We started building SMACK while we were students at BYU. We'd grown frustrated with current options for communicating in our YSA wards serving in ward leadership. It's common to use multiple social media accounts and apps - the ward Facebook page, GroupMe, email newsletters, Remind, Google Calendar, and group chats.
Because not everyone is on a single platform, communication is split across apps to try and reach everyone. But with so many platforms, announcements get skipped or members don't receive updates for events (i.e. location / time changes, people asking for rides).
Using SMACK, ward leaders can send announcements and events to everyone via SMS text. It takes less than two minutes to set up an account. All of your events go in a chronological feed, and there are separate on-app group chats for your members to connect and coordinate.
This means you can reach 100% of your members. Anyone who doesn’t want to be contacted can opt out. Committees, counsels, leadership, and social members can use the on-app group chats. You can mute the group chat and still get notifications for announcements and events, so no one is annoyed and no one is out of the loop.
FAQ
Q: What is the LDS Church’s stance on SMACK?
A: There are no official rules in place. SMACK is just a group chat/text tool similar to GroupMe, Remind, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Discord, or Slack. There are currently 130 wards, branches, YM/YW, RS/EQ groups using SMACK to reach over 15,000 of their members.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: Basic accounts are free and include all core features. Soon we will be introducing Premium accounts for advanced features including message scheduling and custom reminder times.