Newspaper Cutting – Doing Good by Texting (5D Alice Au)

A.     Summary

Nowadays, text message is a powerful tool for community organizations because it is personal and almost completely spam-free.

Jed Alpert created one application named ‘Mobile Commons’. The community organizations can use it to raise money for the charitable funds. They can also use this application to advocate political and social change. For example, The Red Cross received $32 million dollars donated by people through texting messages after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In addition, ‘Mobile Commons’ can help the organizations to arrange on-going conversation with the clients. As mentioned, the things about ‘Mobile Commons’ is just that cool.

B.     Comments

I think that ‘Mobile Commons’ is a very good and great thing. Jed Alpert is a creative person and he can use the application to distribute the text message to people and achieve effective donations.

Some people like the application which has many graphics or multimedia. However, text message is still welcomed as it is spam-free, no virus, personal and easy to read. It is more effective to use text message than other multimedia applications for distributing the simple information. Also, it is particularly effective to deliver messages to mass clients for charitable or political purposes.

C.     Personal Reflection

How often do you text? How far do you agree that texting is a convenient and effective way to communicate with others?

I totally agree that texting is a convenient and effective way to communicate with others. I always text since smart phone and computer is widely used nowadays. We text with others more than face-to-face communication.

There are many advantages of using text messages. For example, we can use emotional symbols to show our feelings at that moment. I can also send my idea to my friend and receive the reply within a short period of time.

How do you feel about the different function generated by ‘Mobile Commons’ through texting?

I love it! It has different functions that I can use. For example, I can send mass text messages to my friends at the same time. It is very convenient. Moreover, I can use mobile phone to receive information no matter where I am. Location is no longer a limitation!