Over 75 Billion text messages are sent in the US per month as of November of 2008, per CellSigns.com statistics. Per the site the number of text messages have increased 37% every six months since 2003! The number of text messages sent or received by the average person, now out numbers the number of phone calls a person makes, or receives.
Personally, I first consistently used text messages during my study abroad trip to Madrid, Spain in 2002. Today as an MBA student in the States, text messages are a vital way of communication for me, personally, for my friends, family and colleagues. During a recent class trip to China, it was extremely hard to make plans and communicate without the use of text messaging or cell phones.
With a limit of 160 spaces, its truly impressive how much one can communicate in a text message. As mocked in the above comic, the language of texting, is truly its own language. By abbreviating, neglecting spaces, punctuation and full words, whole conversations can happen with just a few words.
Just the other week in conversation, I learned of the term, "Sexting." Combining sex and texting, or "sexting" was even featured on ABC news as "A Dangerous Teen Trend." In the spirit of "sexting," is it not uncommon for millennials to get to know each other, and plan dates through text messaging, rather than phone calls. For me personally, the over usage of text message in a dating scenario can be a deal breaker. However, I am on the older age bracket of the millennials.
The applications for texting and business are endless. From marketing to employee communication texting is and will continue to be an interface for companies to and from employees and customers to and from "their" brands/companies. Per the New Learning Playbook website, Ernest and Young is capturing on text messages and using it as communication device between upper management and new hires. There are advertising and promotions agencies with texting as their business model. For the exchange of free text messages, consumers can now agree to received advertised text messages for certain products/service they are interested in.
With text message charges driving cell phone company profits, and customers texting more than talking, it seems that "prosumers" (producers and consumers) have and will continue to evolve how we communicate through technology.
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