It's one of the most-searched topics on Lycos, but it isn't on the Lycos 50. You may have never heard of it, but you may use it anyway. It's SMS.
SMS stands for Short Message Service. That's the service that allows mobile phone users to send and receive short text messages on their phone screens. For example, my cell phone contract sends me the Boston weather each morning along with the Red Sox and Cubs scores for games in-progress.
Other folks use SMS for news or just for contact among their friends. SMS is popular with teenagers and is even more popular in Europe, where cell phones are ubiquitous. Check out a search for SMS on Lycos and you'll notice the great number of European sites.
We don't include SMS on the Lycos 50 because it is a general, technical term (see our FAQ for details). But even among the general terms it is quite popular. Last week the term SMS received more searches than the terms movies, travel, or pictures.
As this history points out, SMS was an accidental success. Originally, SMS was secondary to using the phone for voice transmission. Then, the SMS advertisements began to feature business people.
But early on, because of a loophole in most cell phone contracts, users don't have to use extra minutes to send SMS messages. That made SMS a surprise hit among younger folks who couldn't afford too much phone time. It took a while for the mobile phone companies to realize that SMS had become a huge fad with youthful consumers.
If you are looking for SMS, Lycos Anywhere provides SMS services as well as wireless web services. We get a large number of searches for free SMS but the fact is the cost depends on your cellular phone provider.
TOMORROW: Top Lycos on Lycos.
