Download - 10 Lessons in Mobile Content
10 Lessons in Mobile Content
Steve Vosloo, Project LeaderLouise McCann, Editor in Chief
“It's great ... for me it really hard to pick up a book to start readin but i don mind readin on my phone”dotty1
What our users commented
Background
The Yoza Project
• Yoza enables reading, writing and engagement via mobile phones
• South African project launched August 2009, initially funded by the Shuttleworth Foundation
• Through Yoza, short stories, poems and classic literature are published on mobile phones (MXit and on a mobisite -- a website for mobiles)
• Highly interactive: users can comment, vote, enter writing competitions and review stories
Why?
• 51% of South African households own no leisure books
• 7% of public schools in South Africa have functional libraries of any kind
• High uptake of phones – up to 90% amongst urban youth
• South Africa has excellent mobile infrastructure and coverage
• Relatively low charges for mobile data (but expensive voice and SMS charges)
• Most digital reading and writing happens on phones
• A common complaint: “teens don't read and write enough, teens love their mobile phones” -- so make phones part of the solution!
Early story on MXit (2009)
Yoza today
Yoza today
“If friar's plan wrks, then romeo wil b able 2 cum nd take juliet wit hm 2 liv hapily 2geda at mantua bt if it fails, sumbdy's gna b dead. Lol!”Elsie
“I loved the book, wish it didnt have an ending. Shakespear please bring another one like this one. IT WAS MWAAAH!!”Blessed1
Yoza Cellphone Stories: Basics
• A growing library of titles: 28 m-novels, 11 poems, 5 Shakespeare plays
• Genres include teen issues, romance, soccer, adventure, “classics”, poetry
• Some stories are serialised (a chapter a day) and every chapter of every story has a comment prompt or vote prompt
• Chapters around 400 words (some stories 200 words)
• Total length: 4000 to 10000 words
• Stories in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa
• Stories are free but costs for mobile data (about 7c per chapter)
• On MXit all comments are moderated before going live
• Available in South Africa and Kenya on Mxit
What users thought of Yoza stories
What our Facebook friends have to say ...
Yoza stats (one year)
• Complete reads: 300,000
• No. of comments: 40,000
• No. of unique visitors: >145,000
• No. of MXit subscribers to Yoza: >69,000
• No. of page views: >5,400,000
• No. of votes: >44,000
(Period: August 2010 to August 2011)
More comments than War and Peace
“T z a vry !ntstng stry,really attrtz da a attns f da reader.k!p t up”L!hle
User demographics
• Mostly 18-25 years old, then 13-17
• Slightly more female
• Mostly Black
• Mostly in urban centres, but also spread throughout country
• Estimate LSM 3-7
“Aha” moment:
Mobile phones are a viable distribution platform for longer form content and for enabling user participation
“It kwl an nyc nt boring. And siyafundisa” [we are learning]Thule
“A gud st0ri alth0ugh vewi sh0rt id lyk 2 c m0re 0n mxit bk0z it enc0uragez readin!”Lesleigh(F)
Lessons
Lesson 1: Research content and user interface with teens
Lesson 1: Research content and user interface with teens
Tip: For best results, feed them
“Waiting for the next chapters kills me!”Suzi*
Lesson 2: Mobile is a content monster
Solution: have lots of content ready to publish
Lesson 3: Mobile is “always on”
Solution: moderate constantly
“I alwayz (H)ur stories guyz and i alwayz learn smthing new”Sisipho
Lesson 4: Marketing matters
Ads run on these days -- see the traffic spikes
Solution: budget for marketing
Lesson 5: Users know what they want
• Yoza users have told us they want:
• Content that entertains, inspires and educates
• Content about issues (pregnancy, drugs, careers, money), romance and adventure
• Real life stories
• See http://yozaproject.com/2010/12/04/what-do-you-want-from-yoza-the-yoza-community-responds/
Solution: ask, listen and respond
“Ag!BORING. . .:-z”Thandi
Lesson 6: Always prompt (and be provocative)
Lesson 7: Adapt
The Awesomes chapters rewritten (pre-publication) based on comments received in earlier chapters
Streetskillz stories changed (post-publication) from third to first person narrative to pick up the pace, make interaction more direct
Solution: watch and respond
Lesson 8: Show don’t tell
Keep the pace up, keep down screenfuls of telling
First person narrative
Main characters: minimum 1 and max 4
Short chapters
Write for “snacky” reading
Can’t easily flip back on mobile
See Yoza Manifesto for morewww.tinyurl.com/yozamanifesto
Lesson 9: Leverage existing networks and meet readers where they are
MXitMobisite
Lesson 10: There will be drop-off …
Lesson 10: … But fans are loyal
“Yoza i love your stuff your flava is hot”(Anon)
“The stories r interesting nd fun 2 read, they kip ma englsh gng”Hlengiwe gulube
How to access Yoza and contact details
Browser: www.yoza.mobi
MXit: Add a contact (MXit Services) called yoza
Facebook: www.facebook.com/yozacellphonestories
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Louise McCann
www.thecontentstudio.co.za
Steve Vosloo
www.yozaproject.com
