No matter where your political loyalties fall this year, you have to admit - the role of technology has taken a far greater role than we ever predicted. Whether it’s CNN’s digitally interactive wall map, the surge of online fundraising, the influence of a rogue YouTube video captured on a camera phone, or the latest…

Sen. Obama’s embrace of text messaging reflects the medium’s growing popularity as a branding and marketing tool. In June, 116.6 million people, or 52% of U.S. mobile subscribers, sent a text message, according to M:Metrics Inc., a mobile-research unit of comScore Inc. U.S. spending on text-message ads is projected to total $4.2 billion in 2008, up 64% from 2007, according to eMarketer.

Part of the allure: Texts, such as those from the Obama campaign, have an immediacy that emails and phone calls don’t.

…

Companies that offer text-alert services for a wide range of entities, including schools and local governments also see a boon. MIS Sciences Corp., a closely held Burbank, Calif., firm that offers text-alert services said revenue so far this year is 60% above 2007 — and Mr. Obama’s announcement is generating a big boost in calls. “It gives a lot more credibility,” said Jeff Willis, MIS’s vice president of technology. “You can’t buy that.”

Read the rest of the story - “Obama Announcement by Text Sends Message About Medium” - in the Wall Street Journal.

Did you answer the call at 3:00am?

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 11:47 am and is filed under NewsBlog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.