SMS to your blog anywhere in the world

After months of searching, I have finally discovered a free service that allows you to publish to your blog by sending an SMS/Text message from your mobile phone.  The system, called LetMeParty.com, was developed by a graduate student in Chicago.  Although such a system has been available in local areas like within Europe and the U.S. this is the first system that will work anywhere in the world.

Why is this significant?  One reason is that suddenly anyone in the world with a cell phone can publish on the web.  What was once only available to those with a computer or access to an internet café is now freely available to anyone.

But there is a catch. There is a disadvantage in that SMS only allows messages of 160 characters in length.  This paragraph for example is 160 characters long!!

But considering that the alternative is no access at all, then this is a big step forward.  I am currently working with a writer’s association in Mozambique and if they knew that they could send an unlimited number of 160 character messages to the web I’m confident they would find creative ways of using such a tool.

To make this work, someone would have to have access to the internet in order to register the different mobile phones that would be used.  In an initial trial I discovered that more than one mobile phone can post to the same blog.  The only cost to the mobile user is the price of an international SMS.