My esteemed colleague here at ExactTarget, R.J. Talyor, was quoted extensively in this recent article in the NY Times "Bits" blog. He talks about Obama's use of SMS to announce his choice for VP, and more generally about how organizations and marketers use (and don't use) SMS currently.
SMS is a "brave new world" for me. As I learn more and more about how deliverability works in the land of SMS, I'm learning that it's a lot harder to trick somebody (like an ISP or your email service provider) into allowing spam to be sent. Sure, people still get SMS spam, but the wireless providers are much quicker to clamp down on unexpected and unacceptable usage. There are a much smaller number of wireless providers, compared to the number of email postmasters out there. The number of filters is much smaller. The sets of guidelines are much fewer. And the guidelines, the requirements are much more explicit and specific. No spam. You want to do SMS? You have to tell the providers what you're going to do with that short code. Before sending for the first time, you have to explain how you're going to use SMS, how things are going to work. And if a provider doesn't agree, you can't send or receive to or from users on their wireless network.
Somebody asked me, if the entire world converts from email to SMS, does that mean that I'm out of a job? Will there be no more need for policy compliance enforcement and best practice guidance people in the SMS world? I don't think so. I think a lot of organizations don't yet understand what you can and can't do with SMS. I think there are many, many opportunities to guide and impart best practice knowledge, just like with email. I have a feeling that even in an SMS-only world, I'd never run out of things to focus on.
