Wireless Web Uber-Users

The recent Pew Internet & American Life Project report on Wireless Internet Access paints a picture of a growing base of heavily connected, well educated, and higher-income Americans who are connected to the web from everywhere.

One of the interesting demographic facts in this report is that these uber-users are much less white than are wired internet users. While 79% of all other internet users are white, only 67% of wireless web users are white. Blacks and Hispanics make up almost twice the percentage of wireless web users than they do of "all other" web users. Is the cutting edge color-blind? Wouldn't that be nice?

Growth in wireless web use has doubled in two years, from 10% in January of 2005 to 19% now. Is your organization planning to make its content available to these new faster-paced, wealthier users? Check The Weather Channel to see the tools they have available.

Nonprofits can benefit from this trend. Obvious examples include those with a physical presence who can attract visitors (churches, museums, etc.) or who need to mobilize crowds in a hurry. Preparing web pages for use by cell phones and PDA's isn't easy, however. According to Wikipedia, "The Mobile Web primarily utilises lightweight pages written in Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) or Wireless Markup Language (WML) to deliver content to mobile devices." If you think there is some potential for your organization, it's worth the 10 minutes it will take to read the entire Wikipedia entry. Then, point your favorite developer to W3C's Mobile Web Initiative.

If you're already delivering content to mobile web users, please txt us or email us and tell us what you're doing.

Rick...