Mobile is the 7th Mass Media and is to internet like TV is to radio
Mobile as the 7th mass media is as much superior to the internet, as TV is to radio, writes the author and consultant Tomi T Ahonen.
“It emerged as the 7th mass media only by the year 2000. By far the youngest of the seven mass media, the mobile is also by far the least understood.”
According to Ahonen, the mobile is the first mass media that can do everything each of the SIX previous mass media (print, music recordings, movies, radio, television, internet) can do. All of the existing media can be delivered via the mobile.
But, says Ahonen, mobile adds five elements not possible on the previous six mass media, making the mobile the inherently superior mass media.
- First, the mobile is personal. And, from a media owner point of view, the mobile is the first mass media where every single media consumer can be identified uniquely and distinctly.
- Secondly the mobile is the first always-on mass media.
- Thirdly the mobile is the first always-carried mass media.
- Fourthly the mobile is the first mass media with a built-in payment mechanism.
- And finally, mobile uniquely offers the media audience the input tool, at the point of creative impulse.
