English: mobile phone text message (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We have recently added an SMS text messaging service to our inventory of social media tools. We now use Cel.ly to send out text alerts to your cell phone. The service is set up where only outgoing messages are used, and the subscriber can opt in or out at any time. Now I know, some of you are saying “But what about Twitter? Doesn’t it do the same thing”. Pat yourself on the back. You are pretty close to right. Three differences: One – You do NOT have to own a smart phone receive our RCUBbTech alerts. All you have to do is own a phone that is SMS Text capable, and you are good to go. Two – you do not have to scroll through 8-12 hours of a timeline to see if there are any alerts. It comes to your cell phone in realtime. AND we will only be using it for technical updates or emergency outages. Three – These messages will be alerts ONLY. The subscriber CAN NOT send text messages to anyone else. The best thing about Cel.ly is that it is safe. No one has your cell phone number, you do not have anyone else’s cell phone number, and you can opt in and out as you see fit.
Now I know you are looking funny at me when I keep mentioning “subscribers”. No, there is NO CHARGE for this service. I use the term subscriber, because that is what you are. You subscribe to get the message, or you unsubscribe if you do not want them.
Which brings me to the heart of this discourse. We are upgrading our Blackboard system July 2-4 2012. If you want to fins out when the upgrade begins, we will text it out. We will also text out when the system is back up and running.
So if you wish to begin receiving SMS Text messages from RCU Blackboard Tech Support, all you have to do from your cell phone is join via SMS by texting: @RCUBbTech to 23559 You will receive a message confirming you are in the group. After the initial welcome message, YOU WILL ONLY GET A MESSAGE IF THERE IS A PROBLEM with RCU Blackboard. So you will not be bombarded with text messages.
You may also stay up on RCU Blackboard news by following @RCUBbTech on Twitter.
I hope you subscribe to our service, and please, as always, feel free to send me feedback on how to make the service better.
Craig's Tech Blog 