MOBILE TOOL TALK
Enabling a shortcode-based mobile
alert system, as SXSW has done, can
be prohibitively expensive. The good
news is that there are more and more
inexpensive alternatives for associations who are looking to add an element of mobile communications to
their events. Here are a few tools you
might like to try as an experiment.
• Tatango: a free group text messag-
tor for your audience. But everyone wants
to feel like they’re a part of something
special … and on that front, you can gain
a lot by emulating the masters.
Maddie Grant, CAE, and Lindy Dreyer are association bloggers and the chiefs behind the social media
strategy firm, SocialFish ( www.socialfish.org). They
may be reached at
maddie@socialfish.org and lindy@
socialfish.org. For more about The Social Collective,
visit
http://thesocialcollective.com or contact Chris
Bucchere at
info@thebdgway.com.
Join the conversation at
www.theforumeffect.org.
ing and group voice messaging service.
http://www.tatango.com/
• PollEverywhere: a simple text message voting application that works
well for live audiences.
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
• i Wall: a text-to-screen software tool
that allows you to create interactive
entertainment at your events by
letting the crowd post messages on
the big screen using SMS text mes-
sages.
http://www.iwall.com.ar
• Broadtexter: a free mobile fan
club service that also enables fans
to reply by text.
http://www.broadtexter.com/
• MobileActive: less a tool than a
resource, this is the place to learn all
about best practices for nonprofits
who want to experiment with using
mobile communications.
http://mobileactive.org/
