2011-08-24contentmeetupct-110825124727-phpapp02

8/4/2019 2011-08-24contentmeetupct-110825124727-phpapp02

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2011-08-24contentmeetupct-110825124727-phpapp02 1/42

10 Lessons in Mobile ContentSteve Vosloo, Project Leader

Louise McCann, Editor in Chief



It's great ... for me it really hard to pick

up a book to start readin but i don mind

readin on my phone

dotty1

What our users commented



Background



The Yoza Project

� Yoza enables reading, writing and engagement via mobile phones

� South African project launched August 2009, initially funded by the

Shuttleworth Foundation

� Through Yoza, short stories, poems and classic literature are published on

mobile phones (MXit and on a mobisite -- a website for mobiles)

� Highly interactive: users can comment, vote, enter writing competitions and

review stories



Why?

� 51% of South African households own no leisure books

� 7% of public schools in South Africa have functional libraries of any kind

� High uptake of phones ± up to 90% amongst urban youth

� South Africa has excellent mobile infrastructure and coverage

� Relatively low charges for mobile data (but expensive voice and SMS charges)

� Most digital reading and writing happens on phones

� A common complaint:teens don't read and write enough, teens love their mobilephones -- so make phones part of the solution!



Early story on MXit (2009)



Yoza today



Yoza today









If friar's plan wrks, then romeo wil b

able 2 cum nd take juliet wit hm 2 liv

hapily 2geda at mantua bt if it fails,

sumbdy's gna b dead. Lol!

Elsie



I loved the book, wish it didnt have an

ending. Shakespear please bring another

one like this one.IT

WAS MWAAAH!!

Blessed1



Yoza Cellphone Stories: Basics

� A growing library of titles: 28 m-novels, 11 poems, 5 Shakespeare plays

� Genres include teen issues, romance, soccer, adventure, classics, poetry

� Some stories are serialised (a chapter a day) and every chapter of every story has a comment prompt or vote prompt

� Chapters around 400 words (some stories 200 words)

� Total length: 4000 to 10000 words

� Stories in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa

� Stories are free but costs for mobile data (about 7c per chapter)

� On MXit all comments are moderated before going live

� Available in South Africa and Kenya on Mxit



What users thought of Yoza stories



What our Facebook friends have to say ...



Yoza stats (one year)

� Complete reads: 300,000

� No. of comments: 40,000

� No. of unique visitors: >145,000

� No. of MXit subscribers to Yoza: >69,000

� No. of page views: >5,400,000

� No. of votes: >44,000

(Period: August 2010 to August 2011)



More comments than War and Peace



T z a vry !ntstng stry,really attrtz da a

attns f da reader.k!p t up

L!hle



User demographics

� Mostly 18-25 years old, then 13-17

� Slightly more female

� Mostly Black

� Mostly in urban centres, but also spread

throughout country

� Estimate LSM 3-7



Ahamoment:

Mobile phones are a

viable distributionplatform for longer form

content and for enablinguser participation



It kwl an nyc nt boring. And

siyafundisa

[we are learning]Thule



A gud st0ri alth0ugh vewi sh0rt id lyk 2

c m0re 0n mxit bk0z it enc0uragez

readin!

Lesleigh(F)



Lessons



Lesson 1: Research content and user interface with teens



Lesson 1: Research content and user interface with teens

Tip: Fofeed them



Waiting for the next chapters kills

me!

Suzi*

Lesson 2: Mobile is a content monster



Solution: have lots of content ready to publish



Lesson 3: Mobile isalways on

Solution: moderate constantly



I alwayz (H)ur stories guyz and i

alwayz learn smthing new

Sisipho



Lesson 4: Marketing matters

Ads run on these days --

see the traffic spikes

Solution: budget for marketing



Lesson 5: Users know what they want

� Yoza users have told us they want:

� Content that entertains, inspires and educates

� Content about issues (pregnancy, drugs, careers, money), romance andadventure

� Real life stories

� See http://yozaproject.com/2010/12/04/what-do-you-want-from-yoza-the-yoza-community-responds/

Solution: ask, listen and respond



Ag!

BOR

ING. . .:-z

Thandi



Lesson 6: Always prompt (and be provocative)



Lesson 7: Adapt

The Awesomes chapters rewritten (pre-publication) based on comments

received in earlier chapters

Streetskillz stories changed (post-publication) from third to first person

narrative to pick up the pace, make interaction more direct

Solution: watch and respond



Lesson 8: Show don¶t tell

Keep the pace up, keep down screenfuls of telling

First person narrative

Main characters: minimum 1 and max 4

Short chapters

Write for ³snacky´ reading

Can¶t easily flip back on mobile

See Yoza Manifesto for morewww.tinyurl.com/yozamanifesto



Lesson 9: Leverage existing networks and meet

readers where they are

MXit

Mobisite

Facebook



Lesson 10: There will be drop-off «



Lesson 10: « But fans are loyal



Yoza i love your stuff your flava is hot(Anon)



The stories r interesting nd fun 2 read,

they kip ma englsh gng

Hlengiwe gulube



How to access Yoza and contact details

Browser: www.yoza.mobi

MXit: Add a contact (MXit Services) called yoza

Facebook: www.facebook.com/yozacellphonestories

42

Louise McCann

[email protected]

www.thecontentstudio.co.za

Steve Vosloo

[email protected]

www.yozaproject.com

Documents

2011-08-24contentmeetupct-110825124727-phpapp02