Most people I know end up having a lot of SPAM in email and SMS advertising. While email filters in Gmail and Yahoo do a pretty good job in moving them where they belong SMS is a completely different ball game. You end up opening that message and looking at it before realizing that it belongs in the trash bin or realizing that the event / item is not available in your city. It was during a time like this that I wondered what would happen if advertisers had to pay for each of the emails / SMS's that they had to send. Would this reduce the amount of SPAM that all of us are grappling with? What if we took this to the next level and the money that the advertisers paid got channeled to your pocket?
Well, it isn't a wild fantasy anymore. mGinger actually does the same with opt in advertising. You sign up and provide your preferences. Advertisers then have to pay per sms in order to provide targeted advertising. In an ideal world, this kind of targeted advertising thus means that you would not have to receive advertisements from products you are not interested in.
What I liked about mGinger is that they have taken a page out of the book from sites like Groupon, Snap Deal and My Dala. Imagine that instead of just getting deals in your city emailed to you, get deals in your city based on your preferences emailed to you.
CNBC TV 18 covered mGinger sometime ago and has a lot of explanations for the doubting Thomas in you. The amount per ad is pretty small (Rs 0.20). But like my primary school teacher used to say "Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the beauteous land"
P.S. If you decide to sign up please use this link and I will be able to make a little money at no extra cost to you.