Is President Obama an SMS dream? 01/24/2009 01:27 PM
We haven’t heard yet from the Guinness Book of World Records but according to several reporters, including Colin Gibbs for RCR Wireless News, President Obama’s inauguration was likely to break text-messaging records.
The whole multiple-day celebration breathed a rockstar element that no American has witnessed for a US president. Everyone, including bona fide rock stars like Bono, Jay-Z, Sheryl Crow, and Bruce Springsteen, among a sea of others, flocked to Washington to take part in the historic event. With DC officially infiltrated and the attendee estimation around two million, it was difficult to get past security or onto any line that had a Metro stop close to the Mall, let alone see him swearing in.
VeriSign Inc, an Internet infrastructure service provider, said they expected 1.4 billion messages nationwide on inauguration day. You know when even Anderson Cooper can’t get past the triple line of law enforcement to get to CNN, he’s definitely texting Campbell.
The Post texted attendees with tips on traffic jams, street closures and event times while the Presidential Inaugural Committee offered a texting service to receive weather updates and other pertinent information about the celebration. All wireless carriers were said to have beefed up their networks to handle the influx of texting. While there were some texting concepts planned out (i.e. – the Post and the Inaugural Committee), there should have been more ideas implemented to support this rising popular habit of cell phone users.
President Obama has consistently used SMS to get his information directly to the public and has made known that he will continue using that tactic after he takes the oath. This just proves that the mass public is open to receiving information this way and are slowly jumping on the bandwagon for sending, as well.
Jay Emmet, general manager of OpenMarket Inc, said it well, “Think of SMS as the next generation of the Emergency Broadcasting System,” he said. “Mobile is becoming another necessary channel of any integrated marketing campaign and a critical piece of a holistic communications strategy.”
Whatever the reason people were texting on Inauguration Day – be it their excitement for the new President, trying to find their friend on the Mall, or wanting their T9 to recognize the word, “inauguration” – it’s proof that it won’t be much longer before SMS becomes completely mainstream.
Say No to Berries 01/22/2009 11:20 AM
Do you “refresh” more than twice a minute? Do you wait in anxious hope to see the subject headings bolded or a number in parenthesis next to the word, “inbox?” Do you find yourself checking your email at inappropriate times – funerals, weddings, darkened theaters, on a date?
If any or all of your answers are yes, then you, my friend, are addicted. To email.
It seems a vast majority of the world is, as well. November 2006 Webster’s New World College Dictionary named “crackberry” the “New Word of the Year.”
Substituting SMS for lengthy Blackberry email correspondence has a number of benefits:
A few tips for breaking the addiction that I have found helped me when I realized I had succumbed to its power:
I am now living a mostly Blackberry-free lifestyle. Go ahead, give it a try. “Forget” your crackberry at home. Your friends might actually think you are listening for once when they talk to you. If you are still having difficulty letting go, there’s always rehab.
200 Million Reasons to Not Clip Coupons 01/13/2009 12:13 PM
According to Progressive Grocer, there is now reporting that forecasts there will be roughly 200 million cell phone coupon users by 2013. If my dad could only see this headline, he might roll over in his grave. My earliest memory of him was sitting on my parents’ bed helping him clip coupons and tagging along while he pulled out his big coupon folder at the Super Fresh checkout counter.
Someone who passed away in 1992 wasn’t even aware of the cell phone’s existence. Let alone what advances it would bring to the everyday life.
Currently, mobile couponing is much more prevalent in Japan and Korea, but studies show there is a growing number of retail coupons offered through SMS in the US. With cell phone companies offering the campaigns more frequently, retail companies are becoming more comfortable with the concept and more likely to use mobile advertising in the future.
With the existing ability of getting spam, horoscope readings and weather reports through text messages, it was only time before people welcomed common, everyday items like coupons. You always have your cellphone with you so it’s not like you can forget your coupon when you go shopping. My dad would curse when he realized he’d left a $1.00 off coupon at home.
In addition to making my dad happy, more widespread mobile couponing would surely be appreciated by Mother Earth. She sure could use a break- maybe give her a deal on her lifespan?