Texting, or SMS, is the best messaging option for giving recipients a sense of urgency about its content. It’s also starting to have the same conveniences as email, especially with the new “reply all” function unveiled by the social SMS service provider SMS GupShup.
Deployed first by carrier Globe Telecom in the Philippines, the reply all ability makes it more convenient to organize meetings or events via SMS. Instead of relaying and forwarding messages from one person in the group to the other, everyone in a group can update everyone else at the same time. It’s a boon to promoters as well as to personal users.
It’s easy to imagine the possibilities. Event organizers at a big nightclub could deploy invitations for an instant, secret party and keep invitees apprised of developments. A college or university could send important reminders to students, such as when campus is opening or closing. Local governments could use it to notify denizens in case of emergency.
“Our vision at Globe has been to simplify communications and make it more relevant to our customers’ needs,” said Rina Azcuna-Siongco, Head of Value-Added Services at Globe Telecom.
This program will be especially interesting to watch. According to Portio Research, individuals in the Philippines send up to 788 text messages per month, 40 percent more than U.S. consumers. How fast users adopt the reply all feature could indicate how well it could be adopted in the rest of the world.
