Stat of the Week No. 3 – Mobile usage
Written on December 3, 2008 by Michael Lascarides
One of the first segments we created was Mobile Users. Analytics reports of client operating systems break out the OSes of many common web-enabled smartphones and other gadgets into their own groups, after the Big Two (Windows and Mac). Given that OS is an option for advanced segmenting, it was trivial to build a segment out of anyone accessing our sites on an iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, iPod Touch, etc.
Granted, this probably won’t be perfectly accurate; the Linux OS powers many small devices as well as desktops and laptops, so there’s no telling what percentage of the Linux share is comprised of mobile devices. Ultimately I just left Linux and the small percentage of Windows-powered mobile devices out. But what’s left is a consistent benchmark of definite mobile users that can be tracked over time.
And miraculously, Google’s new segmentation works retroactively, so segments we create today can be applied on our entire two-year history of web stats.
So, The Stat: Mobile users are a small fraction of our traffic, about 0.9%. But they are growing rapidly. After an unexplained drop in visits in early April of this year (perhaps a change in the way Google identifies one of these devices?), mobile usage has risen steadily, up 160% today from six months ago (from ~500 unique visitors a week to ~1,300). It’s worth noting, too, that this rapid growth in mobile usage is occurring despite zero concessions to the tiny screen on our part.
I admit bias in my interest: after my trusty, homely Samsung flip phone with its broken antenna and cracked screen finally gave out on me, I bought an iPhone. Now I’ve become one of Those People, who walk down the streets of New York seemingly moderating their entire existence through a business-card-sized screen. Even as a long-time web guy, I was kinda lukewarm on the whole Mobile Computing thing, but now I get indignant when sites don’t have mobile versions. The iPhone is a marvel, and easily the most futuristic object in my life. If I could travel back in time to the 1930s, I would take my iPhone with me and say, “Sorry, you were wrong about the flying cars, but check THIS out…”
The iPhone is one of the most popular electronic devices sold in this country, and it has had a Tiger Woods-like effect on its competitors, forcing them to raise their game. A slew of new mobile devices are coming to market this holiday season, putting multi-touch screens, crystal-clear displays and better web rendering in the palms of more of our audience than ever.
The Lesson: Mobile devices are a tiny part of our audience today. But given the convergence of more and cheaper smartphones, multiple NYPL locations, and an active, high density urban audience, we’d be remiss to not consider the impact they can have on the Library experience. One can imagine a next-generation Library web site allowing easy phone-formatted searching, bookmarked lists of call numbers for easy browsing in the stacks, interactive guides to the buildings and branch locations, and much more.
A casual walkthough of any Library location will reveal many patrons (often a clear majority, especially in research areas like the Rose Reading Room) sitting with laptops, smartphones, and other web-enabled mobile devices at the ready. Soon enough, our audience will expect a connection to our digital resources that does not require then to be tethered to a “traditional” computer.
(As a postscript, Suzanne Chapman at the University of Michigan has an excellent survey of library web sites optimized for mobile usage, including an extensive screenshot gallery.)
Filed in: Mobile, Stat of the Week, Usability.
Thank you for this post, it drives me crazy that I can’t use the library’s catalog from my phone (which is no good with regular versions of websites). It would be heaven if there was a mobile version of our OPAC that allowed me to put things on hold easily when I’m out in the world encountering books and movies I’m interested in.
[...] 4, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized | Michael Lascarides over at NYPL Labs has a good post that gets into the iPhone and why he likes [...]
CATNYP (The Research Libraries of NYPL catalog) has had this functionality for a number of years, with the capability of reformatting its OPAC for small screen, mobile devices. Access this function at:
http://catnyp.nypl.org/airpac/
LEO is an aging system scheduled for replacment in late Spring/early Summer 2009. The new joint Branch-Research ILS system will have the same mobile OPAC services that CATNYP currently has.
Great post-
I absolutely believe that accessing library resources through mobile devices is an example of how libraries need to anticipate rather than react to user needs.
Here’s version 1 of an IA/experience prototype I was making for an iphone or similar device. Much more coming soon. Would love to hear your thoughts on this over at NYPL labs.
http://plablog.org/2008/11/pictotags-link-a-mobile-web-app-to-a-materials-parking-system.html
“Mobile users are a small fraction of our traffic, about 0.9%. But they are growing rapidly. After an unexplained drop in visits in early April of this year (perhaps a change in the way Google identifies one of these devices?), mobile usage has risen steadily, up 160% today from six months ago (from ~500 unique visitors a week to ~1,300). It’s worth noting, too, that this rapid growth in mobile usage is occurring despite zero concessions to the tiny screen on our part.”
Do your stats take into consideration that wireless was implemented in the Rose Main Reading Room of the Humanities and Social Science Library within the last few months? Do you know the date when wireless became available and how much that effect the overall numbers of “mobile usage.” Such a date would seem important.
Thanks
TL
[...] tartalomhoz még: a New York Public Library Labs pár napja tette közzé a mobil elérések statisztikáját, aminek fő konkúziója (természetesen) a gyors ütemű növekedés. Jelenleg 0.9% az összeshez [...]
@ Thomas L.: Thanks for the tip! I’ll look into that to see if it had any effect. We’re measuring accesses by device, which can include, for example, iphone users who are connecting to our network as well as iphone users who are viewing the site through the AT&T network. If they used the AT&T network, they could have been accessing from the RRR already. I wish we had a way to pinpoint Wifi users (and for that matter, from which access point/room they are connecting)!
“A casual walkthough of any Library location will reveal many patrons (often a clear majority, especially in research areas like the Rose Reading Room) sitting with laptops, smartphones, and other web-enabled mobile devices at the ready.”
Cell phones are not permitted in some libraries as they are considered a distraction. If this sounds curmudgeonly, please think of the last time you went to a movie where you were surely reminded to turn off your cell phone. The ringing, the vibrating, the beeping, the texting and the talking all serve as distractions from the purpose of a library, which is to study, concentrate or dare I say to read.
I understand the “purpose of a library” is currently contested and depends largely on the nature of the library or reading room in question. Whether or not an individual ultimately chooses to talk on a cell phone in a library is up to their own better judgment. However, I am concerned the adoption of a pro-cell phone policy without considering the many negatives involved will be less of a service to library patrons in the long run than we realize. At the very least could you more clearly distinguish between cell phone use outside of libraries, and cell phone use inside of libraries. The former has potential convenience, the latter can be a nuisance.
Thanks, Thomas, that’s an important distinction. The question of appropriate cell phone usage within the library is a big one. The statistics that we’re examining are simply amount of cell phone usage and what parts of the web site people are visiting. We’re seeing an awful lot of traffic, for example, of people checking hours and locations from cell phones, which is indicative of a lot of use outside of the library.
Policies that encourage or discourage cell phone use should always come from the physical library staff (and any future mobile-centric web site can put those policies front and center). I’m torn about it, personally, as I like my study areas church-quiet, and support a full ban on ringing and talking! But there are also extremely powerful cases for mobile web use within the library building as a research tool, such as running new catalog searches from anywhere in the building, so a blanket ban on the devices probably isn’t optimal (or even practical).