The Third Screen: Now Share This

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Content sharing is going mobile.

Next to the familiar buttons of Facebook’s Like, Twitter’s Tweet and Google’s +1 comes Mogreet’s moShare.

The idea is that publishers and content owners will add the new moShare button to their Web sites to facilitate sharing of their content to mobile phones.

When the button is clicked, a small window pops up for the user to enter their phone number and the number of the recipient. Then the content is shared as a text message, including a link back to the original content.

Rather than posting to a Web site or a particular circle of friends, moShare goes as a text message directly to the phone of the friend with whom you are sharing.

The expectation is that publishers will increase page views as more people share the links through their personal networks of friends.

“There are 90 billion pieces of content going out online,” says James Citron, CEO of MMS pioneer Mogreet. “What if you could share that by text? Text open rates are 95 percent.”

The strength of the idea is that each piece of content shared is specifically from one person to another, with the sender clearly identified.

In early trials with various companies, Citron says they found 20 to 30 percent of recipients clicking back to the site being referred. One early success was a pilot with Red Bull with the launch of its film "The Art of Flight," which included an early iteration of the moShare feature.

One key to the sharing is that content of any type -- whether video, text, pictures and any other rich media -- can be shared through the network.

The California company, which has been dealing with mobile video messaging since 2006, built moShare on top of its rich media messaging platform.

In its work over the years delivering hundreds of millions of mobile marketing messages for brands including Fox Broadcasting, Nike, Cox Media Group, Reebok and Steve Madden, Mogreet had to become adept at delivering all content types to thousands of mobile devices on a range of networks.

Essentially, Mogreet is taking its MMS-sausage-making knowledge and capabilities and extending them to another area, which looks like a logical mobile platform extension.

Mike Johnson, co-founder of Next Impulse Media in Palo Alto, has been trying moShare for several weeks on his Web site CosbySweaters.com and closely monitoring the results.

“We’ve seen a 200 percent rise in our mobile traffic without a cannibalization of Facebook or Twitter sharing,” says Johnson. The Web site, which features content such as sports and technology, is targeted to males 25 to 55 years old.

“You can Tweet stuff and ‘Like’ all day, but if you want your buddy to see something, you send it directly,” he says. “It’s a different use case since moShare really seeks a target.”

So now starts the chicken and egg of the volume of Web sites adding the moShare button to achieve critical mass and the associated measurements that publishers will monitor as more of their content is moShared.

Chuck Martin is author of The Third Screen; Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile, CEO of Mobile Future Institute and Director of the Center for Media Research at MediaPost Communications.

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3 comments on "The Third Screen: Now Share This".

1. Tara Zanecki from AV Concepts
   

   commented on: January 23, 2012 at 7:35 p.m.
   This is the first time I've heard Mogreet referred to as an ..."MMS-sausage-making" machine, but I kinda like it. And best of all, the moShare sausages are free - enjoy! :)
2. Bruce Goldstein from UNIVERSAL
   

   commented on: January 24, 2012 at 1:56 p.m.
   I have been trying to use this feature as has 4 other people in my office--it doesn't work!! Thwapr has successfully deployed Share To Phone over a year ago--and IT WORKS for thousand of videos. That's what happens in "sausage making"...too many snouts and hoofs can be dangerous to the taste. We at Thwapr prefer careful "meal planning".
3. Jack Ukropina from Mogreet, Inc.
   

   commented on: January 24, 2012 at 6:20 p.m.
   @Bruce Goldstein My name is Jack and I’m the Product Marketing Manager here at moShare. Thanks for taking the time to try moShare; I’m sorry you’re having difficulty. I work hand-in-hand with our QA dept and can happily say we’ve had delivery success rates of over 99% in the last 48 hours. So we can properly diagnose and resolve your experience, please email support@moshare.com with your mobile number and an explanation of the issue you’re encountering. We’ll get right on it. I’d also like to take this opportunity to clarify how moShare differs from your service. Thwapr limits the user to sending links to content. moShare lets you send the actual content, whether it be videos, songs, photos, or articles. We’ve spent over the last 5 years building a platform that works cross-carrier and cross-handset, ensuring delivery to virtually every person with a mobile phone in the United States. If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to reach me directly at jack@moshare.com.

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