How to Build an SMS Service
ISBN: 789742233
EAN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2007
Pages: 52
Pages: 52
SMS Interaction Design Considerations > Multitasking and Stealth
How many times have you done it? You're in a meeting, a call comes in, but you can't answer it. So, you push it to voicemail and send a quick text message to the caller asking, "What's up?"
Why is it OK to send a text message in the middle of a meeting but not OK to answer the phone? Text messaging isn't merely less intrusive, it can be invisible. Schoolchildren all over the world have already figured this one out, tapping out messages to each other with hands held under desks, studiously nodding at an math lesson played out on a blackboard.
And if you've got nothing to hide, just enjoy the ease of multitasking: it is possible to read or send a text message while doing something else entirely (although not, of course, driving). Ever tried to eat a burrito with one hand and send email with the other? No go. But eat a burrito and tap out an SMS? No problemo.
Use SMS in situations where other, more conventional modes of communication are inconvenient or inappropriate and you'll provide value and relevance where others do not.