DoSomething’s up-to-date campaigning has turned the head of the New York Times, who ran a feature article about their mobile strategy.  But it’s the attention of the teens that matter most – and they’re getting it by engaging teens in their own language, via text.

So let’s take a moment to congratulate them on a milestone: they just received their one millionth text from a teen!

Now union families can text “STUDENT” to 22555 to get convenient reminders of all these due dates – a week before they occur, so there’s plenty of time to meet them.  In addition to hitting all the major federal dates, the service will also remind users about special programs and scholarship opportunities like the Union Plus Scholarship and the National Labor College application schedule.

In this economy, every scholarship dollar counts – and these easy mobile reminders will make more options available to families faced with a sea of applications and deadlines.

If you have an existing outreach campaign, you probably already have what’s called “web forms.” These are the forms on your website where you ask people to enter their name, email address, zip code, and maybe some other information. Why exactly they’re entering these details could be for any number of reasons. Maybe you’re asking them to sign up for email alerts. Maybe you want them to register to volunteer. Maybe they’re just joining your site as new members. Or maybe they’re signing up for a click-to-call campaign.

One great way to build your list is to add a mobile “field” or “check box” to your web forms. Turn a one-time action into ongoing engagement. Just put a place for users to enter their mobile phone number and agree that they want to sign up for mobile alerts.  That way, when someone signs up to be a part of your campaign, or registers to join your website, they have the option to also join your mobile list.

If you’re using a CRM, like Convio Luminate, SalesForce, Blue State Digital or Salsa you can easily add a “Mobile” field to your existing forms. With the Mobile Commons integration, we’re already talking directly to your CRM. That way, you can give people the option to seamlessly opt-in to all of your different types of outreach at once!

Check out a few sample forms from below, from Reform Immigration 4 America and the AARP.

Nothing matters more at the end of a political campaign than getting voters to cast their ballot for your candidate. All of the fundraising efforts, strategy sessions, town hall forums and late nights rewriting speeches lead up to the final push on Election Day. Getting out the vote (GOTV) is not only important to politicians and their backers, but providing opportunities for an educated and active electorate makes for good public policy, as well.  Nonpartisan groups such as the League of Women Voters and Common Cause dedicate significant portions of their time and resources to ensure individuals are informed, registered and ultimately participate in democracy.

There is no question that spending on political contests is on the rise. In California, the 2010 primary and general elections saw the most expensive gubernatorial election in the history of the nation, with two candidates alone spending more than a combined $188 million, according to that state’s campaign finance board.   Despite record levels of spending, California’s Secretary of State reported that fewer than 43 percent of all eligible voters cast a ballot in this non-Presidential general election—and nearly half who voted did so by mail (VBM)—well before the big money ads hit the air or mailbox.

Campaigns will continue raising as much money as possible in an attempt to get their candidate elected, but how that money is spent in the coming years will become a paramount concern. Voters are more sophisticated than ever before and grow increasingly weary of the one-way communication model that pushes negative campaign ads their way.  Campaigns need to institute alternate methods of engagement to create a more genuine relationship between the candidate and electorate. How? By using smarter communication tools.

Text messaging outreach provides campaigns with the ability to inform citizens about the issues surrounding the election, direct them to the correct polling place, and ultimately urge them to head to the polls.

First, campaigns can use text to immediately update supporters on issues surrounding the candidate. Wireless industry studies demonstrate that 99 percent of text messages are read and 83 percent of them within 15 minutes of receipt. Where campaigns have difficulty ensuring messages are timely read when sent by email blast, sending a text ensures it is literally in the hands of supporters when you send it. Because federal regulations require an opt-in to send text messages, you can be assured people want the information you send them and, unlike social media, your messages are personalized.

When supporters need information from your campaign, Mobile Commons ensures they have access, on their timeline, to any number of details you provide: candidate biographical information, voting records, campaign finance information, key endorsers, volunteer opportunities, ways to contribute – essentially any input/output you determine. Supporters can even ask the candidate questions directly, at virtual town halls that don’t tie voters to a seat in front of a computer, or even require internet access.  Because mobile campaigns provide robust analytics, you can track exactly which of your users are taking which actions, to gauge the efficacy of your outreach and refine your efforts in the future.

In addition to sharing campaign information with supporters and reviewing their responses, Mobile Commons provides campaigns with text message-enabled polling place locators, which assists voters in finding the location of their polling place—or their nearest polling place, for casting provisional ballots or dropping off their VBM ballot.

On Election Day, Mobile Commons is there to help ensure every supporter casts their vote for your candidate.  Text based GOTV efforts include the ability for supporters to find the nearest ride to the polls, send them reminders to submit their VBM or vote, and even send them a note thanking them for voting. Ground efforts are more efficiently organized by coordinating volunteer activities through group or individual texts, allowing campaign polling place volunteers to text HQ with the names of those who haven’t yet voted, set up rides to the polls, and more.

For information on how to use text messaging as part of your political campaign or GOTV efforts contact info@mobilecommons.com.

Even SOPA’s backers were surprised by the outpouring of activism from concerned citizens across the country.  The Times quotes former senator Chris Dodd, who now runs the Motion Picture Association of America.

We’re incredibly proud to have been a part of such a watershed event. At Mobile Commons, we consider it our mission to connect our customers directly with the people they want to reach. This past month, hundreds of thousands of citizens petitioned their legislators, at the urging of our tech industry clients. Using our mConnect tools, they simply had to enter their phone number and address, to be directly connected with the relevant representative.

As Congressional attitudes shift, and both the House and the Senate have delayed votes on their anti-privacy legislation, we have been profoundly moved by one of the most massive uses of our platform ever.

The campaign sends out educational messages – for example, informing parents about the sugar content of juices and energy drinks, or the importance of exercise. They’ve combined that information with related tracking questions, asking parents how many sugary beverages their children drink that week, how much television they watched, how many hours they played outside, etc. As soon as the parents respond, they’re automatically sent follow-up messages – either praising them for meeting recommended behavioral goals, or encouraging them to do better in the future.

The system also tracks week to week whether the users are making improvements in their child’s health behaviors. So for example, if in week one the parents let their children watch 40 hours of television, but in week two, they only let them watch 30 hours, the system would register that improvement – while still encouraging them to do better. Throughout the program, the parents occasionally speak with a health coach to set goals and evaluate their progress.

The Harvard Pilgrim initiative comes on the heels of hundreds of new studies and programs that show that mHealth – mobile health initiatives – can help encourage better behaviors and motivate healthy lifestyles.

Here are just a few:

-       Crowdsourced health reports help Detroit discover the cause of an asthma epidemic

-       New study shows that smokers’ quite rates double with text message support

-       SMS helps with flu vaccine reminders

-       Two studies that show that SMS helps smokers quit

Riders Get Location of Next Bus in Real-Time Via Text 

New York, NY – January 26, 2012 – Mobile Commons has partnered with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to provide the text messaging capability of MTA Bus Time — the MTA’s new public bus tracking system that allows riders on more than 50 New York City bus routes to track real-time bus locations on the Internet, via smart phones and by text message.

Mobile Commons’ innovative platform allows commuters to receive live GPS data regarding the location of their bus via text message.  When commuters text a bus stop code or intersection to 511-123 on their cell phones, they receive a text back stating how many stops away the next bus is.

“As New Yorkers, we are thrilled to be working with the MTA to provide essential bus information in real-time to our fellow commuters,” said Jed Alpert, CEO of Mobile Commons. “Our texting capabilities allow the MTA Bus Time system to be accessible to as many people as possible. Whether you have a smartphone or a text-enabled phone, you can find out where your bus is to help make every minute count.”

By having Bus Time information readily available via text, the data is accessible to the majority of bus customers, who may not regularly carry smartphones, laptops or tablets, but do have cell phones. Nearly all cell phones have the ability to support SMS text messaging, and 91 percent of Americans carry a cell phone. More than 6 billion text messages are exchanged every day in the United States.

“When a rider sends a text, Mobile Commons queries the MTA Bus Time Server, and texts back real-time bus information in seconds,” said Benjamin Stein, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Mobile Commons.  “Riders expect an immediate response and the data must be available 24/7, so we designed a highly responsive system that seamlessly works with the MTA’s infrastructure to provide bus location details via text to millions of New Yorkers.”

Mobile Commons is a New York-based software company that enables hundreds of companies, nonprofits, and government agencies to make their data accessible via text message. For MTA Bus Time, Mobile Commons provides the connectivity between cell phones, all the wireless carriers such as Verizon and AT&T, and the MTA Bus Time Servers.

“Innovations like Bus Time,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, “are the result of the kind of entrepreneurial spirit and creativity our City thrives upon. It’s the reason our tech community is growing rapidly, and why two of the firms involved in Bus Time – Open Plans and Mobile Commons – are local New York tech start-ups. Our City is home to the smartest and most talented workforce, and it’s the perfect place for homegrown companies like Open Plans and Mobile Commons to expand and thrive. That’s good news for commuters, our budding tech sector and all New Yorkers.”

Open Plans is another New York City-based technology firm that worked with the MTA to create MTA Bus Time.

“Bus Time is going to transform the way that our 2.5 million bus riders use the bus system every day, and we’re thrilled to start on Staten Island,” said MTA Chairman Joseph J. Lhota, “The MTA continues to bring new technology to our customers in ways that make our transit system better every day.”

MTA NYC Transit rolled out MTA Bus Time first on Staten Island, and the agency will shortly begin deployment of Bus Time technology to depots in the other boroughs. Over the next year, more than 6,000 buses and 14,000 bus stops will be upgraded in order to make Bus Time fully operational city-wide by the end of 2013.  For more information about MTA Bus Time visit www.mta.info/bustime.

About Mobile Commons
Mobile Commons enables government agencies, non-profits, and brands to reach people on the device they use most – their mobile phone. The platform’s user interface and APIs seamlessly integrate SMS, voice and Web applications with CRMs, databases and social marketing tools. Coupled with real-time analytics and reporting, Mobile Commons makes it easy for organizations to integrate mobile communications with their existing media & databases.

Mobile Commons has run mobile campaigns for organizations such as the New York MTA, the San Francisco MTA, Nike, AARP, the Humane Society, R/GA, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the California Department of Public Health, and Organizing for America/the Obama Campaign, and hundreds of other organizations.  For more information, please visit www.MobileCommons.com.

Tumblr, Reddit, Engine Advocacy, the Center for Rights, and other of our customers gave their users the power to more directly petition their legislators. The sites posted online forms where visitors could simply enter their address and phone number. Mobile Commons then automatically connected the users with their representatives through our mConnect tool. Here’s Tumblr’s form:

Tumblr, following up on their earlier activism, even gave their users the power to black out their private tumblogs – or even turn them into their own anti-SOPA pages:

Hundreds of thousands of Tumblr-ers used their personal blogs to take a stand against the bills.

Locally, in New York, the New York Tech Meetup staged a protest with thousands of concerned citizens in midtown Manhattan. Organizers asked the crowd to text-to-call Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to make their voices heard.

Altogether, over the past month, over 500,000 calls have come through the Mobile Commons platform.  As entertainment companies spend truckloads of money lobbying in support of SOPA and PIPA, new media is countering their efforts by giving the people themselves the power to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill.

The best part is – that individual activism is having concrete results. Until last week, passage of the anti-piracy bills seemed almost inevitable, in spite of the massive public outcry. The 24-hour Internet protest swung Congressional attitudes about SOPA/PIPA from 80/30 (for/against) to 65/102. Both the House and the Senate delayed votes on the bills as they reconsider their merit.

As Reddit writes, “One day of organized protest turned Congress completely on its head.” For now, the people have used new digital tools to beat the powerful.

Check out our press release about the calls on the Yahoo wire.

Tumblr, Reddit, Engine Advocacy, and NY Tech Meetup utilized Mobile Commons’ click-to-call technology to gain immediate access to elected officials in fastest campaign to date

New York, NY (PRWEB) January 24, 2012

Hundreds of thousands of websites participated in a recent blackout to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), many of them using a click-to-call technology powered by Mobile Commons, a New York-based software company. Using Mobile Commons’ technology, Tumblr, Reddit and Engine Advocacy enabled more than 200,000 visitors in a single day to launch calls to their Congressional representatives directly from their websites. Those were among the more than 500,000 calls launched through Mobile Commons during the anti-SOPA campaigns of the past month.

The immediate impact of these advocacy efforts not only delayed the vote, but compelled several original sponsors to withdraw their support.

“By reaching people on their mobile phones, our mobile advocacy platform gave the tech community a fast and easy way to engage with their representatives and effect change,” said Jed Alpert, CEO of Mobile Commons. “Sites such as Tumblr may not be Washington insiders with traditional lobbying efforts, but they were able to harness their massive reach and make their voices heard.”

Mobile Commons’ mConnect platform allows organizations to drive calls from any type of call-to-action campaign, including web, text messages, events, print, radio, and TV. The platform can scale quickly to support thousands of calls in a minute. All calls are directed to the individual caller’s legislator and some organizations even opt to offer talking points in a voiceover prior to the call.

The mobile advocacy tool played a key role in NY Tech Meetup’s anti-piracy fight. NY Tech Meetup, which represents professionals from the New York technology community, utilized Mobile Commons’ technology to organize protestors at its rally in midtown Manhattan. Live at the rally, organizers instructed more than 2,000 protestors to initiate calls to Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand by text. The text message included talking points to help callers express their concerns about the anti-piracy bills.

Mobile Commons has worked with hundreds of advocacy organizations to drive phone calls to legislators – tackling issues such as social security, safer roads and immigration reform. With more than 200,000 calls generated in 24 hours, the fight against the anti-piracy bills was the fastest text-to-call advocacy campaign that Mobile Commons has powered to date.

Nearly all cell phones have the ability to support SMS text messaging and 91 percent of Americans carry a cell phone. More than 6 billion text messages are exchanged every day in the United States.

About Mobile Commons

Mobile Commons enables government agencies, non-profits, and brands to reach people on the device they use most – their mobile phone. The platform’s user interface and APIs seamlessly integrate SMS, voice and Web applications with CRMs, databases and social marketing tools. Coupled with real-time analytics and reporting, Mobile Commons makes it easy for organizations to integrate mobile communications with their existing media & databases.

Mobile Commons has run mobile campaigns for organizations such as the New York MTA, the San Francisco MTA, Nike, AARP, the Humane Society, R/GA, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the California Department of Public Health, and Organizing for America/the Obama Campaign, and hundreds of other organizations. For more information, please visithttp://www.MobileCommons.com.

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Heather Resnicoff
Rubenstein Communications
212-843-8497

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