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Text your way to an event
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SMS invitations are doing the rounds. They're fast and they're cheap
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It is not only mass invites, but also personal, one-to-one invitations that are being sent via SMS
CONVENIENT MODE The easy way to keep in touch and communicate Photo: K. Ananthan
A scroll is a thing of the past. When it comes to a party, an exhibition or even invitations or updates about a pub, be prepared to be bombarded with a number of SMS messages. The cell phone seems to be everybody's mode of communication. Even auto drivers carry one. And thus, event organisers and pubs cash in on this trend and resort to sending invitations. A personal invitation to parties via SMS is just one end of the spectrum. Impersonal SMS invitations that make no effort to sound more congenial and are actually mass invitations, form the other end.
An artefacts and lifestyle store sends out SMS invites to announce the launch of a new collection, as does a pub to highlight the events for the day. At the launch of a coffee lounge, the owner's friend sent out SMS messages to his friends. "It was at a short notice and I couldn't possibly call everyone up and personally invite them. By sending invitations via SMS, I made sure they were invited personally."
But this is a case of one person sending an invitation to a select group of friends. What happens when a company or a store sends out mass messages? Some think of it as being similar to Spam email— but in this case, you don't have an option to filter the incoming message.
"Today, everything may be high-tech and everyone, techno-savvy, but something's are best left the way they were meant to be. And if it means things will be slower than what they normally are, so be it," says Neha Tejuja. It's not only mass invites, but personal, one-to-one invitations that are being sent via SMS as well.
SMS invites are surely an easy way of reaching out. The costs too weigh in favour of the sender. In addition to advertisements and hoardings, people get talking about an SMS invite— reach out to one person in a group and you have the entire lot talking about it. But still, the verdict remains divided.
Some feel that SMS invites are impersonal and are only a way of ensuring that the message gets across, while those sending them feel that it's the easiest and quickest way of getting in touch with everyone and that there's nothing wrong with it. "The advantage is that there usually is no need to follow up the invite to see if the person has received it nor not," says another faithful.
For the receiver, there aren't too many choices. Either you look at the messages as an easy way of staying in the loop, or you don't give out your number when you fill in those forms at your favourite eatery and not be subject to unwanted messages. But lets be honest here. The gimmick seems to be working and the fad is on the rise. Wouldn't you too reach out to at least read the message that gets your cellphone beeping?
RENUKA VIJAY KUMAR
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