Stay informed via text message by providing your cell phone number
The Town of Wake Forest is bolstering its communications outreach efforts by offering residents the opportunity to receive text messages about time-sensitive issues and matters of community interest, including police advisories, traffic alerts, holiday operations and special events.
Since 2015 Wake Forest has utilized Blackboard Connect to communicate with residents via telephone, email and text message. Although the system has been used primarily to deliver personalized telephone messages, surveys suggest that phone calls are many residents’ least preferred means of receiving information. In response, the Communications Department is refocusing its efforts on utilizing Blackboard Connect to share information via cell phone text messages.
Currently, the Town has just over 700 cell phone numbers in its database compared to nearly 16,000 landline numbers. The disparity is due to the fact that publicly available landline numbers were automatically included in the system six years ago, while cell phone numbers and email addresses were not. Instead, subscribers must enter that information through Blackboard Connect’s “opt-in” feature.
For anyone interested in receiving occasional text messages from the Town, opting in is easy. Simply visit www.wakeforestnc.gov/communications/phone-notification-system, click on the “Sign Up Now” Blackboard Connect logo, and enter your contact information, including your cell phone numbers and email addresses.
“We recognize that most people don’t want a telephone call, so we’ll use that feature only when it’s absolutely necessary,” said Communications & Public Affairs Director Bill Crabtree. “Instead, we want to more effectively utilize Blackboard Connect’s text message and email functions to share breaking news and other time-sensitive information.”
For more information about the Blackboard Connect town-to-resident notification system, including registering cell phone numbers and email addresses, visit www.wakeforestnc.gov/communications/phone-notification-system or email Bill Crabtree at [email protected].