As a follow up to our post yesterday, where we mentioned Mobile Commons as a good starting point for organizations to connect with when looking to use mobile technologies, we talked for a bit with Michael Sabat. We met Sabat at the Personal Democracy Forum, he works with Mobile Commons, and he answered some of our questions regarding how an organization might best utilize the services provided by the startup.

Sabat describes Mobile Commons as “an online platform that allows organizations to create and manage SMS/voice/mobile communication campaigns.” To convey the effectiveness of SMS campaigning, he compares text message based campaigns to an email campaign. Whereas emails are opened over the course of many hours, he says that a high volume of text messages are opened much closer to their reception. People are nearly always within inches of their phone, and thus the messages they receive there. Further, SMS response rates, compared to email, are much higher (70% is common). It is for these reasons (and more), he claims, that organizations should consider using mobile phones to mobilize their user-base.

Michael Sabat: So what SMS allows you to do is communicate instantly with a core group of supports that wants to hear and is expecting to hear from your organization. SMS allows you to call for immediate or timely action (because it is safe to say that people are reading the message within an hour) and Mobile Commons let’s organizations track and measure these actions. SMS/Mobile Commons helps your organization reach people where email and computers can’t – for example in a store or restaurant.

Make Something Happen: As a collective activist, how would I use the site to further my goals and mission?

Sabat: You can use Mobile Commons to engage supporters at live events, spread news quickly and call for actions. For example we have an application perfect for calling lawmakers in an advocacy campaign. mConnect allows a custom activist to set up a campaign with the end result of having supports call their legislators with cohesive and direct messaging.

With mConnect the organization send a text message including a phone number to their supporter list. The receivers reply CALL or simply press SEND and they are connected to a voice recording that the organization records. This can be talking points or an overview of the situation. The caller is then forwarded on to a destination number (radio show, or congressman’s office) with a clear message and talking points fresh in their memory.

MSH: How would you like to see people use the site in a way they are not already using it?

Sabat: The ideas are endless, but I would like to see more effective txt to voice campaigns through mConnect. In the near future our software and a (smart/fortunate) organization will drive 10,000 phonecalls to a specific cause and that will help change a decision that matters. This will happen soon, we are just waiting for the right circumstance.

The most exciting idea ahead is mobile giving. Basically someone can donate $5, $10 or $25 simply by texting in. The charge will appear on their cellphone bill. This can have serious applications at live events and for emergencies. It’s a great way to do micropayments. So this is brand new and there is a ton of interest and many good ideas. I’m sure that we’ll hear a lot about this moving forward.

-Filed in Tools