Just where are we paying attention - search or apps?

I like Apple's computers and phones. (It's a vice, I know.) Over the past couple of weeks all of this iPad, iPhone iNews has allowed for plenty of indulgence of that vice.

But yesterday, Steve Jobs said something that could impact how people find nonprofits - and everybody else - online. He said folks using the iPhone:

• Spend about 30 minutes a day using apps
• Are using apps, not searching

Of course, that's the number one iPhone salesman talking (and perhaps challenging Google). But some of the bloggers who have tried iPads report a similar thing. Lots of time spent with the reader, or with games, but not so much time spent on the web searching.

We all have attention problems, don't we? When we're not texting while driving, we're walking with our Kindles. And while I have not yet witnessed any accidents, the other day I saw a jogger run past, typing on her Blackberry. (Though I was Tweeting at the time, so I could be wrong.)

In the social sector, we have attention problems, too. If folks just thought about Darfur, clean water, job training, they would care; they would get it; they would do something.

Now and again, I get the chance to talk to nonprofits about the web. Social media is on everyone's mind, but before we get into the pros and cons of Tweeting and Facebooking and the like, I always ask folks if they have a website. Nods all around. Why, I ask?

• So people can find you
• Without a website, you don't exist
• Funders won't give grants without one
• Fundraising
• Recruit volunteers and collect volunteer leads
• Manage backoffice processes

Notice something here -- for most of these actions, first stop is a web search.

And for many of these organizations, lots of effort goes into search engine exposure. We worry over getting fresh content, encouraging people to link back to our sites. That's good exposure, of course -- but Google makes that exposure possible.

But maybe not on the phone. Does this mean it's time for your nonprofit's iPhone app?