15 Minute SMS Reference ServicePresentation by Matthew Doyle, MLISFor The Stockton Library Search Committee

Objectives•What is SMS?

•What is a Millennial?

•Trends in student communication

•Using Google Voice as an SMS Reference Service

•Overall: Basic understanding of the need, ease of use and implementation of such a service.

What is SMS?

•SMS stands for Short Message Service, or text messaging

•Messages have a 160 character limit

•Why is there a need for such a service? The Millennial Generation!

Millennials 1981-2000• They are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of

youth in the nation's history. Among those ages 13 to 29: 18.5% are Hispanic; 14.2% are black; 4.3% are Asian; 3.2% are mixed race or other; and 59.8%, a record low, are white. (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2009).

• “They are the first generation in human history who regard behaviors like tweeting and texting, along with websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia, not as astonishing innovations of the digital era, but as everyday parts of their social lives and their search for understanding.” (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2009).

• Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month.

• 15% of teens who are texters send more than 200 texts a day, or more than 6,000 texts a month.

• Boys typically send and receive 30 texts a day; girls typically send and receive 80 messages per day.

• 14-17 year-old texters typically send and receive 60 text messages a day.

• Older girls who text are the most active, with 14-17 year-old girls typically sending 100 or more messages a day or more than 3,000 texts a month.

(Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2010).

Creating a Free SMS Reference Service•Google Voice

▫You need a Google account▫Sign up for a number online▫Share number with colleagues and

students to promote the service.

Sign in using your Google account

Click “I want a new number”

Choose your number and create a pin

Add a forwarding phone to verify

Congratulations! Let the texting begin

Login to begin texting

•https://www.google.com/voice

Other Uses?

•Circulation notices

•Feedback from Faculty and Students

•Promoting Library Programs and Services

Questions?

References

•Pew Internet & American Life Project. (2010). Teens, cell phones and texting. Retrieved from  http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1572/teens-cell-phones-text-messages

•Pew Internet & American Life Project. (2009). Millenials. Retrieved from  http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1437/millennials-profile