.

Communication internally at work

  • Communicating with your boss, colleagues and employees
  • Mobile access to view, edit and organize your work calendar and e-mail and tasks
  • Maintaining and updating story budgets

Communication externally at work

  • Communicating with sources
  • Staying connected on and posting multimedia content to social networks
  • Being alerted to breaking news and information from your coverage area

Producing and editing content

  • Taking notes
  • Recording audio from interviews
  • Taking video
  • Taking photos
  • Edit or update content before or after publishing
  • Moderate comments from any location

Limitless possibilities

  • Driving directions
  • Using location-based social networks
  • Finding story ideas by using mobile apps
  • Reviewing mobile products for your audience
  • My list above is not comprehensive. What other ideas do you have? Please add those in comments!

Sidenote about investing in employees: I firmly believe it is your organization's responsibility to invest in its staff, with: competitive salaries aligned with your responsibilities and experience and future potential impact on the organization, the proper tools to communicate and report and edit and innovate (and that right now includes smartphones), flexibility in work hours (the mobile shift means you'll be spending more work time doing personal stuff and vice versa), overtime or time off (burnout is not good for the individual or the organization) and at least 10% of work time to be spent on whatever innovation the individual wants to pursue (Google Time, but perhaps 10% rather than Google's 20%).
Investing in yourself: Is your boss or organization unwilling to invest in a smartphone for you? Maybe the best solution is to buy yourself a smartphone. Think about how much you'll end up using the smartphone for your personal life. Think about how much more you will learn and how better your adaptability and experience will speak for you on your resume. I understand not all people can afford a smartphone, but many people spend the same cost as a monthly smartphone bill on unnecessary items. This is the time to invest in yourself.