We saw something very revealing recently. During an mCast (that’s what we call our very good text-to-screen tool) we saw large numbers of people pointing their phones at the screen as if they were using a remote control, even though there is no connection between sending a text message and the direction your phone is pointed.

Here’s what happened: an organization called It’s Our Healthcare ran a program last month which asked people to text in their views about health care; users’ messages were then projected on a jumbotron in front of the California Statehouse. Both passersby as well as those viewing via webcam participated, and the program was a great success (you can read about it here). Lots of other organizations have already benefited from utilizing mCast, and we expect that many more will soon. More on that at another time.

For now, though: what did all this phone-pointing reveal? It told us that people not only like to use their phones to get valuable information and calls to action, but that they also like to use their phones as remote controls. Users sent an SMS and the impact was not merely on the phone but on a screen hundreds of feet or thousands of miles away. The phone-pointing revealed a visceral connection that people feel when an action they take on their mobile device affects something at a distance.

We have long thought the one of the great benefits of mobile communication is its ability to draw people into interactions with other media – live events, television and computer screens, signs and billboards, and really almost anything else. After all, the world is a lot bigger and more interesting then a tiny mobile screen. Based on how users are interacting with our programs, and the startlingly high response rates that we continue to see, it’s clear that users agree.