Sara Santiago (President, Roll Mobile) and I were fielding questions at a speaking engagement recently when someone asked, “Well. What’s the difference between Social Media and Mobile, then?”

Hey, let’s muddy the waters even more and throw something like the iPad into the mix! At this rate, you’ll be able to solve “If two trains leave at 11am traveling 50mph, and one is from Chicago and the other Seattle, where and when do they meet?” in less time than it takes to answer that other question.

Historically (and I would say that with air quotes) mobile has been seen as always-on devices which, obviously, make calls.

But the iPad is considered by many to be a mobile device. Yet, it doesn’t make phone calls. And it doesn’t fall into the “always on” bucket, either. Or the iPod Touch. Or the Nintendo DS, even. Everything seems to come with WiFi capabilities, now. And taken on-the-go.

Mobile. Portable. How long until the two merge into Mobilable devices?

Our society’s interest in, and reliance upon, Social Media has really fueled the need to be mobile and portable. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking to one friend on an iPhone while playing Xbox against another friend on the other side of town, you still want to know what’s currently happening on your Twitter stream.

Who ever thought you could be socially mobile while sedentary, huh?

The distinction between mediums is shrinking with the production of every new generation – whether that’s people or gadget.

Bruce is a Mobile Media Specialist at Roll Mobile. He is a lover of good music, bad puns and ugly sweater vests. Want to learn more about adding mobile components to complement your existing marketing strategies? Or have a BLOG@ROLL topic you’d like us to explore?

Contact bruce@whyroll.com or on Twitter via @RollMobile.