Text Messages Can Get The Word Out Fast
(CBS) Officials at Virginia Tech used email to notify students and community members that a shooter was on campus, but in addition to the fact that the first message was sent more than two hours after the first attack, email messages likely wouldn’t reach many of the intended recipients for hours.
That’s because, unlike Blackberry touting business executives and politicians, most students don’t check their email constantly throughout the day. Students aren’t always deskbound and when the shootings were taking place, some were walking on campus, others were in class while others were on their way to school.
At the University of Texas in Austin, scene of a deadly shooting back in 1966, university officials have the capability of notifying students and community members via text-messages that go directly to student and staff cell phones.
The University has signed a deal with Mobile Campus, an advertiser-supported service that allows administrators not only to send out emergency notices but also more mundane communications such as band practice or class cancellations.
Other campuses that work with the service include Kent State, also scene of a tragic shooting along, with Clemson University, University of Florida, Texas State and Santa Fe Community College among others.
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The service itself is free to universities and to students but cell phone companies typically charge users a small fee per message received and sent, unless users subscribe to plans allowing a certain number of monthly messages.
Source:CBS NEWS
