Ez Texting makes group texting a snap

Ez Texting is a new, easy to use group texting platform ripe for the picking. The platform is easy to use (I signed up for a trial in like 5 seconds) and is much less costly that other offers out there (2.5 cents per message). Ez Texting also offers two-way text which infinitely increases the type of work you can do with it.

It's simple: Sign up. Upload the numbers of the people you want to reach. Compose. Blast off!

The folks at Ez Texting suggest that their program could be used in schools to send out important messages to students; for real estate agents wanting to keep their clients up to date with new listings; or for event promotion and group data gathering.

Potentially a great solution for non-profits on a budget or just individual networking. With so many platforms springing up its hard to know which to try. Nice that Ez Texting offers a free trial to the curious.

Happy Friday folks!

Teen Health Info 24/7

United Kingdom-based Web site www.teenagehealthfreak.org is making interesting strides towards providing teens with accurate and age appropriate health information.





The site has a "diary" of a hypochondriac 15-year-old boy. This totally caught my eye and I thought it could be a cool way to convey information. But I must admit the "diary" leaves a little to be desired. The "diary" needs to go further and put a little more trust in readers. Kids are smart and mature and they can smell an adult trying to speak their lingo a mile away. The site also has a forum for young people to e-mail health-related questions and receive answers from a health expert. There is also a companion site www.youthhealthtalk.org,that contains videotaped interviews with young people talking about their lives and health concerns. Some of the videos are tapes of actors which is a little dissapointing but maybe they are just seeding the site to get the ball rolling.

Mobile games about HIV/AIDS expanded to Africa

ZMQ, a company that has had a lot of success creating mobile games in India, has expanded four of their HIV/AIDS education games to African networks, including Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Namibia.

ZMQ has a very forward thinking model, "The company is also focused on developing innovative ICT products for new markets of the world at the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid by successfully reaching out to grass-root, under-privileged, and marginalized communities; based on viable and self-sustaining business models in support of the social cause."

With a partnership with a major mobile operator in India, ZMQ was able to offer the gaming tools to the public for free of charge.

One of the games is based on Cricket, super popular in India. It works in items like condoms or faithful characters to move game play along.

For an expanded case study see ShareIdeas, a fast growing wiki that showcases mobile projects with social agendas.

CondomCondom: A New Multimedia Campaign to Promote Condom Use in India

The BBC World Trust has put together an interesting and rounded multimedia campaign called CondomCondom. The CondomCondom campaign sprinkles whimsy and humor on a difficult subject- condom use- and makes it not only palatable but entertaining and fun. They have even made a CondomCondom ringtone. The ringtone is a medly of people singing the condom over and over again. The description doesn't do it justice because really after a minute it just makes you giggle. I think making people laugh could go a long way toward changing attitudes towards condoms. The project was supported by National AIDS Control Organisation and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

View and Vote - top Teensource condom designs!

The California Family Health Council's 2008 Condom Cover Art Contest is underway, and the clock is ticking to choose your favorites from the top 45 entries on the TeenSource contest hub.

The contest was designed to give young adults the opportunity to educate their peers about STDs through art. Participants aged 13-25 sent in their creative ideas and are in the pool for one of 6 $500 awards that will be presented at an upcoming press conference in Los Angeles.

Voting ends September 2, and trust me, it isn't easy to choose. Vote now!

Whyville is Once again Ripe Testing Groud

Whyville is a popular online community for younger teens, loosely centered on science and exploration. Like any cluster of pre-teens and teens (physical or virtual) Whyville is full of persona testing and attempts to form and understand community. Whyville seems like amazingly interesting groud to study how pre-teens and teens share information and what information they share in this world of UGC. Check out this study by Professors at USC and the University of Pennsylvania. They are using Whyville as a case study to research "tweens and reproductive health in virtual worlds."

Civic Engagement on the Move and SexINFO

The Aspen Institute recently published Civic Engagement On The Move, a report of the roundtable on Mobile Media and Civic Engagement. SexInfo is included as a case study of Civic and Engagement and the New Mobile Activism.

(Quoted From the Aspen Institute's summary of the book)
Civic Engagement on the Move looks at how leading edge practitioners are using mobile media to engage citizens to solve problems, bridge differences and strengthen community. Mobile media technologies provide new tools for journalists, government and nonprofit agencies, civic organizers, elected officials, activists and ordinary citizens to inform, to reach out to others and to galvanize community action on a wide range of issues. Civic Engagement on the Move, written by J.D. Lasica, details the hallmarks of successful mobile campaigns around civic engagement and provides case studies of several successful and emerging initiatives, including those that came out of the recent Aspen Institute Roundtable on Mobile Media and Civic Engagement. Noted experts in the field add their insights on using mobile media, with a list of “Mobile Advocacy Dos and Don’ts” by Katrin Verclas of MobileActive and “A Mobile Media User’s Guide” by Jed Alpert, CEO of Mobile Commons.

Click here to read the report online and here to download a pdf