Even though it is 18 days before the election, Barack Obama’s use of text messaging is already being held up as a successful way to reach out to your constituents. Experts are predicting that in future elections, the use of mobile technology will become the standard and play an even larger role, reports IDC News Service.Going forward, candidates will be able to use text messages to collect campaign contributions, by either people texting in their contributions, like you can do today with non-profits, or by users clicking to call from a text message, according to Jed Alpert, CEO of Mobile Commons, a company focused on mobile-based advocacy. Other options include politicians using streaming video or audio, which can be sent to phones via text messages. One reason why text messages are considered successful is because the response rates are higher. People must sign up for the alerts, so they already are more engaged than emails.