△ MENU/TOP △

Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
SearchClose Icon

Cell phone activism

My daughter has been using text messaging on her cell phone for a few years now. When driving, we constantly hear the chirping sound her phone makes when a friend has sent her a message. She thumbs in her reply and the conversation continues. These are social discussions of little consequence, and they’re all one-to-one in nature. I’ve even had text messages from my daughter show up on my phone: “When RU picking me up?” is a typical message.

Thanks to a service called TxtMob, the one-to-one text message has become one-to-many and many-to-many, and its use is being felt in New York as the Republican National Convention winds down. Quoted in an account from AP, one text messenger said texting “tells you where the hot zones are, where people are getting arrested. It tells you which stuff to avoid.” Others use the messages to help decide which protests to attend.

TxtMob is simple and it’s free. Sign up, add your cell phone number, and you can now join any of the existing groups or start one of your own. Some of the existing groups include:

911 Truth, “(A) system for coordination of 9/11 truth activists on the ground at RNC”
RNC (in)Security, “Notifications of Security Holes, Vulnerabilities, Weakness, and Exploits at the RNC/MSG in NY”
RNC Arrest Solidarity, “To rally support for those who have been arrested at RNC”
RNC Riots, “News Alerts for Protesters and Demonstrators at the RNC - Evade the Pigs”

Of course, the lists aren’t all related to the convention, or even politics. For example, there’s UMass Drunks, “For UMass Amherst Students: Stay one step ahead of the cops, relay party info, uptown happenings, busted parties and have a Zoomass time.”

Getting to your computer and logging into your IM client can’t facilitate the kind of instant organizing these text messaging groups. They’re new and their impact is still unclear, but the potential down the road isn’t limited to partying and politics.

12/22/04 | 0 Comments | Cell phone activism

Comment Form

« Back