NEW YORK ? A Tribune Co. executive at the 2011 Mobile Marketing Forum said that the future will be personalized and the company is rapidly embracing the changes in technology and incorporating that into its mobile strategy in an effort to engage readers on another level.

During the ?Embracing the Changing Face of Publishing and Consumer Engagement? panel, the executive discussed how companies are creating new distribution models around relevant content with consumer?s trust. However, the key will be to guide readers to new devices and platforms.

?I think the challenge for the media industry today is to invest in new platforms,? said Eddy Hartenstein, president/CEO of Tribune Company and publisher/CEO of the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles.

?They continue to deliver increasingly relevant stories that engage audiences and expand their audiences,? he said. ?We service today to connect advertisers with the right target audiences.

?We will play a big role in the mobile space ? not just now, but in the years and years to come.?

Mobile media
According to Mr. Hartenstein, the platform race is far from over.

?The newspaper industry as a whole missed the boat on the Internet, and I?m bound not to let that happen again with mobile,? Mr. Hartenstein said.

?The experience has to be different then that of a newspaper and we?re determined not to make the mistake of our forefathers in the media industry,? he said. ?Consumers today are demanding more relevance.

?We demand the ability to access news and entertainment information whenever and wherever we are.?

According to the executive, many publishers were hesitant to jump on the Internet bandwagon when it boomed.

However, technology is evolving and it is important that publishers and other forms of media are on the devices that their readers use.

Mobile is emerging ? and quickly.

Consumers are turning to their smartphones, feature phones and tablets to get their news.

Publishers are beginning to see the advantage of what the mobile channel can be and are seeing how they can incorporate it into their overall initiatives.

?[Technology] is only going to be changing quicker,? Mr. Hartenstein said. ?It?s not a sprint, it?s a marathon.

"We have to pace ourselves,? he said. ?When we moved the print experience to the desktop Web we didn?t do it particularly well.

?But our challenge here is to do it better with mobile.?

Reader engagement
According to Mr. Hartenstein, Tribune and The Los Angeles Times look at how they engage with their customers.

Mobile is changing the print industry.

Thirty-three percent of mobile device owners have access to news on their handsets. Twenty-eight percent of Internet users customized homepages to include news from sources and on topics of interest to them.

Additionally, 37 percent of Internet users contribute to the creation of news and have commented or shared via social media sites.

?Our challenge is not to only adapt to the content, but to better anticipate what?s around the corner,? Mr. Hartenstein said. ?At Tribune, we?re ready.

?We have an obligation to our audiences,? he said. ?We?re also seeing more and more brands embrace mobile advertising and marketing.

?There are some key brands that are going ahead and looking at what mobile can do for them.?

Final Take
Rimma Kats is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York