New York, NY– As much as we would like to, hardly anyone has the freedom to take two weeks off to catch every minute of the Olympic coverage. The reality of it is that most of us don’t have access to a TV during the day, but we do have our cell phones glued to us at all times (maybe even more than we would care to admit). For this summer’s Olympics, The New York Times is offering a new service that can provide live text message updates, photos and GIFS by sports editor Sam Manchester who is currently in Rio covering the events.
Why does it matter?
In a world where no one waits for information to come to them anymore, where you can ask Siri anything or just do a quick Google search, why shouldn’t Olympic coverage be this easy to access too? Texting is one of the few forms of communication that pretty much everyone has access to anywhere, at any time, and on any kind of phone. It’s personal and interactive, and easier to open than an e-mail that could easily get lost in the world of spam and junk mail. Not only is this convenient on the receiving end, but because texting is a two-way street, the NYT can get instant feedback on its effectiveness. It’s as simple as texting the word “Rio” to 63937 and you won’t miss a beat of the Olympics.
This same concept is beginning to emerge in the healthcare realm. Texting is being used to alert patients of prescription refills, reminders to prep for a procedure, bill pay alerts, or updates on their existing condition. A new application called “text4baby” is a texting service for pregnant women and new mothers that sends messages three times a week with information and reminders to ensure a healthy pregnancy. The texts are timed with the woman’s due date or the baby’s date of birth.
With all of the resources out there, it can be time consuming and stressful to figure out what questions to ask and where to find the answers. Automatic text messages remove this extra step, instantly bringing the patient to the information they need.
