RingPlus Might Link Twitter to Voicemail

RingPlus, a Sprint MVNO, announced earlier this week that it is working on what might be one of the most useless and ridiculous services to ever be offered to prepaid customers: the ability to link your Twitter account to your voicemail. The details right now are pretty vague and I have to admit that there are a select few people for whom this service might actually be helpful, but for the majority of users I expect it’s going to either be a waste of time or a colossal embarrassment waiting to happen. From what it sounds like in the announcement, RingPlus wants users to link their Twitter accounts to their RingPlus voicemail account. When callers reach the voicemail they will hear your latest tweet read aloud in place of a regular voicemail greeting. The idea behind this is that it will help users better communicate events and updates to callers and for businesses or professionals I can definitely see the benefit. In the announcement, RingPlus gives the example of doctors or lawyers wanting to help keep people informed. “We think that combining these options in one voicemail could be helpful. For example, you don’t want to update your voicemail just because you are flying from LA to NY. But you’d probably Tweet it… ‘Just boarding, heading to NY’. Many people calling you just want to know how you are. And with this voicemail, they can.,” RingPlus PR reps wrote in the announcement. And I suppose that kind of makes sense, but I still think it’s a terrible idea. In my personal experience, Twitter is an extremely informal platform where people share their thoughts and sense of humor. Just imagine calling John, only to hear his last Tweet was: “I wish someone would bring me breakfast in bed.” What kind of voicemail message would that be? What if someone called John for a professional interview or purpose? I personally can’t think of many Tweets that would make a good voicemail greeting in any situation. The only possible way that this service would work is if there is some way to filter via a hashtag or something; but even that would not really make all that much sense and would clutter up your feed, I would think. Maybe RingPlus uses Twitter differently than I do. Either way, the good news is that the service will definitely be opt-in, and there will likely be some security when linking the accounts as well. RingPlus hasn’t really released all that many details and seems mostly to be testing the waters. If the reception is positive, RingPlus said it might start offering the service in the next three weeks or so. So, what do you think, dear readers? Would you want your Twitter to act as a rolling voicemail greeting? Let me know in the comments below!]]>