Mobile Connectivity Solutions for Social Media
November 18th, 2008 . by 21st Century DadI love technology and technology loves me. I’m the guy who walks in the room and the computer refuses to do the thing that made you call tech support in the first place. There are more computers than people in my house. I’ve been online longer than most MySpace users have been alive. You would think I have some sort of crazy smart phone, but I don’t. I use a very basic Samsung M300. It’s the free phone you get when you sign up.
Going Mobile
Can you effectively stay connected to social media with a basic cell phone and a generous (unlimited) text messaging plan? Facebook and Twitter have the functionality, but is it still cool, interesting, fun, and effective on a basic phone with a tiny screen and no QWERTY keypad? I’ve set up mobile access to my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Follow me and find out how effective it is.
Why am I doing this? Being a dad takes a lot of my time. My computer time is limited. I’m looking for the pebbles and the grains of sand to squeeze between the boulders. Using public transit means waiting and sitting. When I don’t feel like listening to music or watching a video podcast, I can send tweets and check in with Facebook.
Facebook Text Messaging Options
Send Text to 32665 (FBOOK)
| What do you want to do? | Send Text |
|---|---|
| Update status | is at john’s party |
| Message | msg john smith whats up? |
| Get profile info | srch john smith |
| Get cell phone # | cell john smith |
| Wall post | wall john smith happy bday |
| Poke | poke john smith |
| Add a friend | add john smith |
| Write a note | note this is a mobile note |
| Comment on your status | comment status followup |
You don’t even have to type in your friend’s full name to send a message, get profile info, poke, write on their wall. You can type just enough to uniquely identify that person. For example, if I wanted to send a msg to Ernesto Brown, I can just enter “msg ernesto b hey, what’s up brownie?”
You can also set up which notifications go to your phone. Currently, I have messages, pokes, and status updates of a few select friends going to my phone.
Twitter Commands
Send texts to 40404
The offical Twitter Commands can be found in their help pages. Twitter is well-suited for text messaging since your tweets need to be 140 characters or less. You definitely want to fine-tune which events trigger a notification. You will get a LOT of text messages if you don’t pare it down to essential information. I only have direct messages going to my phone for now.
A New Paradigm
Accessing email on my phone is an exercise in frustration, but so far, the mobile versions of Twitter and Facebook have been good to me. If you really need to get in touch with me, sending me messages through Facebook and/or Twitter is, in some cases, more effective than calling, emailing, or instant messaging me.
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21st Century Dad has always been about being a dad and doing it the best you can. I’m a daddy blogger who happens to care about photography a little bit more than the average dad (I’m not saying every dad doesn’t want great pictures of his children). It would be unfair to keep my mouth shut about it. A blog’s value is in the writer’s personal stamp.