What Is a Threaded SMS?
Mobile devices are useful for on-the-go telephone communication, but the vast majority also allow you to send and receive short text messages on your handset. You can use the native messaging application on your phone, or you can download your choice of messaging applications onto a smartphone. Many of these custom applications allow you to have more visually appealing threaded conversations with your SMS messages.
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What Is SMS?
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SMS is an acronym that stands for "Short Messaging Service." SMS is a messaging system used by cellphones to send and receive short text-based messages to and from other cellphones. At the time of this writing, the maximum number of characters, including all numbers, letters, symbols and spaces, that you can include in an SMS text is 160 characters. However, some mobile phones' SMS applications allow you to type as many characters as you wish into an SMS message, and the application automatically divides the message into separate, sequential 160-character messages.
What Is a Thread?
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A thread is a type of online message format that organizes the messages in an online conversations into chronological order on a page or application. By visually displaying the conversation in an organized way, usually distinguishing speakers by name, color or other visual markers, conversation threads are an online visual aid that help readers follow which speakers in an online conversation contributed which parts of of the conversation.
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Threaded SMS
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Threaded SMS applications are mobile phone apps that display SMS conversations between two senders in a visually organized way. The application may show the users' avatars next to each of their messages, or use a unique color for the font or background of each user's messages. In threaded SMS, the application displays multiple text messages together in the chronological order the messages were sent. Threaded SMS conversations look more like traditional instant messaging chats with continuous conversation.
Advantages Over Traditional SMS Messaging
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Traditional text messaging applications that do not thread the messages users send and receive typically allow users to view or send only one message at a time. Users may have to go through several steps in the application to view past messages in the conversation. Threaded SMS allows readers to see a larger portion of the SMS conversation than if they were viewing each message individually, simply by scrolling through the thread.
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References
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