mTrends - mobile media lifestyle trends - m-trends.org

To be honest, I am not really a “top this and that” kind-a-guy, but recently I wandered how popular mobile blogs (bloggers writing about mobile & wireless technology and lifestyle) are in the overall blogosphere. We all know there is a Technorati TOP 100, not that’s it’s completely accurate - here today, gone tomorrow, but I think it gives a good overview based on the number of links people make to a blog, which is ‘a’ measure of popularity of course. I just want you to know that this is not an intend for an official top but rather a personal evaluation I wanted to share with you.

The Technorati top currently is crowded by (now classic) blogs such as EnGadget, Boing Boing, Gizmodo and a lot of blogs reporting on web 2.0, including tech writers such as Michael Arrington (TechCrunch), Scobleizer and Om Malik, just to name a few out of all the other great blogs out there.

I was actually surpised finding Smart Mobs just out of the TOP 1.000 (!), which made me think there are a lot of sites inbetween the 100 and the 1.000 that think mobile is not so important to write on, or mobile blogs are maybe just too boring for many readers - apart from the gadget sites, and/or maybe they are just too specialised? Yes, the ‘good old boys’ in the TOP 100 are writing about mobile too once in a while of course and for sure, the mobile lifestyle as we report on regularely isn’t mass market just yet. I can see easily however my dear mobile bloggers collegues becoming more and more popular as mobile will become more important in our day-to-day lifestyle in the near future.

So, here are the popular mobile blog sites, according Technorati.

1. Smart Mobs - rank: 1,033 (4,755 links from 1,081 blogs)
2. textually.org - rank: 1,181 (3,213 links from 1,009 blogs)
3. MobileBurn - rank: 1,868 (5,609 links from 766 blogs)
4. All About Symbian - rank: 2,833 (1,864 links from 589 blogs)
5. MobileCrunch - rank: 3,465 (1,538 links from 508 blogs)
6. MobHappy - rank: 4,920 (1,344 links from 390 blogs)
7. pasta and vinegar - rank: 6,187 (1,145 links from 332 blogs)
8. The Mobile Technology Weblog - rank: 7,928 (2,565 links from 262 blogs)
9. Mopocket rank: N/A (569 links to this URL sorted)
10. Open Gardens - rank: 9,230 (510 links from 232 blogs)
11. Mobile Mentalism - rank: 11,626 (465 links from 189 blogs)
12. Techdirt Wireless - rank: 12,632 (434 links from 175 blogs)
13. Darla Mack - rank: 13,125 (859 links from 169 blogs)
14. Communities Dominate Brands - rank: 13,203 (446 links from 166 blogs)
15. m-trends.org - rank: 17,238 (435 links from 132 blogs)
16. mobile jones - rank: 18,012 (343 links from 127 blogs)
17. The 3G Portal - rank: 18,195 (352 links from 126 blogs)
18. The Pondering Primate - rank: 19,256 (255 links from 120 blogs)
19. gotomobile.com - rank: 22,255 (226 links from 106 blogs)
20. Mobile Opportunity - rank: 23,427 (229 links from 101 blogs)

If you think it makes sence keeping such a top and even extend it, give me a wink and I’ll think to keep this updated every now and then. Please note that this is just my personal check on mobile blogs I’m most familiar with, if I should have left somebody out, please contact me so I can correct if I’m completely missing the ball here.

Note that these figures and ranking are updated nearly daily at Technorati, so if you read this in a couple of days, the numbers will probably have changed.

Note for Justin: you should claim your blog!

Charlie has an interesting post bringing sideloading to our attention. I didn’t knew the term as such but, when reading his post, I realised I was a severe ’sideloader’. From Wikipedia:

“Sideload is a term used in internet culture, similar to “upload” and “download”. It is the process of moving data between two web servers. Sideload is now becoming the popular term for getting music files from the internet to peripheral devices such as cell phones and PDAs. It can also mean getting music from a PC to a cell phone.”

Charlie made a good point that sideloading should be made easier on mobile phones. Not everybody finds his needs in the operators or 3rd parties music collections, or doesn’t want to pay another time for songs he has already on his pc - and cannot transfer them to the phone due to DRM restrictions, or just doesn’t want to go another time through the sometimes painfull process of OTA downloads - due to breaking connections or having paid for a corrupted file (which still happens too often with unreliable 3rd party downloads).

Personally, sideloading podcasts to my phone has been one of my favourite pc to mobile related tasks this year and since I got a N91, it seems I’m going to keep doing this for a while. I’m really amazed with the phone’s capabilities, but more on this in another post.

I am particulary happy with the “set as ringtone” feature I can use for whatever song I have in my music player collection - graciously linked to my iTunes on my laptop. I think Nokia made a very good move here by providing elements for users that never download music Over-The-Air. I’m sure I’m not the only one who could never find a decent ringtone ‘expressing my personality’ on an operators’ portal. Just trying to find a tune was not always a model for a good user experience. Making this function available for people like me creates an extra fun layer… I can set a ringtone from whatever record in my collection, way to go!

Downloading podcasts OTA is not really recommendable yet - especially without flat-rate fees as here in Spain, so I’m just sideloading them to my phone. I will try to download them however over any public wi-fi I encounter while being on the road.

Besides, I don’t really understand the discussion on wi-fi use vs. 3G OTA downloads. I have been testing my own habits for a while now, figuring out when I would use a wi-fi connection instead of a 3G connection to connect to the internet. To stay connected to the operators network is crucial when you’re ‘moving’, but have you ever wondered how much time people actually use their mobile phones when they’re NOT on the move? At work, or spending time at home or at a friends’ place, surfing from a public wi-fi hotspot, waiting at the airport, etc.

Probably more then 80 % of the time we use our mobile phone, we’re not on the move! Think about it! Which means people are just going to use more sideloading and will connect to wi-fi or other networks and hotspots whenever they’re available. Never read this in a report!