Voters' Cells Haven't Seen The Last of Obama
Presidential Hopeful Should Be Cautious Not to Become a Serial Texter
Cell Phone Message vs. E-mail Message
Todd Rogers, the executive director of the Analyst Institute, added that those who have signed up for the text messages are likely already Obama supporters, making them the type of people who may not mind as much campaign information as they can get their hands -- or fingertips -- on.
"Usually, when you have an opt-in program like this text message program, you won't have any undecideds or persuadable voters," said Rogers. "They are already supporters."
Another potential problem with a text message program, said Gold, is the ability of older constituents to understand what a text message even is.
"Text messaging is very generation-specific," said Gold. "Sixty-year-olds don't do text messaging, but if you want to hit 15- and 20-year-olds, then yes, they all do text messaging."
"E-mail is much more general -- there are 60-year-olds who do e-mail and do it regularly," added Gold.
But Shapiro said that texting is not replacing other more conventional ways of spreading campaign information among constituents.
"All the previous avenues -- in-person meetings and canvassing -- is still being done. We're just adding an element to help engage people who have never been involved in politics and who are active on social networking sites," said Shapiro.
Will Texting Help Win the White House?
Just how effective the use of text messaging is to a campaign will not be known until after November, according to analysts, who said that research, to determine whether those who receive text messages from a particular candidate are more likely to vote for him, is in progress.
Even so, Neil Strother, an analyst who covers mobile marketing and media for Jupiter Research, said that studies into the success of text messages that market consumer goods directly to people's cell phones, show that people respond positively if they are messaged about something that's important to them.
"People do respond to text messages if it's something they care about and is relevant -- and this could go for products and candidates," said Strother.
"But the difference between [a text making someone go out and] buy a Subway sandwich, and eventually voting for a candidate, is big," said Strother. "We'll have to wait and see on the political side how [text messaging] pans out."
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