The future is mobile, and optimizing your community for mobile activity is essential as people from all demographics spend more time on mobile devices each year. The International Telecommunication Union estimates that global mobile subscriptions at the end of 2011 reached 6 billion. That means 87 percent of the world’s population has a mobile device, and in the United States, nearly half of adults are smartphone owners. In 2006, 68 percent of these mobile subscriptions were in developing countries, and some say, that no matter where you are in the world, ‘the cellphone is becoming the one fixed piece of our identity.’
So how mobile is your community? Our Mobile Plugin optimizes your site for mobile browser viewing. Once installed, members can engage on practically any device with an internet connection. However, sharing is limited; for example, uploading photos and videos are not supported because uploading from iOS requires a mobile app. So for those of you interested in a full-featured mobile experience, we recommend using customizable third-party mobile apps for SocialEngine from developers like SocialEngineMarket and Booya! Media. Other third-party developers have created add-ons for a rich, mobile experience as well. You can integrate SMS functionality, mobile Check-In, and even accelerate page loads with mobile caching. Custom development is also possible, so if you find any current features lacking, contract a third-party developer to modify SocialEngine for you, and really make your community mobile and unique.
