The Short Life of Mobile "Apps"

Note: This is a summary of an older story from NPTtv about the short life of Mobile Phone Apps.

Nonprofit executives who are dying to have an "app" created for their organizations should listen to the following statistic: Of all the mobile apps downloaded, only 2 percent are opened a second time.  This is according to B. Bonin Bough, Director of Digital and Social Media at Pepsico.  Mr. Bough cited this stat at a keynote session at the Direct Marketing Association's annual conference.  Now you may be wondering: why should we listen to this statistic?  Well, Mr. Bough knows a thing or two about social media and digtal content; he is working on Pepsi's "Refresh Everything" campaign, where customers can compete for funding for good works in their community, by posting videos/content about their project online.

Bough says that the key for customers returning to your app or social media campaign is content. 

"We can't digest long-form content," Bough says.  "We are being rewired as a society."  And he is right.  While America is a society that encourages participation, it is also one that will quickly discard what isn't interesting or exciting.  In a way, the internet has changed from the world of the "nerd" to that of the "Brady Bunch."  In other words, singular use has evolved to the world of personal networks.