A newspaper in a neighboring town, The Spectator at Hamilton, has a popular “text the editor” section.
The concept isn’t entirely new, of course. I’ve seen it in many places elsewhere and Mount Gambier’s paper does it as well.
In fact, I was interviewed by a university student during the week, who was researching how independent newspapers have adopted “new media” such as the internet and SMS.
She commented how The Border Watch has a more interactive website than The Spectator, but fewer text messages. I had pondered that myself.
Anyhow, what struck me about Hamilton’s text messages is how funny some of them are and how chaotic the whole thing is in a strangely entertaining way. The ones I receive are normally bagging someone or something.
A couple from The Spec that really amused me were:
“My new year resolution was to try jogging. Trouble is, ice keeps jumping out of my glass.”
And lost the clipping, but quote from memory:
“To the elderly man who advertised looking for a wife, you can have mine, phone now.”
