Hubbing in the mobile era

For those of you who do not know what a Hubpage is, you are currently looking at one. Hubpage.com is a place where writers come and write articles about topics that they have a passion for. These article hosted on Hubpages.com are called Hubs. There are thousands of Hubs on all manner of topics, from How to guides to product reviews, from personal stories to recipes. There is a whole host of information available on Hubpages.com and thousands of writers with varying levels of skill come together and write about whatever they want.

There are many writers on here who make money via Hubpages advertising scheme and from commissions earned by selling products through their Hubs. Hubpages is a great place to come to find information about any given topic. It is also a great place to come to provide information on any given topic.

Writing is a great way to make money online and it is also a fun way of making money. Hubpages provides a fantastic platform for publishing your artices, poems, stories, product reviews, recipes and pretty much any other form of writing that you can provide.

That is enough information now about what Hubpages.com is about. Now it is time to talk about Hubbing in the mobile era.

I have been a member of Hubpages for over 5 years now and have seen some highs and some lows. I have seen the effects that Google has had on websites like Hubpages when they have updated their search algorithms and changed their peramaters to cut down on the duplicate content and low quality content. Hubpages has had some dark days over the last five years but the company has battled through and won out each time. There have been many sites similar to Hubpages but a lot of them have failed and disappeared into obscurity.

Hubpages has survived because of a number of factors including having a sound business plan, being adaptable and ensuring its writers have plenty of resources availabe to use to create very high quality Hubs. Hubpages knows that the writers are very important and they need to be kept up to date on what is acceptable and what is not.

Hubpages is always trying to push the boundaries and fine new and exciting ways of getting their writers Hubs to be interactive and dynamic as well as having a great online presence.

One of the things that I think makes Hubpages stay ahead of the competition is that it is very easy to create Hubpages while you are ön the go". It is quite easy to create a Hubpage using a laptop, a tablet computer and even some smart phones,

This particuar Huboage is being written on a tablet computer. I am writing this Hub using the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10,1 inch. I have in the past written several Hubs using my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smart phone (for those who do not know the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a sort of mobile phone/tablet hybris, commonly referred to as a phablet).

When I first started Hubbing 5 years ago I would often find that I would be out and about when the inspiration for a Hub would strike. Unfortunately I do not have a great memory so theHub would end up not being written because I forgot what the inspired idea for a Hub was. I began writing Hubs while I was at University. I often got great ideas for a Hub while Iwas sat in a coffee shop working on my studies (or at the pub relaxing after my studies), I would see, or hear something and would think, "hey! That would be a great idea for a Hub." I would then finnish my coffee and completely forget what the idea was (or finnish my beer and completey forget where I lived).

I know what you are thinking. "Why didn't you just write the idea down?"

I tried that. I found that quite often I would either forget to write the idea down even though I started carrying a pencil and note pad around with me. Or I would write the idea down and leave the note pad at the coffee shop (or pub). Or I would get home, read the idea I had for a Hub and forget exactly why it was such a good idea (ideas generated at a pub are not always the best. I once noted down in my note pad a great idea for a Hub. Unfortunately, the next morning, I found that I could not understand what I had written on the page).

Even when I did manage to write down an idea and remember to get it home with me I often forgot exactly what inspired me to write down the idea and why it would make a great Hub. For example, I once noted down on my note pad an idea for a Hub that went like this, " Idea for a Hub: Bacon flavoured peanuts". I couldn't remember the context or the inspiration and ended up writing no Hub about Bacon flavoured peanuts.

Over the years mobile technology has come along in leapsand bounds. I am pretty sure that the smart phone that I currently own is more powerful than the laptop I owned five years ago. Mobile phones have evolved to such a degree that it is like carrying a mini computer around in your pocket. Some of the features that smart phones commonly have not include, a powerful camera, sat nav, emails, the ability to surf the net, tons of social media capabilities (facebook and twitter), pretty powerful office software (the ability to create; spreadsheets, power point presentations, text documents etc), the ability to watch movies and Tv shows (god bless Netflix), you can even ring people with them.

With the above mentioned capabilities it is very easy to sit in a coffee shop, get a grreat idea for a Hub and then create said Hub there and then on your mobile phone. This means that no matter where you are if inspiration comes a knocking you have the ability to create a Hub there in the palm of your hand.

Tablets are another form of mobile technology that can be used to create Hubs where ever you are. Tablets have not been around for very long but are extremely useful to Hubbers especially those that make a living from Hubpages. It is far easier to create a Hub using a Tablet (especially if you get yourself a bluetooth keyboard to go with it) than it is to create a Hub on a smart phone. The screen is bigger, it is easier to type and they tend to be much more powerful than a smartphone. It is far easier to type over 1000 words on a tablet than it is to do so on a smartphone,

If you like to write a lot of Hubs then it is important to you to have a means of writing those Hubs when you are out of your house. The two main choices for Hub creation tend to be a laptop or a tablet. Before Tablets were created the humble laptop would be the "go to" choice but that is not quite the case any more. Tablets are starting to take over.

When I was at University it was a very common site to see loads of students sat in a coffee shop, drinking coffee and staring at their laptops. These were the days when free WiFi in coffee shops and other such businesses was just begginning. Many students would be there for hours tapping away at their laptops and using the free WiFi. The coffee shops also allowed the laptops to be plugged in at the mains to keep them charged.

I recently went into my local Starbucks and found onlyone guy sat with a laptop. Every other person who was doing some kind of work was sat there using a Tablet. I started analysing why so many people were opting to use a Tablet to do their work in a coffee shop. I came up with several theories as to why this is.

Firstly, I believe that Tablets are the new thing, there is a kind of novelty attached to them because they are so new and they are the latest must have gadget. So many people own a Tablet now so they use them instead of their laptops. They may not be as multifacited as a laptop, and they may not be as powerful as a laptop but they are still capable of performing many of the most useful aspects of a laptop.

Another reason that I believe that Tablets are starting to replace laptops in our coffee shop culture is that they are much more portable than a laptop. Laptops were created to be portable whilst having the same power as a desktop computer. When they first became popular they did seem to be quite portable. Unfortunately times have now changed and compared to a Tablet, a laptop, is a very cumbersome device and not very portable. You need to carry a fairly big carry case that will contain the laptop as well as the charger pack and probably various cables of various uses. Laptops weigh far more than Tablets and can be quite a pain to carry round. A tablet doesn't necessarily require a carry case (although I have one for mine. It is a really cool one but it does look a little like a man-bag), ladies can often fit their Tablet into their handbags.

The last, main, reason I can think of as to why Tablets are more common in a coffee shop than laptops is that a laptop is more expensive than a Tablet. Compared to a laptop a Tablet is quite cheap. This is the thing with mobile technology that people often do not think about. If you decide to take your $1000 laptop to the coffee shop with you to write you put your laptop at risk of being damaged (spilled coffee is a big laptop killer) or of being stolen (although it is quite hard to run with a laptop slung over your shoulder). Some people will make sure they have their laptop insured against loss, theft, damage or all three. This is a smart move if your are taking it out and about with you. Unfortunately that means that you are paying a monthly fee that can be anything up to $15 per month. Tablets are a lot cheaper to buy becuase they are not as powerful as laptops. They are still at risk of damage or theft (even more so theft than a laptop because they are easy to run away with). The thing is that even though they are at the same risk they are cheaper to replace than a laptop, they are also cheaper to insure.