A change in context, a change in content

In the last couple of years, the way we use mobile websites and apps has changed. Dramatically.

Back in the early days of mobile internet access, we used our phones mainly to access information that would be useful on the go. Checking a restaurant, a map, public transportation connections and all sorts of urgency-driven information was the main use of mobile internet access. Today, this is still part of our usage, but it is no longer the main use. An astonishing 77% of mobile searches are now made indoors, on locations that are likely to have a desktop or laptop computer available.

But what does this change mean? Regardless of the fact that mobile internet contributed to the democratization of overall internet access by putting online people that previously had no personal connection to the web, mobile phones became the first object you look for when you want to access the web. Commonly available in the nearest pocket, it became more convenient to use these small devices than booting up your computer. In fact, 98% of people that own multiple devices jump between screens on a daily basis. The multi-screen user normally starts on a mobile phone and then changes to a computer or multi-tasks, doing two different activities at the same time in front of different screens.

But what drives these new multi-screen users?

There are two major factors that contribute to the fact that mobile devices are becoming our first access point to online information: convenience and speed. By convenience we mean features such as the size of the devices, how personal they are and how distant from us they are normally kept. By speed we mean not only the connection speed (since they’re being used so often indoors with wifi connection) but most importantly how fast you can start browsing the Internet.

Since most of our mobile devices are almost always turned on, this means the internet is only a lockscreen away. This close and fast relationship with the Internet, keeping us connected 24/7, revolutionized the way we wrap our minds around its access and the time we are willing to wait for it. When compared to unlocking your mobile device, starting a computer feels like an awful amount of time to wait for something that became so close.

The implications of this new pattern of behavior affect the way we not only create but especially the way we manage content.

With the advent of content everywhere, a need for a simple way of publishing arose. It is this need that drives us at Contentful. We saw the necessity of creating a more mature content management system that does more than websites. Since creating content that isn’t available on every main distribution channel is becoming less of an option every day, we knew it was the time to develop a powerful solution that would make this distribution hassle free and enjoyable. At Contentful we work hard so that you can create your content once and, with the click of a button, publish it everywhere.