Why are mobile phones useful for activists and NGO's engaging in advocacy?

From MobileActive Wiki

• In many countries mobiles are the easiest and least expensive way to get a phone line

• Mobile phones are far more pervasive in developing countries, much more so than the Internet

• The growing infrastructure in even highly remote and rural locations makes mobile phones an accessible means of communication in the developing world, especially as prices of hardware and services are continuing to drop in many places.

• There is a relatively low learning curve to using a phone, making it far more accessible than computers to a wider range of constituents

• Mobiles are a highly personal means of communication that reaches the target constituent directly and immediately.

• They are hence conducive to instant participation and response.

• Mobiles (especially, of course, the voice capabilities) can make the handling of languages easier with some interesting recent examples of instant translation through distributed networks.

• Mobiles are easy to share phones when it is not possible for individuals to have their own.

• Mobiles are small and highly portable, and are hence accessible when on the move and in less secure environments.

• Mobiles are becoming hybrid communications tools with varied content and convergence with other media such as the Internet. Mobiles allow for texting, increasingly have multi-media support with built-in still and video cameras, can carry games, music, ringtones, and data.