MobileMagic: the last ever edition...

A post shared by Paul de Gregorio (@degregoriopaul) on Oct 25, 2017 at 8:10am PDT

This is the last edition of this newsletter.

I’ve said it before: Mobile is Digital. Digital is Mobile. Things have moved on, and to perpetuate the distinction feels odd.

So here are two articles to get you thinking about the future.

1.3 Billion People Are Now Using Facebook Messenger Every Month.

We need to be where people are. And right now they are in WhatsApp and Messenger.

PayPal Now Lets You Use Facebook Messenger to Send and Receive Money.

The fusing of messaging and payments is a big deal. Promise.

If you still want me in your inbox, don’t despair. You can sign up for my other newsletter, Do Something. Anything. It’s a semi frequent collection of articles that are providing me with inspiration and motivation to change my approach to fundraising. You can sign up here: https://tinyletter.com/pauldegregorio

MobileMagic: the 46 edition...

Scale of Messaging Landscape 2017. Another article which includes my current graph crush. The one that shows messaging app use out stripping social media site use. Swoon.

A (not so) humble brag. Mobilise is five…

How Asos gets 58 percent of customers to buy on mobile. How many donations do you get from mobile?

This edition’s bot article. Our experiment using Facebook chatbots to improve humanitarian assistance.

Facebook Live has loads of potential for campaigners & fundraisers. This is a great article from MobilisationLab on how to do it right. How to use Facebook Live to extend your reach and scale movements.

The revolution will be WhatsApped. Colombia's path from revolution to social media campaign. Another banger from MobilisationLab.

Those last two are a taste of the type of thing I’m including in my newsletter. Do Something. Anything. Where I’m collating the best mobile type links with a whole bunch of other stuff from fundraising to activism all with a digital or technological slant.

You can see previous issues and sign up here. https://tinyletter.com/pauldegregorio

MobileMagic: the 'WHAT?!' edition...

Erm, bit excited...

Stand for Rights the Facebook Live telethon we worked on, raising money for the ACLU has been nominated for an Emmy. Yes. An Emmy. Hold me. Emmys: Nominations Reflect Virtual Reality Growth.

Anyway. Here is the magic...

An Ingenious Texting Bot from @SFMOMA. This is a cool application.

Please Prove You’re Not a Robot. We will be destroyed by robots, but not in the way we thought.

Amazon is reportedly working on a messaging app called Anytime. Soooooooooo. Facebook are obsessed by messaging and now Amazon. Reckon there might be something in this.

What charities could teach Tories about telephone cold-calling.  Included without comment. Written by one of my favourite digital people in the world, Lauren White.

And don't forget I've set up a new newsletter. It's like this one, but better. You can see previous editions and subscribe here.

MobileMagic: the gap between Glastonbury & IOF edition...

Why you should care about bots if you care about social justice.  This is a great article that brings the application of bots to our world.

Inside the surge of social good bots on Facebook Messenger. More bots. Some practical examples of bots for good. I wish there was another word other than bot.

WhatsApp rises as a major force in news media.  From the BBC. TBH I was surprised to see WhatsApp above Twitter. But like it says in the article, 'private is popular', so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.

Social Listening Resulted in Most Successful Email Campaign Ever. Super interesting stuff on how to fuse what your supporters are saying online with your email programme.

A WWF contactless payment fing.

SOME NEWS

Some of you probably know that MobileMagic started off as an email I send to colleagues to highlight the bits and bobs that I spot online that I hope would be of interest.

It gets shared quite far and wide now - so much so that I get loads of requests every week to be added to the email list. But I'm not great at the admin as it's all so manual.

So, I’m setting up an email newsletter to cover political campaigning, mobilisation, activism and fundraising from a digital & technology perspective. Quite similar to MobileMagic to be honest in terms of content, Lo-Fi style, sarcastic tone & frequency - but easier to sign up to and unsubscribe from. You can sign up here. It would be ace if you could share it around the internet for me.

MobileMagic: the sat here waiting for approval edition...

Why Messengers Are Changing Everything. From the lovely people at We Are Social UK. Includes a chap talking about messengers in a video.

Another edition of this thing where I link to a tweet. In this tweet you can sign up to the BBC’s election chatbot.  "#GE2017 geek or rookie? Try out the latest version of our Facebook Messenger election bot.

A Face-to-Face Request Is 34 Times More Successful than an Email. Which could be why (as Mobilisation Lab suggests) ‘personal’ text based services like Hustle do well… And why it’s better to CALL PEOPLE rather than just email them...

How Google Docs Became a Key Tool for Social Justice. We all love a good Google Doc. Some of them are changing the world.

Apps crucial to Generation Z donations, survey finds. Articles like this send some people in our sector into a spin. So don’t share them on social media. OK, share them. 😐

M+R Benchmarks: Online metrics for nonprofits. This M+R Benchmark report is all the awesome. A great place to satisfy your numbers geekery.

Mossberg: The Disappearing Computer. A great article on how the computer is disappearing.

All previous editions of MobileMagic are archived here if you want to find an old one.

MobileMagic: the election special (there will be more)...

Bacteria found on mobile phone. Yuck.

2017 Global NGO Online Technology Report. A lot of global non profit facts and stats for you to get your geek on.

2016 Presidential Election SMS – Top 10 Most Frequently Used Words. Trump’s SMS messages included the word Trump. A lot.

"Social media has always been a major #mobile category, but now accounts for nearly a third of all mobile minutes.”  I do digital. And I’m sending you a link to a tweet. It doesn’t get better than this.

Syrian History Is Unfolding on WhatsApp. I think Ali sent me this. It’s beautiful. Have a read.

A bunch of Open staff are creating a campaign to encourage 18-24 year olds to register to vote in the forthcoming election. The campaign is non-partisan much to my horror. Anyway - we’re running a crowdfunder to raise some money for a paid social budget to promote the film. Please consider a small donation, we will love you for ever. Link here. I’d love it if you could share with your friends and colleagues.

There is also a Facebook page.

All previous editions of MobileMagic are archived here if you want to find an old one.

MobileMagic: the Jet Lagged edition...

WhatsApp tests business chat tools in search for revenue. Tick tock to WhatsApp O’clock.

WhatsApp Planning Digital Payments In India. HOW EXCITING WOULD THIS BE THEN?

Online action in the era of WhatsApp. WHAT? Another WhatsApp article ?!?? - Paul you are TOO good to us. I hear your cry...

A little bit of politics… Wanna Join the Trump Resistance? There’s a Text Bot for That.

Driving licences could be on phones by 2018. More convergence.

MAKE TWEETS GREAT AGAIN… Take a wild guess before you follow that link.

EVENT: ChatBots & The Social Commerce Revolution 2017 Tickets, Wed, 26 Apr 2017 at 08:30. Looks brilliant, I can’t go, so why don’t one of you go and tell me all about it?

All previous editions of MobileMagic are archived here if you want to find an old one.

MobileMagic: the ACLU dash edition...

Smartphones and Tablets Have Endangered the In-Flight Movie Screen. I know this because on an internal flight from DC to LA the other day I was alone with my thoughts.

WhatsApp launches Status, an encrypted Snapchat Stories clone. Yes. If we talk on WA you know I know this already.

Migrants with mobiles: Phones are now indispensable for refugees. Journalists love this story. I sometimes wonder if it’s because they think the public are surprised that people fleeing conflict have phones.

Make: a $5 ACLU-donation Dash button you can press every time Trump makes you angry. Finally a user case I can relate to.

Mission Accomplished. Our small role in the UK Apple Pay news. We kept that quiet!

WeChat is astonishing. Have a looky here. Life in the People’s Republic of WeChat.

All previous editions of MobileMagic are archived here if you want to find an old one.

MobileMagic: the Sigh edition...

TELL MAY TO DEMAND AN END TO TRUMP'S MUSLIM BAN. Text END4 to 70505 with your FIRST and LAST name to sign @amnestyuk's urgent petition. #amnestyinternational #pocketprotest #protest

A photo posted by Paul de Gregorio (@degregoriopaul) on Feb 1, 2017 at 1:18pm PST

Is your app the best way to help refugees? Improving the collaboration between humanitarian actors and the tech industry.  Great stuff from UNHCR.

Facebook is testing News Feed-style ads inside Messenger. Sigh...

WhatsApp: 63 Billion Messages on New Year’s Eve. You don’t even have to click on the link to get the news on this one. Biggest WA day eva...

4 key things that helped ACLU raise $24m in 48 hours this weekend… They raised more online in that 48 hrs than they did online in the whole of 2016.

Want to see a chatbot in action? Go via here.

Why Oxfam’s new mobile app could just work… Another fab post from Nick.

And finally: My new favourite website.

All previous editions of MobileMagic are archived here if you want to find an old one.

MobileMagic: the 2017 will be better than 2016 edition...

'We never made a promise we wouldn't run ads' - Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales on being ad-free in an ad-crazy world. Head food.

WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger Growth Outpaces Instagram, Twitter. This is significant news. Messaging platform growth beating Twitter & Instagram could suggest that we the people, want to make our social networks private...

Watch Steve Jobs introduce the iPhone 10 years ago today. The launch that sparked a million arguments over what type of phone was better. I mean really. It’s a phone. All phones do very similar things. Saying that I just got the new Pixel from Google and it’s lush.

Facebook Messenger now allows payments in its 30,000 chat bots.  I won’t stop going on about this stuff.

For Millions of Immigrants, a Common Language: WhatsApp. A fab article which amongst over things talks about how these messaging platforms bring families that are separated by thousands of miles together. Which is a great thing.

Key Digital Trends for 2017.  This attempt at predicting the future from Ogilvy is superb. I love the bit on messaging and chatbots. I really won't stop going on about this stuff...

New Oxfam app aims to rebuild trust in charities and increase donations. Hope this does well.

All previous editions of MobileMagic are archived here if you want to find an old one.

MobileMagic: the last one of 2016 (probably)

Facebook, Messenger, Instagram in a Single Inbox for Businesses: I know I go on about messaging a lot. I know I do. And I’m sorry. But you’ll thank me in the end.

WhatsApp and Facebook have highest usage frequency: Two messaging apps are the most frequently used social platforms. In the whole wide world. Some caveats apply...

OPINION: Person-to-Person Messaging is the Future of Mobile Communication: Opinions from the bloke that made Hustle, the peer to peer texting application used to great success by the Bernie team.

Mobile is eating the world: Very good brain food from Benedict Evans.

Weekend news readers phone it in: How mobile changes the way we consume the news.

A little story about this email newsletter. Bit rude. Sorry.

Amazing Instagrammage of an ad we had a hand in making.

All previous editions of MobileMagic are archived here if you want to find an old one.

HOLY F*CK BREXIT! (not entirely safe for work).

Some of you know that I post a series of blogs called MobileMagic where I collect news, views and things I think may be of interest to you - all with a charity, fundraising, activism, digital, mobile slant.

You probably don’t know that it’s sourced from a semi frequent email round up that I send my colleagues at Open, which over time has also been sent to an ever growing list of friends and clients who’ve asked to get it. I like doing the email more than the blog posts as it creates two way discussion between me and and anyone who gets it who wants to have a chat - something that happens more than I ever expected it would.

So on Friday I was beyond delighted to receive an email from Chloe Green who is on the email list.

Chloe explains better than me...

“You shared a link to the brilliant holyfucktheelection.com website, which thus inspired me and my pal Joe Hart to create our own Brexit edition: www.holyfuckbrexit.co.uk

We got permission from the creator, Clara, to use her design and branding, and we're launching it as a sister-from-across-the-pond campaign.”

You have to look at what they’ve created. It’s incredible. And it deserves to be shared far and wide. I did none of the work whatsoever, but have a mini beam of pride that MobileMagic had something to do with making it happen.

If you want to be added to the email list, send me an email with your full name and a little bit about yourself, for no other reason other than I’m nosey and like to meet people.

MobileMagic: The I can't even begin edition...

In a post US election world the world is a gloomy place. So I give you this (it’s very very rude so don’t click if the word fuck offends).

Why do diplomats use this alien WhatsApp emoji for Vladimir Putin? I just utterly and completely love this article as it articulates perfectly how tech is helping us communicate better. Bet they also send each other cat pics like what I do.

This could be massive. WhatsApp Tests Its Version of Snapchat Stories.

I am a huge fan of MSF and have become addicted to their @MSF_Sea twitter account. This article explains all.

As you know I can obsess about how activists and protest groups use technology to mobilise support for their causes. Here a couple of brilliant articles that feature the water protests in North Dakota.

Native Americans Are Resisting the Dakota Pipeline With Tech and Media Savvy.

'Check-In at Standing Rock': Does It Help Protesters?

SMS and driving. A very good film about not doing that. And linked to that - this from the Guardian. US regulators seek to reduce road deaths with smartphone 'driving mode'.

All previous editions of MobileMagic are archived here if you want to find an old one.