Use Google Voice to Keep in Touch with Youth

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We previously told you how Google Voice can help Bishops and other leaders. This guest post from Micah Stubblefield tells you how to use its texting feature to keep in touch with youth.

Do you hate sending text messages? I didn’t have a cell phone until I was married and by that point text messages seemed silly.  What a pain to type a meaningful message on a cell phone!  I am on a computer all day so I prefer email.

Now I am the first counselor in the Young Men’s presidency and the main form of communication of my teachers quorum is text messaging.  If I want to send reminders out to the boys the best way is a text message.  I get this.  They aren’t at a computer all day like me and they can’t take phone calls during class.  I just don’t have the patience to send a text message from my phone.

 

Enter Google Voice.  Google voice offers free online phone numbers.  The best part is you can send text messages…FREE…from your computer!  Now, when I want to get information out to the boys I can open up Google voice, type the message from my keyboard and the send it to multiple boys at once.  After you add each boy to your Google contacts the phone numbers will auto-fill when you start typing their name in the recipient field.  Sending a text message to every boy literally takes less than a minute.

Let’s say one of the boys responds to your text message with a question.  Google will forward the text message to your cell phone (free of charge) and/or your email.  The best part is you can reply to the email and it will send a text message.

Save some money on your texting bill, save time sending messages and keep your youth informed.  WIN/WIN/WIN!

About the author: Micah Stubblefield is a software engineer by day and an internet entrepreneur by night. He has a personal blog and runs sites such as funnymormons.com and thintopia.com.

[Texting image credit: Wikimedia Commons]
3 comments
  1. Great idea, but Google voice is only available in the US. I am so disappointed I won't be able to
    use this for my young women. Thanks for the awesome ideas anyways

    1. Where are you located? I would guess that Google Voice will be available other places in the near future. There is also an SMS option in Gmail (but this may be US only as well?).

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