Policy Questions, Technology Challenges Hurting Emergency Text Alert Effectiveness
Sending emergency text alerts to cellphone users poses significant challenges, panelists said last week during a panel discussion at the VON conference in Boston. Many consumers don’t know how to sign up for alerts, and those who do may experience “alert fatigue” and ignore them, they said, but new technologies and policies could change things for the better. “The roadmap going forward, while cloudy, looks very promising,” said Joe Walsh, SquareLoop chief operating officer.
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The opt-in nature of mobile alerts keeps many cellphone users from subscribing to alert programs, said Walsh, whose company develops technology for text alert senders. “It’s actually a perplexing situation,” he said. “Everybody says we absolutely need a mobile phone alerting system… but as you look at things that are out there that people opt in for, response rates are actually pretty anemic.” For example, in the Amber Alert text alert program’s 18-month history, only 300,000 cellphone users have signed up, he said.
The FCC could mandate opt out for mobile alerts, but operator concerns that networks couldn’t handle the resulting high SMS activity have kept the Commission from instituting such a policy for anything but “presidential-level” crises, Walsh said. Technological advancement could make the issue moot, he said. SquareLoop is working with carriers on a “multicast approach” where “one message can go out to everyone at the same time,” he said. Meanwhile, the 700 MHz auction and WiMAX deployment could facilitate more alert- capable networks, he said.
“Alert fatigue” can hinder message effectiveness after consumers subscribe, panelists said. Letting consumers choose what types of alerts they're sent can help ensure customers read messages, Walsh said. Targeting messages to customers based on geographic location could work when technology allows it, he added. For example, an alert about a parade closing a street could be sent to cellphone users likely to be affected, he said.
Public data mapping aggregate cellphone use could help senders target messages, also expediting emergency responses without invading privacy, said Assaf Biderman, MIT SENSEable City Laboratory assistant director. The MIT lab works with carriers to learn cellphone traffic’s sources. Studied over time, that information can help identify “normal behavior” looks like, Biderman said. Safety workers could use it to spot suspicious activity and alert affected mobile users, he said.
Differentiating alerts from everyday messages is another must, panelists said. On a college campus, for example, an emergency alert must appear different from a notice about basketball game tickets going on sale, said Jeff Smith, cofounder of Edgewater, an alert developer that works with schools and universities. Assigning a special ring tone to emergency alerts could ensure consumers read messages right away, Walsh said. It’s also important to combine text alerts with traditional alert systems like audio systems to ensure people respond appropriately in an emergency, Smith said.
Senders consider receiving devices in wording messages “to get people to take the right actions,” Walsh said. “How you word things are going to be completely different” for road signs, cellphones and automobile dashboards, he said.
No matter how advanced the tools, it remains a challenge to decide “who sends out what message,” Walsh said, citing response to Hurricane Katrina. “It starts out with the local news on the ground and the county police,” he said. “Then it will go up to the state level and then it goes up to the federal level.” There “have to be policies” behind alert technology to avoid wasting time deciding which governmental layer has jurisdiction, he said.
Customer willingness to pay for text message plans is mostly a non-issue, panelists said. Most college students frequently use text messages, and Edgewater has not seen “any push back” in terms of message cost, Smith said. That’s true for SquareLoop customers, Walsh said. Prices on text messages are always falling, and some plans don’t charge for them, he said. Once developed, multi-casting technology will dispense with cost as an issue, since its alerts wouldn’t count as paid text messages, he added.
Many of the issues raised in the panel were discussed by the FCC’s Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee, which recently completed a report to the FCC on rules and a system for wireless alerts. The FCC will seek comment on the report. Participation by carriers in an alert program is voluntary.