As of today, we are introducing an upgraded, simplified, and just plain better-looking version of the Mobile Commons platform. Read below for a few of our new features, as well as some screenshots of what the platform will look like.

New Look and Feel

We’ve overhauled our site design to make our platform simpler for our customers to use. People will notice the difference from the moment they log in. Navigation is improved. Graphs and charts are prettier. The CSV exports are simpler. Overall, the user experience will just be more pleasant.

No More Custom Login URL

You no longer have to worry about remembering the custom URL for your mobile campaign. We have a brand new login screen for everyone: https://secure.mcommons.com.

But if you loved your old URL, don’t worry – you’re not losing it. We’ll keep backwards compatibility for your old subdomain, so all your existing web forms, bookmarks, and API access will continue to work. No changes needed!

New Editions of Mobile Commons – Tailored for Different Types of Customers

One size doesn’t fit all. Today we are announcing three different editions of the Mobile Commons platform:

• Mobile Commons Enterprise will continue to be the technology behind today’s most effect mobile messaging campaigns.
• Mobile Commons for Health includes additional controls unique to healthcare organizations around data privacy, security and compliance.
• Mobile Commons for Nonprofits includes additional features such as advocacy tools, legislator district matching, and optional mobile giving.

Our existing customers will have their accounts automatically upgraded to the appropriate version for their organizations.

New Dashboard

When you log in, you’ll see a brand new Dashboard where you can track at a glance how your mobile campaigns are performing. The Dashboard is also the place to see all the latest Mobile Commons case studies and newest features to our platform.

Improved Management for Clients/Affiliates

For agencies managing multiple clients or nonprofits with multiple affiliates, this new version got a lot better.  A handy new drop-down menu lets you switch between clients/affiliates from any page. And a new Affiliates view will show you how all your affiliates are performing on a single screen.

You can start using our new look now at https://secure.mcommons.com.

Daily Webinars to Learn More About the New Look

We hope our new look is intuitive and easy to use. But if you want some additional tips and tactics for how to make the most out of the platform, we will be hosting daily webinars starting tomorrow.

Webinars will run from 3-2 pm, weekdays from May 16-18 and May 21-23. Sign up now at http://mobilecommons.eventbrite.com/

As always, we welcome all feedback about the new look. You can email support@mobilecommons.com or talk to your account manager.

The Incredible Potential of Mobile Health

Over the last few years, we’ve seen firsthand how mobile messaging can greatly increase health care outcomes. Working with the New York City Department of Health, we saw mobile messages double the quit rates of heavy smokers. With Howard Brown Hospital and New York Presbyterian, we saw that mobile messages helped HIV+ patients adhere to their complicated medication schedules. Working with Planned Parenthood, we’ve seen mobile messages provide personal answers for teens’ difficult questions. All of that occurs in a cost-efficient, logistically simple manner – especially when compared to other types of direct intervention, such as phone calls or in-patient care.

Mobile Commons for Health: An All-In-One Solution with Enhanced Privacy

Knowing the incredible potential of mobile, we wanted to make it even easier for health care organizations to launch their mobile campaigns. Our Health Edition takes what we’ve learned from all of these examples and puts the best, most useful features right at Health organizations’ fingertips.

Because we know how sensitive health care information is, we have also added enhanced privacy features to Mobile Commons for Health. Health care companies can block out phone numbers in the web interface, and obscure protected health information. We also have restricted rules around passwords and automatic logoff, to ensure the information’s safety.

Get Started Now

See everything our health care edition can do for you or to launch your own mobile health campaign, email info@mobilecommons.com.

Now there’s a nationwide smoking cessation service that’s designed for teens and young adults in the United States. The National Cancer Institute is launching SmokefreeTXT, and it takes advantage of the flexibility of mobile to have a two-way, personalized conversation with every user.

Smoking Cessation Messages over Mobile

The program works like a 14-day countdown to quitting, followed with six weeks of encouraging messages to help quitters follow through. People can sign up by texting by texting the word QUIT to IQUIT (47848), or from three dedicated websites for adults, teens, and Spanish-speakers.

What’s exciting about SmokefreeTXT is how responsive it is to individual users. In addition to structuring messages around individual quit dates, the program has some neat features that make it more flexible. Several times over the 8-week period, it assesses the smoker’s mood, craving level, and smokefree status with simple text questions, and responds accordingly. If a user reports that they’ve taken up smoking again, the program gives them the option to continue the program as planned or set a new quit date. And if the user reports discouragement or frustration, they’ll get a programmed response that fits the situation. The system even follows up months later to check on the user’s smokefree status and offers any extra help they need.

To find out more about SmokefreeTXT, check out smokefree.gov – or text QUIT to IQUIT (47848) to enroll.

By enrolling in the text service, parents can get great tips like this one delivered to their mobile device:

Making it easier for families to enjoy healthy meals together is a great goal, and the text reminders make it that much simpler for anyone with a cell phone.

By texting NCNW to 69866, Wisconsin residents can get the nearest free condom location sent straight to their phone. The service works by asking users to text in their zip codes, which are automatically checked against an existing database of free condom distribution locations. That means that it only takes a few minutes for anyone in Wisconsin to find free condoms at a convenient place.

Condoms aren’t the only thing your cell phone can help you find. Check out the California Department of Public Health’s vaccine finder for another great idea of how to use mobile to help people find services in their own backyards.

That’s why the University of Maryland launched its Food Supplement Nutrition Education program – or FSNE. The program helps low income families and food stamp participants “make healthier food choices, develop skills in food preparation, handle food safely, maximize their use of food resources, and increase their physical activity.”

Healthy eating tips alternate with farmers market reminders and local deals on food. One example text alerted participants that, “The local Food Lion has broccoli crowns on sale this week $1.69 per pound. You can serve them many ways – steamed, raw with low-fat dressing, or on a salad.” Another text reminded them, “Have you visited Waverly Farmers’ Market on East 32nd street? It’s open year round & accepts vouchers & EBT cards. Greens are a hot item & are at a good price.”

By providing healthy eating tips targeted to lower-income individuals, the University of Maryland is ensuring that anybody can live a healthy lifestyle, no matter their means.

Contact lens manufacturer Acuvue has come up with an easy way to help people remember to get their lenses renewed. You text in when you need your prescription refilled; Acuvue will text you back with a reminder when the time comes. It’s that simple.

Acuvue’s not the only organization to realize that the best reminders are the ones that show up right in your pocket, on your phone. For a few more recent examples, take a look at the reminder services of New York Presbyterian, the New York City Department of Health, Children’s Hospital Oakland, and many more.

That can be a problem with any kind of illness – but is particularly life-threatening when the young adult is HIV+. That’s why New York Presbyterian, Columbia University, and the Harlem Health Promotion Center have created Project STAY (Services to Assist Youth), a program that sends targeted text message alerts to remind young people with HIV to take their medication.

“We work with adolescents and young adults, so it’s just a given that we should give them information in the way that they want it,” says Dr. Christel Hyden of Columbia University, who runs the program.

Every day, people enrolled in the program receive a discreet text message reminder to take their meds. That prompt can counteract forgetfulness, and even dispel the kind of avoidance tactics that cause many people to miss their medication schedules. And because it’s important that HIV medication be taken at the same time every day, the text reminders can ensure that their recipients adhere to a challenging schedule.

The program already has seen a change in behaviors – and remarkable results. “We’ve had some patients whose viral loads have dropped to undetectable since they started getting daily reminders to take their medicine,” Hyden said.

Health and Appointment Reminders for a Variety of Issues

Because HIV+ patients frequently deal with a host of other medical issues, the program provides additional medication reminders, too, on everything ranging from eye exams to HPV to birth control.  For those young people who need reminders for their clinic appointments, the system sends out notifications three days before and on the day of the appointment. These notifications include the contact information for the clinic, in case the patient needs to cancel or reschedule her treatment – or even just as a reminder of where to go at the appointment’s time.

For example, patients who receive the Depo-Provera shot for birth control need to receive a shot every three months. But that’s a difficult schedule to remember. So if young women text in the keyword DEPO to the program, they can receive a reminder 3 months later that it’s time for their appointment.

Or for young women using a Nuva ring, the program will send a reminder on day 21 of the 28-day cycle that reads: “Reminder to take out your ring! Please text OK to let us know you got this message and took care of business.” Then on day 28, it sends a follow-up:  “Reminder to put your new ring in. Please text OK to let us know you got this message and took care of business.”

Text messaging has the potential to solve one of the most persistent medical problems: patient non-adherence.

“Mobile Commons made it really easy to integrate text messaging into our clinical care,” Hyden said. “And as a result, we’ve seen real changes in our patients’ behaviors.”

In order to stay on the cutting edge of care, as they’ve developed, Children’s Hospital has embraced the new technologies that could help save children’s live. That’s why they recently launched a mobile messaging campaign to send out health and safety tips to parents throughout the Oakland region.

SMS Safety Tips in English and Spanish

Children’s Hospital put up billboards and bus-advertisements throughout Oakland asking parents to text in UY (for Spanish) or OUCH for English to join their health campaign. The campaign is also advertised on posters throughout the hospital.

Once parents have subscribed to the campaign, they receive regular tips alerting them to health risks and dangers that their children may be exposed to. One recent text, for example, warned parents to “Check window sills for peeling paint. It may contain lead your child breathes or eats.” Another informed them that “children age 11-12 need the meningococcal vaccine and a booster at age 16-18.”

That kind of practical information can save lives.

The 24-week study took a group of HIV+ patients, aged 14-29, with documented poor adherence to their antiretroviral therapy (ART). Every day, the patients received a personalized SMS reminder to take their medications. Then, one hour later, they were sent a follow-up message asking whether they had taken their meds or not. Participants could text back 1 if they took their medication and 2 if they did not.

The study found that the text message reminders “significantly improved” the patients’ adherence to their medication. That can be a life-saving improvement.

The Challenges of ART Adherence

As the study notes, young people aged 12-29 account for a third of the approximately 50,000 new HIV infections every year. By not taking their medications, they are putting their health and even their lives at risk. The study authors write, “Nonadherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) can lead to poor health outcomes and significantly decreased life expectancy.”

So why don’t people take their meds? There’s dozens of reasons – the dosing schedule, the side effects, the number of pills, or even just avoidance. But simply forgetting is the number one cited reason why people miss their medication schedule. As a result, healthcare providers have tried for years to come up with ways to help people remember. They’ve tried counseling, telephone calls, and directly observed therapy, to name just a few. But as the study notes,  “many of these strategies are expensive, time consuming, and potentially intrusive.”

How Text Reminders Help with ART Adherence

Enter the text message. A simple text reminder could potentially remove forgetting as a factor. It’s easy to schedule in advance, cheap to send, and you can be sure everybody has a mobile phone to receive them. What’s more, the study notes, “mobile technology can provide treatment to patients in real time and in their natural environments.” Said more simply – the text message reaches people where they live.

The study also gave credit to the tailored, targeted content of this messaging campaign. That’s a key feature that makes text message campaigns so effective. The ability to personalize messages, around a patient’s schedule and needs, can be the difference between keeping their attention and losing it.

The study participants appreciated the text messages, too. 95% of the participants said the text messages helped them “very much,” and 81% said they wanted to continue to receive the messages in the future. But perhaps even more importantly, the participants adhered more closely to their medication regimens.

More and more studies show that text messages can help with medication adherence across a variety of illnesses – HIV, Diabetes, liver transplants. The data is piling up that the humble text message could actually save lives.

• Read the full study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, here.