Text Messaging for the Pros

The most useful technology these days is the humble text message, also known as the "SMS" or short message system sent to your cell phone. There's a reason why our teenagers are running three thousand texts a month, and rather reactively lurching about like drunken sailors trying to react to a deluge of information from all manner of digital sources.

But rather than letting the digital world happen to you, take control of it and determine how you will be notified of important events.

You can get updates from news sources, school closings, even Facebook updates sent to your cell phone as a text message. Without overdoing it or sending a single tweet of your own, you can have key messages sent to you so that you know what is happening immediately.

Get Text Message Alerts Via Twitter

The typical scenario is that you want to set up alerts to very important breaking news. Twitter is the best place to alert you to this type of information. Each time an important "tweet" is posted on Twitter, you can get a text message on you phone.

First subscribe to Twitter (learn how here).

Then turn on the feature that sends a text message to your cell phone when a "tweet" is posted by CNN Breaking News. If you're signed up for Twitter, just visit the site you wish to "follow" as shown below. Look for the cell phone symbol next to the "FOLLOWING" green button shown below. You will need to be "following" CNN Breaking News to have the updates from CNN sent to you via text message.

If you have previously set up Twitter with your cell phone's number in the mobile settings panel, you'll be able to click on the icon to turn on and off notifications that will be sent to your cell phone as a text message. If you need to adjust or set up your mobile preferences, login to Twitter, go to "Settings," then click on the "Mobile" tab to adjust your cellular phone number preferences.

You can turn off alerts so they don't arrive when you're sleeping. Click here to learn how.

When you're new to Twitter or Facebook, finding which sites send you information can be difficult. A few of the top Twitter sites for getting selective news when it breaks are listed below:

@cnnbrk
@bbcbreaking
@foxnews
@cnnlive
@abc
@cbsnews
@nbcnews
@digg_2000

Look for the most popular Twitter accounts here: http://twitaholic.com/top100/followers/

Send a text message to 40404 if you're in the USA to communicate with Twitter. Your message might be just "help" or "off" to stop the messages if they become too annoying.


Facebook Messages 

Facebook also allows you to be notified via SMS. To get a text message from Facebook, sign up for an account, and adjust your settings so that you receive updates. Learn how here. You can subscribe to updates from key news sources.

Facebook Mobile has more information. Like Twitter, Facebook has software that will run on your phone to make it easier to use. From your phone, visit http://m.facebook.com/sms to learn more. You will see these options:

Send a text message with the word "help" to 32665 to communicate with Facebook.

Send a text message with the word "stop" to 32665 to stop messages from Facebook.