SMS Texting Explodes and Takes Over Voice Calls

I came across a rather interesting article in the Australian Financial Review within the Information Handout which detailed a case study and findings on how individuals are reducing the voice capability of their mobile phones and opting more for the SMS functionality and associated applications.

"For many, mobile phones have become irreplacaceable tools to manage their lives and stay connected to the outside world, their familities and networks of friends online. But increasingly that does not mean talking on them very much".

According to government and industry data from the US, 90% of households there have mobile phones - yet the growth in voice minutes used by consumers has "stagnated". "The number of text messages sent per user increased by nearly 50 percent in the US last year" according to a study by the Wireless Association. This is compounded by the fact that "the amount of data in 2009 across text and email messages, streaming video, music and other services on mobile devices surpassed the amount of voice data in mobile phone calls". This has been solidified by industry wide executives with Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint Nextel claiming that talking is less than "half of the traffic on mobile networks". Data reinforcing this is evidently clear with the average rate of talking in 2009 being 1.81 minutes opposed to 2.27 minutes in 2008.

With this paradigm shift occuring, Tomi T Ahonen, a media and advertising consultant in his latest book "Mobile as 7th Of The Mass Media" purports that the mobile phone is the first truly personal media, ticking all what he calls the Six M's of movement, moment, me, multi user, money and machines.

So with all of this in place, how can we as consumers capitalise on the enormous benefits that mobile phones now offer with their integrated applications, emails and SMS texting capabilities?

Firstly, I have yet to see, in Australia, full adoption by media companies and brands in the mobile space - adoption meaning integration of mobile phone technologies within their product offering. I think it would be great to have targeted SMS advertising through peer social networks delivered to your mobile phone as an SMS - where you can act on that SMS and get rewarded for reffering products to your peers. This can be solidified by a unique promotion code which is accessible only to recipients of this service. For example - Tarocash, YD and Londsdale are prominent clothing brands which often have massive sales but consumers are not always in the loop. It would be great to have promotions that encourage the texting back to the brand to better target their promotional advertising and discounts. From a brand perspective, this will prompt better loyalty and evangelism amongst a core customer base.

With all this said, I believe we are entering an age of emergence - emergence of the Gen C (for Community). The defining characteristics are well put foreward by virtual technology specialist Ken Thompson on his blog - titled Generation-C Teams make natural Bioteams. Here, Ken Thompson delineates an interesting school of though on how we, as consumers, can leverage the mechanical traits of natural teams in the mobile context - and become more proficient at the art of communication itself.

In conclusion, it will be interesting to see how the mobile phone is embraced in Australia. With the Australian Industry Advertising Board flagging higher investment in social media initiatives across the advertising industry this year. I believe - and this is a view concurrent with industry executives - that the next generation of mobile services will be charged by the data used, not by voice minutes.

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UPDATED @ 28/03/2011: OK - So I must admit that I havent really looked into updating this but hear this. Tomi T Ahonens's ( http://www.tomiahonen.com/ )  book "Mobile As 7th of THE MASS MEDIA: Cellphones,Cammeraphones,iPhone,Smartphone: [ http://mobile7th.futuretext.com/ ]

Well, so far I have read the parts of priority - but the CEO of Flirtomatic in the UK Mark Curtis (who also authored a book called "Distraction: Being Human in a Digital Age ( http://www.amazon.com/Distraction-Being-Human-Digital-Age/dp/0954432746/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301307292&sr=8-1 )" says that 

"..TOMI AHONEN IS THE MOST THOUGHTFUL COMMENTATOR ON THE MOBILE INDUSTRY HIS THEORY THAT MOBILE IS  NEW MASS MEDIA IS SPOT ON...""

Without making this short edit/update a blog post look like anorther article - just glance over these facts (from the book ; worded ; ) p.s. The data figures are quoted from the book as a reference point as 2007 marked the start of the real mobile 2.0 manifestation. 

• USA cellphones users sent 1 SMS message per day in 2007 [ Now think of the US mobile user base and that was 4 years ago just before iPhones etc 
• Total subscribers worldwide that can be reached by SMS in 2007 was ~3.2 billion
• 1.2 billion users of email in 2007; ###VERSUS###; 2.5 billion users of SMS in 2007

[N:B: These data are sourced from Tomi Ahonen's book (pg.126-127)]

OK OK - All of this data is sending me into a peturbation. ALL I CAN SAY - is all of you who have read this far is to:

1. Please visit my good friends website where I authored an article which basically means that we read short messages almost instinctively : here is the link http://www.bioteams.com/2007/01/22/organisational_teams_thin.html
2. Now - pg128 of Toni Ahonen's book referenced above says that in a youth survey in 2006; 48% if British teenagers sent text messages to someone else, either person-to-person or talking on a phone. Hear this one now; A US Disney survey of 1500 American teens in 2007 found that 28% send text messages from the dinner table. Anyone care to say grace before dinner?

Now, with all this data and the fact that the commercial/business market for SMS is work $107 billion (2007 figure) and growing means that any buddying entrepreneur or established organisation needs to simply a) read this article and b) read point 1 above and c) acknowledge that Generation M for Mobile make "Natural Bioteams" see http://www.bioteams.com/2007/01/31/generation-c_teams_make.html

This is where executive management should start looking at first - how to cultivate a service that provides up-sold products or apps on the phone that assist in the 'behavioural and Intellectual Property issues in the case of Enterprise 2.0 applications.

P.S. I will be writing another article similar to this soon within the MOBILE WEB 2.0 in the NETWORK ECONOMY!