How many mobile devices do you think the average adult carries? One? Two? Not quite. The average adult carries 2.5 phones. That’s pretty amazing when you think about how the growth in number of voice minutes used by consumers has stagnated in recent years.
That has a huge impact on the way people access information, including health information. Consider these statistics:
- At last week’s ePharma Summit, Google reported that mobile queries are up to 15% from 7% a year ago.
- More that 200 million Facebook users access the network by mobile device. And, more importantly I would say, is that those users are twice as active on Facebook as non-mobile users.
- 40 percent of all Tweets come from mobile devices, according to CEO Dick Costolo.
- Two-thirds (63%) of physicians surveyed said they are using personal devices for mobile health solutions that aren’t connected to their practice or hospital IT systems (2010 PwC HRI Physician Survey)
- By 2013, worldwide smartphone sales are expected to exceed 1.1 billion (that’s about the equivalent of every mane woman and child in the western world owning one!).
So what does this mean? Making your content accessible via mobile is a MUST. But that’s more than just making mobile-accessible destinations like mobile websites. It is packaging that information in ways that are digestible on the go.
Mobile Needs to Be Optimized for Social
There are two services I’ve come across recently that are trying to help the healthcare industry grapple with this within social media.
- CMP.LY: a simple solution for required social media disclosures. This system addresses the challenge of disclosure for social media by enabling users to ensure that blog posts, Facebook updates and tweets meet disclosure obligations by regulators. Currently the program covers obligations under FTC but will soon include the FDA. As the industry continues to operate without clear FDA guidance, I expect we’ll see more of these types of services popping up.
- Deck.ly: 140 characters are sometimes just “a little” too few. Enter Deck.ly. This feature of the popular Twitter client, TweetDeck, allows users to deliver longer Tweets and view their full content within the client, and on the web. I would expect such features to grow in importance as social media clients continue to push towards integration across social networks.
Apps Aren’t Going Anywhere
With 85% of smartphone users from 35-44 have download an app and an estimated 500 million people expected to be using SmartPhone Apps by 2015, the app platform will continue to grow in importance. At the same time, however, 28% of mobile apps are only opened once and more than 58% of health apps are deleted after just one use.
As healthcare companies consider how they will use Apps to reach their audiences, there will need to be an important focus on providing ongoing value in those apps. When I think of the apps I use most, they tend to be comprehensive “one stop shops” – not unique apps for individual needs.
Needless to say, we have only scratched the surface of the importance of mobile in healthcare. What do you think will be the biggest impact of mobile on healthcare in 2011?
Image courtesy mobileStorm.
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