Five New Codes and a Complaint

Since mid-January, we have added five more short codes to the directory. Should I apologize again for not making the updates that I promised I would. Remember...I said that I had texted HELP to the codes that have been in the directory for a long time and several codes don't return a reply message in response to 'help' anymore or the short code use or owner has changed.

Well....I don't feel like apologizing. In fact, I want to bring up something else. I created the Who Is Directory to help people find short code owners because there is a lack of transparency in the common short code business. I get 4 or 5 complaints every week from consumers who complain to me that they were spammed with standard rate or premium rate messages. I don't know if they opted in or not, but that's actually not the point. The point is the level of customer service is extremely poor and consumers are being shuttled between carriers' customer service and short code providers' customer service. And many think that I can help them get a refund or stop messages coming to their phones. If they give me an email address to reply, I try and help them, but many don't, so I hear the complaint directed at me and I can't even respond to tell them it's not me. As an industry, what can we do to make this whole process transparent and avoid lawsuits and regulation?

Mobile Shopping Mall Search - Great Concept, So-so Execution - 632729 (NEARBY)

When I first read the press release, I immediately thought that this was a very cool approach to location based search. "December 11, 2006 - NearbyNow, Inc. today announced the availability of its new mobile search service that allows consumers to find any product, brand or sale in a shopping mall simply by sending a text message. By typing their request into their mobile phone, consumers can easily find the nearest store that sells “skinny jeans“ or “men’s shoes on sale“. This service makes the promise of location-based mobile advertising a reality just in time for the holidays, and provides retailers a way to reach out to nearby shoppers who are looking specifically for items they offer. " - http://www.nearbynow.com/pr4.html

But then I learned that this started as a online shopping mall search that had moved online. So I compared the online to the mobile. I texted 'VF' to tell them where I am ; then I texted 'jeans'. I got back a message telling me about one special at one store: PacSun. Online I entered 'jeans' in the search box on the http://westfield.com/valleyfair/ website and was told that there are dozens of stores selling jeans in the mall. I'm not surprised as this mall has three hundred and eighty-two stores (382).

So what's the conclusion, it is a very cool concept but I don't agree that it "makes the promise of location-based mobile advertising a reality." I think it needs a lot more behavioral intelligence than it showed me. Or maybe, they should redefine it as "FIND A SALE THAT WE WANT TO TELL YOU ABOUT AT THE MALL YOU ARE IN." I could imagine this concept some day turning into areality, but it's not nearby yet.

Mobile Political Action - 30644

What do John Edwards, Green Day, and the National Resource Defence Council have in common? They use the mobile services of the Rights Group (or is "Left of Center" groups).
At http://www.rights-group.com/, you see that the "Rights Group builds and manages Mobile Action Networks: a powerful tool to reach your existing constituents and enlist new supporters—all on their most personal device. We use SMS messages to motivate your constituents.

Right on!

MTV Mobile - 33633

So I am watching Pimp My Ride, chilling at home with my 14 year old son, and along comes a ringtones ad brought to me by MTV itself. I write down the short code of 33633 and then google it, once the show ended. I find out that Motricity won a contract to implement this service for MTV. Here is an article on "Motricity gets its MTV: ring tones, music, more" at http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/523813.html.

Google is spelled with an 'e' (46645e)

I use Googl sms search a lot to look up business numbers when I am on the road. I use 4info also sometimes, but I think of google first usually. It is simple, I just text 'pizza.fairfax.va' to 46645 which spells 'GOOGL' and get the right results, usually. But did you know that this is a mispelling. In fact, Google is not a five letter word, it is a six letter word, spelled with an 'e' at the end. I think that the only difference between 46645 and 466453 is the '3' at the end....I mean the 'e' at the end.

Pizza Hut Sweepstakes - THEHUT (843488)

I saw a few articles about Pizza Hut, Cheesy Bites, Jessica Simpson, and the short code 'THEHUT' but the day before the Super Bowl, I couldn't find anything at Pizza Hut's website or any sweepstakes rules anywhere. Well, it's Super Bowl Sunday and I found it. Program is presented at http://www.pizzahut.com/hunt/.