When you receive an email with the words “Sent From My Mobile Device” at the bottom, are you more inclined to forgive typos? A recent experiment about mobile email signatures asked participants that question.

The results, and more, in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Mobile mistakes: Writing for his blog Collision Detection, author and Wired columnist Clive Thompson reports on a recent experiment that gauges our acceptance of typos and other common mistakes in mobile messages. As part of the study, four groups of students were presented with an email from a fictitious HR director of a large accounting firm. Two of the messages contained no grammatical errors; two had the same meaning, but contained several typographical mistakes. Two groups of students read the emails as if they had been sent from a computer. The other two groups of students saw the same messages with the words “Sent from iPhone” typed into the signature. Thompson says the students found the grammatically incorrect email sent from the mobile device nearly as credible as the grammatically correct message sent via the computer. In almost all cases, the students seemed willing to overlook the mistakes when it was clear that they were made on a mobile device. Does your phone have a “Sent From My Mobile Device” disclaimer in its email signature?

Audience participation: Live shows and annual conferences are a big part of the association experience. Online tech magazine PSFK considers the many ways technology is improving audience collaboration and participation at events. A mobile phone app called Wham City Lights lets audience members sync the backlit screens on their mobile devices to the beat of live performances, creating a Technicolor light show. The article suggests several other ways to use the app during live events. “A technology like this not only makes concerts more participatory and dazzling, but it could also be adopted for marketing stunts like flashmobs of phones that all light up with a message, similar to how football marching bands reform themselves into different shapes, only with people holding up color-changing phones instead,” reports PSFK. How might your association embrace similar technologies for its next event?

Take a cue from sales: Can your association benefit from better digital outreach? Technology blog Search Engine Watch rounds up a list of successful sales techniques that could inform your online content marketing efforts. For one, writer Simon Penson says, commit to “understanding your target.” Have a conversation with your members, and don’t be afraid to close the deal. “The distribution of content has come a long way in a very short space of time, but core to the technical process is the fact that, ultimately, it is about relationships with people,” writes Penson, managing director of Zazzle Media. “And that’s something we’ve all been working on for a long time.”

What are you reading today? Let us know in the comments.

(iStockphoto/Thinkstock)