My small group has been using a tool to help us keep in touch. Most of us are on facebook, some are on twitter, everyone has a cell phone. [UPDATE: For users outside of the US, using the SMS option will result in international texting fees. It is better to use the app from your smartphone’s store.]
A few months ago I came across a tool that looked like it had great promise to increase our group’s sense of connection. It’s called GroupMe and it has worked pretty well, and with their smartphone apps, they’ve raised the level to great!
When we first implemented the system, it was SMS based. There was an app but it really didn’t do much. Now, you can receive group messages in the app or by sms. For the couple of people in our group without smartphones, this has been beneficial.
Here’s how it works:
- Someone signs up with Groupme, creates the group and gets a unique phone number for the group to use. (You should be able to choose a local number.)
- Others can join the group by simply sending an sms to that number, or using the app on their smartphone.
- Using either the app or sms, any user can send a message to the entire group and anyone can respond.
- If your headed into daylong meetings, or just need an extended time to concentrate you can mute yourself and not receive any messages. Simply sending a new message will unmute you.
For those that only have SMS access, they’ll want to make sure they have an unlimited plan. If a conversation gets started, their message count will mount quite quickly!
Maybe the easiest way to think of groupme, is as a closed twitter system or a chat room just for your group.
There are a number of other features that groupme offers, including the ability to make a conference call to everyone in the group using the groupme phone number.
