I think it’s fair to say that social networking has become the blackhole of online organizing. Everyone from political campaigns to fashion advertisers to indie rock bands are trying to get their foot in the door and participate in the mass movement of social energy. New gadgets and functionalities have emerged as the front-runner to bridle the unruly social network power.
Facebook has evolved from being a mere online directory of users to a platform for online organizing. Recently, Jeff Pulver announced that the Free World Dialup (FWD) has developed an application to allow users to integrate and send Voicemail via Facebook. The application allows you to give a voicemail or send a text message. However, you must be registered and maintain an active FWD account to use the application. Jeff Pulver states, “In a world where Internet Communications is not just about “voice” but rather connecting people with people.”
Skeptical that this could be a useful online organizing tool? Well, a recent study by the New Voter Project showed that:
-Across the board, text message reminders increased the likelihood of an individual voting by 4.2 percentage points.
That's a pretty large margin.
For more Text Messaging stats, Check out: http://www.newvotersproject.org/text-messaging
