Campus Technology ran an article today about the University of Florida’s text messaging system. It costs the university nothing for this outsourced service, which has been used by 10000 students, staff and faculty since 2005.
Users can receive text messages from other members of the service through a group feature. If users join an interest group or a club listed on the service, they’ll receive group messages from the portal. That aspect sounds similar to MySpace and Facebook in some ways. The service keeps track of users phone numbers and manages group preferences. Users must pick up the cost of receiving the text messages through their carriers.
Mobile Campus operates the service generates revenue by sending digital coupons and discounts to the users. UF says that the service users will receive up to two offers per day. Ten other universities in 5 states also offer the service.
UF administrators also use the Mobile Campus system to send out notices about hurricanes and other events that affect the entire campus. This is useful and timely information for commuters, and for university members who are away from their computers. As long as users have a cell phone and are subscribed to the service, they’ll get the message.
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