With a little help from our Washington DC compatriots, the EchoDitto NY office headed over to the Personal Democracy Forum Conference, held last week, to check out some emerging trends in the political-technology space.

You may have noticed that we're a little mobile obsessed around here, so it's fitting that, for me, one of the more interesting break out sessions was TxtMessaging and Mobile Politics.

The session pretty quickly turned to discussing exactly how (and how not) to get a mobile campaign up and running. I knew you were wondering, so I compiled a few of the DOs and DON'Ts for you:

• DO make your campaign have a very specific, immediately actionable message. Whether you're Bono from U2 telling everyone to text support for OXFAM, or you want to stop the innocent killing of cute little seals, make sure your message is compelling enough to get people to send an SMS right now.
• DO make use of an SMS short code. A short code is the 4,5, or (very soon) 6 digit number that people can send a text to and get some sort of response. You might be familiar with sending a text to 46645 (GOOGL) and getting back all sorts of information. Setting up a short code can be expensive - as much as $1,000 per month just for the right to use a specific code. (UsShortCodes.com distributes them in the US.)
• DON'T spam people. Not only do people hate this, but you'll very quickly get your short code shut down by the major cell networks. Make sure you give your supporters ample opportunity to opt out or stop receiving your text messages at any time.
• DON'T send bulk SMS messages via an email gateway (like 5551234567@mobile.att.net). This is another sure-fire way to get your campaign banned from the major cell networks.

I also had a chance to chat with another panel speaker, Dan Weaver, about fundraising via SMS. Accepting donations directly from a cell phone is a fairly new technology and, according to Dan, there are two primary players today:

• Premium SMS (PSMS) allows people to text a message to a short code, and a donation charge (up to $10) will appear directly on your phone bill. Beware, there is a huge price for this - 40 to 50% of every donation is taken by the cell carriers.
• PayPal is now allowing mobile money transfers with its new service, PayPal Mobile. I'll leave the details as to how exactly this works to others, but I'll add that I've tried this out, and Dan and I agree that there is a high barrier to entry for anyone who wants to give an on the spot donation.
  In order to give, you have to register your mobile phone number (even if you already have a PayPal account), which requires access to a computer, followed by a multi-step opt-in process. It's a great idea, and gets around the hefty premium SMS fees, but I think it's in need of a little refinement before it's ready to for your nation-wide campaign.

So there are still a few kinks that need to be ironed out with accepting donations directly from a mobile phone, but worry not - there are stills tons of ways to engage your audience today via SMS.

Ringtones, wallpapers, and even video can be sent over SMS. New services are popping up every day. If you need ideas, or are just looking for more mobile information, check out MOPocket. Justin Oberman, the moderator of the panel, regularly updates MOPocket with the latest and greatest in the mobile world.

You better jump on the mobile band wagon. It's here to stay, getting better every day, and I think it will be a major force for political and grass roots organizations in the next year.