Creating text msg groups online?

[DaveH]

I'm a newbie at this, but I'm sure this is being done somewhere and somehow.

I want to be able to text message a group, but don't want to have to enter each person's number. I want the group to be set up on-line so people can add and remove themselves, and I just send a text msg to the group from my phone.

Specifically, I'd like to coordinate local "chow hounds" so if anyone is going out to grab a bite they can let others know.

Thanks for the help.
Dave

 

[wiredgargoyle]

If I understand what you're asking, you want to be able to send a message using your phone (SMS probably) that others will receive quickly through their phones? Or phones and on their computers?

Off the top of my head, Twitter will allow someone to 'subscribe' to your feed from which you can send a message through SMS and everyone monitoring your feed will get. This can also be set up to send messages to email and IM when the person who owns the feed updates it.

Facebook can also do this with their 'Notification' option for Status Updates through SMS.

Another option is email, if your group have phones that allow them to get email and/or monitors their email account actively you can set up a mailing list.

Many phones these days have MSN, Yahoo or ICQ built in. There are tons of ways to set up a low maintenance list of people.

Of course if everyone has a Blackberry, it has an internal IM system built into it.