Text Messaging Meets Autoresponders
Not entirely sure what the big deal is, but the BBC seems pretty excited about the fact that a new mobile phone text messaging service is opening up next week that will let individuals set up SMS autoresponders. It sounds just like a basic email autoresponder: send a message to the address with a keyword and get back a reply. The article talks about how it can be used for people to get contact info. Just tell the person to SMS the number with your name, and ta da contact info shows up on their phone. Of course, this still requires the person to be proactive, which, historically, is a big hurdle. If you're really going to go through all that trouble explaining to them how it works, why not just SMS them the information yourself? The one area where it might be handy is for regularly updated info, such a daily schedule. Then, you could pass on the code to a few trusted people, and they can check to see if you're busy or not at certain times.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
