When the Government Sends You a Text Message, Take Note

For years, it’s been difficult to tell if text messaging was on its way in or out, but if government use is any indicator, the technology is at the very least here for now.

House lawmakers last week decided after some debate to include text messages among the electronic communications federal employees could be fired for improperly destroying. And some agencies, such as US Citizenship and Immigration Services, are expanding their use of Short Message Service, or SMS, technology to provide better services. Mary Yang, senior marketing strategist for GovDelivery, a messaging platform used by more than half of federal agencies, thinks the technology will follow the path of e-mail.