Lifechanger: GroupMe Group Texting [AppOfTheDay]

CES is like Ninja Warrior for bloggers, a limiteless, obstacle-strewn arena where cell service is unusual and usable internet is as uncommon nearly as good hygiene. To stay in contact, Gizmodo trusted GroupMe. It worked and then some.

The idea is an easy one: a reliable group SMS service, where every message is preceded by the name of the individual that wrote it, rather like a chat room. People with iPhones can switch on a built-in group MMS option which goes pretty well, but that’s just for iPhone users. GroupMe lets anyone with a texting plan become involved, and it was nothing in need of our CES lifeline. And conga line.

The app itself is kinda immaterial-you’re able to deploy your group and manage it through it or the service’s website -though it does allow you to share photos with the gang, that you may’t do otherwise. But the meat of GroupMe goes down right to your regular old messaging app. While you start, you and your mates get a special group phone number-all texts are routed through those digits, with the name of the individual that sent each message attached at the front. Call the number up and you initiate a conference call with everyone inside the group. There’s really not much to it! But the most simple solutions are typically the greatest ones.

It was utterly indispensable on the show floor. We all had our assignments going into CES, but for sure there are countless audibles if you’re actually there inside the slop, and GroupMe was perfect for coordinating the entire last minute switch-ups. More than email or AIM or our usual group chat client, GroupMe became the go-to solution to stay involved at CES. It was nothing in need of our mobile office. Roaming the floor and spot something cool? GroupMe to look if anyone else had already posted on it. Looking to determine where everyone’s camped out? Consult GroupMe. Drunk and feel like bothering the remainder of the team? GroupMe.

If that last bit sounds funny, well, it was. Really funny. Text messages are informal by nature, so you don’t do much thinking before firing one off. And we fired off plenty. Like an awful lot plenty. Sure, sometimes receiving forty text messages’ worth of vibrations in like a three minute period got a little annoying, but the various best laughs I had at CES arose from GroupMe texts. Like when Matt informed everyone, with authentic frustration, ” Jesus Christ. I will’t find my way out of the flamingo.” Or when Joe alerted us that he was getting ” Waffles with g-unit.” I figured he meant Giz features wiz Bryan Gardiner. He meant the actual rap crew G-Unit.

Here’s what everyone said after I asked them to describe our GroupMe in a sentence:

Sam: ” can you sum up the iliad in a sentence?”

Joe: ” a transportable hive-mind optimized for the badwidth wasteland it is Las Vegas”

Rosa: ” GroupMe was the correct and the worst thing that can’ve been handed to our team.”

Jason: ” Fuck.”

Barrett: ” My pants have never vibrated so much in a 72-hour period. Almost never.”

Matt: ” Group sexting.”

Spratt: ” It was like being inside a text message version of the movie The Hangover.”

Chris: ” Extremely useful work tool but an excellent more entertaining group messaging.”

All that sounds about right. Whether or not you suspect you would like group texting on your life, you won’t know the way you lived without it after you give it a shot. Invite your pals and don’t look back. [ GroupMe ]

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This post is tagged: Conference Call, minute switch, mobile office, ninja warrior, simple solutions, special group