A global network of people using mobile technology for social impact.
In addition to Twitter and mobile phones as a vehicle for economic development, mainstream press and the avant garde public are fascinated with ringtones for good. It is the one topic in mobile campaigns for a cause that consistently get press and attention from mainline journalists. A case in point is the recently featured endangered species ringtones which have the press all, well -- ringing.
This from Peter Glavin's press release from the Center for Biological Diversity:
And for this cold February day, something lighter: The nonprofit New York Philharmonic is selling ringtones of its performances on its brandnew site. Ringtones cost around $3 US, and include well-known works by Brahms, Mozart, and Dvorak. Cute.
Great idea: The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity offers free ringtones of rare and endangered animals. Download their haunting hoots, sensational songs and crazy croaks to your cell phone. Available are calls of the blue-throated Macaw, Beluga Whale, Boreal Owl, Mountain Yellow-legged Frog, Yosemite Toad, or any one of over forty other endangered critters. Ringtones are free and available here. Nice way to build a list as well.
A few weeks ago, audience members at a New York Philharmonic concert in New York City's Central Park voted for the encore. Given two options -- Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee," the audience members texted in their votes. About 74% of respondents voted for Hendrix, so that piece concluded the concert.
Vince Ford, the Philharmonic's Director of New Media, told MobileActive a bit about the orchestra's first steps into mobile marketing. "We have offered ringtones on our website for two years now, but beyond that we haven't done much with mobile," Ford said. "This week was our first step in that direction." In addition to the SMS voting, the orchestra offered concert status SMS alerts on their website. "Not many people signed up initially, but once it rained on Monday the alerts really took off," he said. Ford said that 5,000 people participated in the concert alerts or SMS voting. About 61,000 people attended the outdoor concert.
Note: This primer was written for the NTEN newsletter, targeted at a US audience and thus focuses on America. For more on mobile advocacy in many other parts of the world, see here.
Mobile phones are more prevalent in the U.S. than ever before. Today, over 86% of the US population ages 13 and up owns a mobile phone. Although Americans say that the mobile phone is the device that they hate the most (it even beats the alarm clock and the television!), the cell phone is here to stay. In the past decade, mobile users have grown from about 34 million to more than 203 million, and growth is expected to continue to increase exponentially.
MobileActive was in an article in the Boston Globe yesterday, titled "Ringtones with a conscience." The reporter took her stories from the MobileActive blog and compiled them into an article that describes some of the ways that mobile phones are being used for social good. The article is below, with links to the original MobileActive stories.
The mobile phone is the new call to action.
This Valentine's Day, forget the chocolate, roses, and poetry-filled greeting cards. Instead, consider surprising your love with ringtones of animal mating calls available for download to North Americans at eNature.com.
The site features 20 different ringtones with more to come in the future. Current animals include a lovelorn howler monkey, a horny tree frog, a lonely African lion, various birds, and many other species. The ringtones can be downloaded at no cost. And if you are curious and want to learn more, each mating ringtone page contains a description of the animal's mating habits and calls. We are sure you'll be able to delight your love there.
Political ringtones, wallpapers, and SMS election updates are part and parcel of election campaigns in countries around the world -- from Spain to Kenya to the Phillipines, from Argentina to the Ukraine. It is has taken until this year's presidential election, however, for political contenders the United States to catch up.
An end of the week story that is amusing, unless you are the leopard:
The Chicago Tribune reported a few weeks ago from Gujarat, India about an ingenious use of ringtones.
So, you want to make a ringtone to make the world a better place?
You've heard them, the people next to you in the cafe that have some hit song as their ringtones - but try on an endangered species, a presidential candidate riffing to a beat, or an issue message to be the life of the party.
You're envious, I know. I am too. So, how did they do it? Every cell phone provider, of course, provides you a way to pay to download a ringtone. But why spend the money, when with just a bit of work, you can do it for free? Besides, the cell phone companies aren't likely to have a ringtone that sends the kind of message you might like to send.
Just a quick note about the current Greenpeace campaign surrounding the UN vote on a bottom trawling moratorium. Our international office created a South Park style viral animation featuring a song lovingly reversioned from the South Park Movie. On top of that, they're offering ringtones as MP3 downloads so you can support the campaign wherever you go. These just launched today so no idea on take-up yet but should be interesting.
Here are a couple of ring tones that I made last week after being inspired from the Mobile Active conference. Feel free to pass them around and post your feedback so I can make them better :).
- Bush, “Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job,” overlaid with Arlo Guthrie’s “The Train They Call the City of New Orleans” (listen: streaming download: mp3 | amr)
- Bush on pre-war intelligence, mixed with some British rock/punk including Billy Bragg and Califone. (listen: streaming download: mp3 | amr)
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