Rubicon Consulting came out with an interesting study earlier this month about the iPhone and how people are using it. There were a number of key findings you can read about there or on PSFK. But the one I want to focus on–because I see it happening more and more–is that people are carrying two phones.


In fact, according to Rubicon, around one-third of iPhone users keep a second phone around "either for basic voice calling, or for other functions like composing e-mail."
This confirms something I've long noticed anecdotally: people with PDAs, be they iPhones or Blackberries, often keep a second phone on hand to make calls. One reason for is the desire to keep their work lives separate from their personal lives.
For many, the two-phone strategy stems from a desire to leave work behind. I admit to falling into this category myself: the Blackberry gets my work email. When I leave it on the dresser on weekends and just take my Razr with me, it gives me the opportunity to forget about work for a while.
Other people I know see it more in terms of a privacy or respect issue: they feel guilty making personal calls on a device their employers provides to them for work-related calls and emails only. Or, they worry about the fact that the phone isn't theirs and somehow their calls (to headhunters?) could be tracked.
Finally, there's the fact that conventional cell phones still feel more like, well, phones, where iPhones and Blackberries feel more like walkie-talkies. So using them for conversation still doesn't feel all that natural, especially since most people don't/won't use a Bluetooth headset.
It's an interesting stat to bear in mind as we move forward with mobile technology. Because in addition to the work/personal split, I suspect that people will start to intuitively separate technology on the basis of how they receive it, rather than by size or location of the actual device. Because we read very differently than we watch or listen. And we either read, listen and watch things for very different reasons.
To wit: At Blogger Social 08, I was discussing the video microblogging service Seesmic with three 22 year-old bloggers (Seni Thomas, Ryan Karpeles and Nathan Snell) and they all had the same reaction I did: it was way too much work to watch each Seesmic mini-video to see if there was any value to it, whereas reading through tweets on Twitter did not present the same problem.
Why? Because reading and watching are two fundamentally different actions. Much like reading email and reading websites are fundamentally different than talking on the telephone. We do them in different locations using different social rules with different levels of involvement and engagement.
That's a huge distinction that everyone from marketers to engineers to user experience gurus seems to overlook, and it may just wind up being the main way we categorize our use of media. And for that reason alone, it definitely bears keeping an eye on.

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The Right Time And Place: Reading vs Watching vs Talking

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alan Wolk
One of the only new voices to come out of the creative side of the ad business, Alan Wolk has staked out a distinctive space for himself and his Toad Stool consultancy. The wide-ranging appeal of Wolk’s common-sense approach to strategy, combined with his hands-on experience as an advertising creative director, has made him the go-to guy for social media thought leadership, speaking and consulting.

His blog, The Toad Stool, is a popular thought leadership site that’s been described as a “frank but fair” look at the confluence of advertising, marketing and Web 2.0.

Adweek Editor Brian Morrissey has called it “one of the ‘must read’ blogs for our industry.”

The most popular series, "Your Brand Is Not My Friend"which deals with the false assumptions marketers make in the 2.0 space (and how to remedy them), has gotten much play in the blogosphere and that has led to columns in Adweek, as well as a national syndication deal via Newstex.

The blog’s popularity has also resulted in numerous requests for speaking engagements. A book is also in the works.

Prior to “seeing the light,” Wolk was a highly successful creative director who spent years at ‘90s hot shop Anderson & Lembke and went on to start up Atmosphere, BBDO’s digital agency, with stints at Ogilvy and JWT along the way. A New York City native and Stuyvesant High School graduate, Wolk currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and 2 kids, where he doubles as a Little League and basketball coach.