clueless in techieland

[calimac]

I've had this question for years but it had never been in the forefront of my mind enough to ask it. But the same mysterious formulation that I've seen occasionally all that time is cropping up on political candidate signs, and I thought I'd ask about it.

It consists of an instruction, "Text [word] to [number]." For instance, on Elizabeth Warren's campaign signs, it reads "Text IOWA to 24477."

What does this mean? What is this number? It's usually five digits long, and it's printed without hyphens, so it's not a regular phone number. What kind of number is it, and by what means do you text to it? And what happens if you do? What sort of responses do these instructions generate, and by what means do they reach you?

Comments

[wild_patience]

Department of I-do-these-things-so-you-don't-have-to: it literally means what it says. You initiate a text message on your phone. You send it to 244-77 and put the word "Iowa" in as your text. You get a reply from the Warren campaign headquarters asking you to sign up for their team.

[calimac]

But what kind of number is it? It's not a regular phone number.

[wild_patience]

I don't know if it has a special name.  It takes you to a picture of a field of compaign signs.  then you get a return text.  I can show you when I get home.

[bibliofile]

AIUI, it's like a commercial sort of speed-dial, in reverse, set up by the organization that wants your text messages.

It's like "call now for more info!", only you're doing it via texting. Does that make sense?

I've even seen donation campaigns (usually live, and time-limited) where texting sends a donation (say, $10) to the organization. That's usually for stuff like giving money to the Red Cross in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster (e.g., a hurricane).

[petrea_mitchell]

They're called SMS short codes. They have long-term uses sometimes too; the transit system here in Portland has had one for years where you can send a bus stop or light-rail station ID to find out when the next one is due.