The Agitator

In case you were running short of ideas on how to use your cell phone, here are some ideas from the rest of the cell phone population, courtesy of Pew Research.

In a store:

• 38% of cell owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making
• 24% of cell owners used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store
• 25% of adult cell owners used their phones to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store, to see if they could get a better price somewhere else.

Or watching TV:

• 38% of cell owners used their phone to keep themselves occupied during commercials or breaks in something they were watching
• 23% used their phone to exchange text messages with someone else who was watching the same program in a different location
• 22% used their phone to check whether something they heard on television was true
• 20% used their phone to visit a website that was mentioned on television
• 11% used their phone to see what other people were saying online about a program they were watching, and 11% posted their own comments online about a program they were watching using their mobile phone
• 6% used their phone to vote for a reality show contestant.

Why do I bother you with this?

To underscore two points …

• That people are gluttons for reinforcement, via both information and peers;
• That cell phones (especially smart phones, owned by 50% of cell phone users) make decisions — about anything from ‘the truth’ to transactions — virtually instantaneous, whatever the initial source of stimulus.

This is a new reality affecting all nonprofits (and their fundraisers) whose relevance stems largely from serving as voices of authority … as is the case with most advocacy groups.

Tom