Mobile traffic revenue - just for mobile providers?

New Media Age reports on the next battle for mobile content providers - gaining a share of the revenue gathered by the phone companies.

An increasingly large volume of SMS traffic is being generated via promotions and content supplied by publishers and consumer brands, but currently the revenue this generates is staying with the mobile networks.

Pressure to agree to revenue-sharing on mobile traffic is beginning to mount against mobile networks. Industry commentators see this pressure, particularly from major media and sports providers, leading to agreements giving content owners the cut they're owed.

Odd Content: site of the week - Mastercare Nightmare

Marie Griffiths has a problem and she wants to tell the world.

As reported by The Register, Marie, a disgruntled customer of Curry's and Dixons Store Group, wants to share her experience with other consumers.

After getting the run-around from DSG and warranty service provider Mastercare following problems with her newly purchased TV, Marie has created a blog about the experience. She includes a running total showing how much money potential customers have decided not to spend with DSG after reading about Marie's poor treatment.

Marie has received messages of support from around the world, and estimates the current tally at GBP£220,000 in lost customer revenue by DSG.

So determined is Marie to spread the word that she's even bought keywords 'Mastercare' and 'Dixons' on Google to ensure any searches on these companies will highlight her site.

Let's see if the power of online content forces a commercial giant to sit up and take notice.

New metadata standard

The UK government has released the latest version of their e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS), setting out the official line on management of information online.

Reported in e-govmonitor weekly, this new version is the first update to the original guidelines published in April 2002.

The e-GMS is designed to make it easier for readers to find relevant government information online, and adherence to the new standards is mandatory for all government websites.

The Office of the e-Envoy said the new e-GMS will "better meet the information retrieval and management needs of the consumers and of government, enabling eGovernment services to be designed around the needs of citizens."

We hope that government web teams will also recognise that while making the information easier to find is important, it's vital that resources are also spent on making content more reader-friendly.