This is the 2^nd set of insights from a panel I ran at a grassroots mobile developer conference called OTA (Over The Air) in London in September at Imperial College.

Teen Critics at the OTA Conference, Sept 2009 (image cc licensed)

Here is some feedback to the particular products that were presented to them:

Two Augmented Reality (AR) offerings were presented – The first, Wikitude, presents the user with data about their surroundings, nearby landmarks, and other points of interest by overlaying information on the real-time camera view of a smart-phone (with a touch screen). “Geo-tag the world”.

The second, Locomatrix, a mobile, outdoor, gaming platform that allows users to design their own games. ‘Jumpers for goalposts for the Wii generation… Bringing gaming back outside’

The general feeling pre-panel was that they would embrace the AR gaming app – after all, kids like to play, right?!  Au contraire!

• They said that it would be not cool to be seen outside with friends using their phones to play a virtual game.
• Why would they play a game on a sub-standard UI when they are used to high quality gaming on their computer – it they wanted to play a game they would stay inside!
• In addition, this particular group felt that they would rather enjoy a game that had been built by the professionals as it would be better quality than one they could build themselves.
• I remember reading some research around 3 years ago that 1% creates content, 9% comment on that content and the remaining 90% will just consume it.  I suspect that the number of creators is increasing as tools are becoming more user-friendly and users are becoming more able. Even so, the number that would be able to create an enjoyable, quality game on this platform would be in the minority.
• They also suggested that the Wikitude app include the ability to see user comments and ratings, so extending it from the publisher guidebook to include user generated content – particularly from their friends.

This reminded me of a service that the innovations team at Motorola presented to me 7 years ago. It was the ability for users to take photos, write captions and then upload them. The photos would be geo-tagged and then pushed to their friends (based on opt in from phone book) as they travelled around.  So as you wander past the Tate Modern, you see a picture flash up of your friend “Claire posing with friends having just been for a great lunch at Giraffe – just keep walking West on the South Bank!”. Good insights stand the test of time and it is very exciting to see lots of ideas being made a reality now that the technology has caught up.

I recently spoke at a conference on child safety and engagement in virtual environments, promoting ways to engage youth in the design of the product and this stance was echoed by both the BBC and Habbo (Sulake).  The BBC have a policy to be honest and direct in their communications with young people who they know are very savvy. Habbo have great examples of engaging the youth to help them build out and provide content in their virtual world environment.  I want to push this kind of positioning to the mobile space too.

1. Find ways to engage users in developing solutions to your problems
2. Let users help you to scale your business by giving them usable tools and communication platforms
3. Be open and honest with them – they will value your respect.
4. Let’s start the conversation about the ways that young people are prepared to interact with brands.  As per Part 1, this is a free-riding generation so best we improve our understanding!

Please feel free to leave questions in the comments and if I have answers from my research so far, I will respond.