SMS Memes

I’ve always been fascinated by SMS as a technology to spread memes. Given that people have the attention, the instantaneous push nature of phone messages coupled with group distribution lists could lead to immediate information epidemics. But the phone service has a long way to go since, as the BBC reports, many messages go missing. Transmission rates need to be above some threshold before we can reach a tipping point, and perhaps the necessary technology has not arrived yet.