Five reasons SMS Wins

This week, we see yet the latest social media “thingy” threatening to change the communications service landscape.

Like Twitter, Facebook messaging and a slew of IM platforms before it, Google’s Buzz this week aims to improve messaging, in this case by integrating real-time, twitter-like feeds directly into Google’s Gmail interface – an attempt of sorts to simultaneously transform email, IM, news feeds and more.

Will it work? My bet is no. I’m not a big fan of mixing and matching services and calling it something new. Have you done a Google search recently and seen the real-time Twitter/news feed scrolling on the page? A distraction at best – it’s difficult to argue that a feed of random comments is what you’re looking for when you do a Web search.

It often seems that what Google Buzz, Twitter, Web-based IM and many new messaging services aim to do above all is to replace the mother of all messaging services – carrier-delivered SMS. Mobile text messaging draws a standard slate of complaints – it’s too expensive, it’s too simplistic, etc. etc.

Yet even as Twitter grows and Facebook emerges as an entirely new medium altogether to some extent, SMS keeps rolling along. And I’d argue that won’t change – even with more capable smart phones now replacing more limited feature phones as the mobile device of choice.

This is not to say SMS won’t change and evolve, or that something else won’t supersede it at some point in the future. But it’s instructive to consider five key reasons why SMS continues to be so successful:

1. It’s simple and it works. Text-messaging – MMS aside – doesn’t try to be something it’s not. It’s about sending quick messages, largely from person-to-person. Twitter aped SMS’ per-message character limits, but has also added video and picture attachments and a slew of new features like lists and more. Once you figure out T9 or how to use a soft keypad on your smartphone, your learning curve is basically over with SMS.

2. It’s interoperable. Obviously it wasn’t always this way, but SMS wins by the power of the network effect. It doesn’t matter what network you’re on or what client you use, SMS works and the messages get delivered.

3. It’s tied to a great identifier, the mobile phone number. Chancesare each new message or social media service you join you may have a different identifier or handle. Your mobile phone number is already how you want to be reached by phone, adding text messaging to ties another personal service to it, and places both in your pocket.

4. It’s about communications. People still use communications technology to communicate – often one on one. Asynchronous and group-blast style news feeds are great, but the need to simply sending a straightforward message to another person will never go away. So much social media and new-style messaging seems to be more about ego-blasting than communications.

5. It’s affordable. Sure, Web- or mobile-app-based messaging is free. If you don’t count the data connection you need to make it work. Text messaging remains a great relative and perceived bargain, even if tech-watchers complain about the low incremental cost for a telco to send another message. Most people can afford an unlimited text plan, and many, many customers go that route with no second thought.

I’d be interested in your opinion on why SMS wins – or whether you think another service eventually supersedes it. Let us know what your think.

E-mail me at richard.karpinski@penton.com.