Text messaging, or Short Message Service (SMS) is a common way of communicating throughout the world. In places where phone calls are expensive, text messaging is a cheap and effective alternative, allowing more people to communicate with one another. The cost of messaging and talking to people wirelessly is significantly lower because little infrastructure is required to support widespread usage. Installing cables across long stretches of land is very expensive, which is why cell phones have become very popular in most of the world.

The development of mobile communication has had its largest impact in the developing world where the traditional phone infrastructure was incomplete and unreliable. Instead of spending large sums of money on wires, cellular networks have been... (more)

Text messaging, or Short Message Service (SMS) is a common way of communicating throughout the world. In places where phone calls are expensive, text messaging is a cheap and effective alternative, allowing more people to communicate with one another. The cost of messaging and talking to people wirelessly is significantly lower because little infrastructure is required to support widespread usage. Installing cables across long stretches of land is very expensive, which is why cell phones have become very popular in most of the world.

The development of mobile communication has had its largest impact in the developing world where the traditional phone infrastructure was incomplete and unreliable. Instead of spending large sums of money on wires, cellular networks have been built more widely and affordably. Entrepreneurs in small communities often purchase a cell phone and charge people to use the phone. This has provided better communication for many rural areas, and the increased connectivity has been a benefit to many individuals.

Mobile communications marks a shift in traditional communication because of the prevalence of communication devices and the decentralized infrastructure network behind them. For example, mobile technology is playing an increasing role in disaster awareness, preparedness, and response. Since cell phone are very portable and usually powered on, it easier and faster to alert people of an impending disaster. Text messaging already plays a role in China’s warning systems and will play a large role in South Asia for alerting people about tsunamis. Camera phones have also played a unique role in disaster and emergency situations, getting pictures of events like the Tsunami and the 2005 London subway bombings into the news much more quickly that would traditionally have been possible.

Mobile phones are playing a similar role in social movements and protests. Text messaging played a major role in a number of large protests, from the 1999 anti-WTO protests in Seattle, to protests of a million Filipinos against President Estrada, to a series of anti-Japanese protests in China in 2005. In China in particular, news of the protests was censored from government-controlled media, so text messaging was one of the only forms of organization available. These types of protests are often called smart mobs. (wiki)