Shout out to the guy using a flip phone at the top -- obviously a trend setter!
It was about 8 years ago that Benedict XVI was elected pope, in 2005. 1/6th of the world rejoiced at their new leader, and the media was in a frenzy, while countless faithful Catholics pilgrimaged to Rome to witness their new pontiff.
Wednesday was a big day that same chunk of the world's population: the election of a new pope: Francis [the First]. He was greeted with equally as many accolades and a lavish amount of praise and love instantly...
And with a host of digital devices conspicuously absent the before.
Of course, we're meant to be "taken aback" at the now ever-persistent sea of pocket-held digital devices that could overpower the space shuttle that landed on the moon in '69 and stream cat videos at high-def speeds.
That glowing sea of lights. In some way, we find it funny, and even a little sad, that at so momentous of an occasion, so many people watched it -- not with their own eyes, but on a small, back-lit, AMOLED screen. The purpose of course was to immediately share with so many exactly what they were experiencing.
That's just how this generation is - and not just this generation but all alive during this time.
Cell phones became every-where items about a decade ago, and now smart-phones are equally everywhere.
I've stated this often, but the facts don't lie: more people search using a mobile device between then hours of 8am and 5pm than do by desktop. Even at work, they're on their cells.
And fully a third of that search traffic is looking for a local business. Getting seen by those people is crucial. There's a joke:
Where's the best place to hide the evidence?
Page two of a Google search.
95+% of searches just don't go past page one - they don't need to. So getting found is crucial.
But if you get found by a mobile searcher, and your page is not optimized for viewing on such a screen, the average viewer will stay for fewer than 6 seconds before leaving.
