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.
