| Thursday, June 4, 2009 Texting Talks For Teens and Twenties Results from the second annual Vlingo Consumer Mobile Messaging Habits Report show that, this year, nearly 60% of mobile phone owners use their phones to text, with 94% of teens the largest user group, and 20-somethings at 87%. Among those in their 40s, usage jumped from 56% in 2008 to 64% this year, and for those in their 50s it jumped from 38% to 46%. Texting is also gaining on sending/receiving calls as the primary use of mobile phones, with 35% of all respondents using their phones for texting more than for phone calls. Almost half of respondents do both in equal numbers. The volume of text messages has gone up as well across all age groups, although the 13 to 19 age group remains the most active, sending more than 500 texts per month on average. Despite the popularity of mobile data services, of those surveyed:
With 86% of respondents paying their mobile phone bills themselves, the survey found that cost is one of the main reasons for non-adoption:
Among those who do not text message:
While voice enablement may be desired as a way to make text messaging easier, safety is an important consideration. Despite Driving While Texting (DWT) bans in seven states and the District of Columbia, one in four of all mobile phone users admit to DWT and it occurs in all age groups. Nearly 70% of respondents would use voice recognition technology while driving instead of typing if they could speak text or email messages and have incoming messages read to them. Almost 60% of those ages 16 to 19 admit to DWT and 49% of those 20 to 29 admit to DWT. The percentages get smaller for older respondents, but usage remains high with 13% of those in their 50s admitting to doing so. Drivers in Tennessee are the worst offenders, with the highest percentage of respondents (42%) who admit to DWT, while Arizona has the lowest percentage (18.8%). Slightly more than 83% of respondents think DWT should be illegal, while only 7% think DWT should be legal, and 10% are undecided. However, with more safety precautions such as hands?free solutions that enable consumers to text without typing, 40% of respondents favor making DWT legal. Dave Grannan, CEO of Vlingo notes that "... in just one year, the public conversation about the issue of DWT has escalated... (though) texting is such an integral component of our daily lives... the cautionary tales about DWT danger have not stemmed the tide... many state legislatures are starting to take up this issue, and today more advanced technologies exist that can increase safety on the roads." For more information, and to access the PDF file for this report, please visit Vlingo here.
This commentary is insightful. I recommend it to others. Post your response to the public Research Brief blog. See what others are saying on the Research Brief blog. We use the term research in the broadest possible sense. We do not perform an audit, nor do we analyze the data for accuracy or reliability. Our intention is to inform you of the existence of research materials and so we present reports as they are presented to us. The only requirements we impose are that they are potentially useful and relevant to our readers and that they pass the rudimentary test of relying on acceptable industry standards. We explicitly do not take responsibility for the findings. Please be aware of this and check the source for yourself if you intend to rely on any of the data we present.  You are receiving this newsletter at phamlehoang2006.11072006@blogger.com as part of your free membership with MediaPost. If this issue was forwarded to you and you would like to begin receiving a copy of your own, please visit our site - www.mediapost.com - and click on [subscribe] in the e-newsletter box. For advertising opportunities see our online media kit.  We welcome and appreciate forwarding of our newsletters in their entirety or in part with proper attribution. (c) 2009 MediaPost Communications, 1140 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001 |
0 comments:
Post a Comment