Teen Text Messaging Statistics – Teens Texting more than ever (May 2010)

Text Messaging Becomes Centerpiece Communication

Published by Pew Internet & American Life Project
The mobile phone has become the favored communication hub for the majority of American teens. And texting is the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends with phone calls coming in second on the list. Some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004. Those phones have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns.

Fully 72% of all teens (88% of teen cell phone users) are text-messagers. That is a sharp rise from the 51% of teens who were texters in 2006. More than half of teens (54%) are daily texters. Of all teens, the frequency of texting has overtaken all common forms of interaction with their friends.

1-in-3 teens sends more than 100 text messages a day, or 3000 texts a month.

2/3 of teens texters say they are more likely to use their cell phones to text their friends than talk to them to them by cell phone.

Among those teen texters:
* Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month.
* 15% of teens who are texters send more than 200 texts a day, or more than 6,000 texts a month.
* Boys typically send and receive 30 texts a day; girls typically send and receive 80 messages per day.
* Teen texters ages 12-13 typically send and receive 20 texts a day.
* 14-17 year-old texters typically send and receive 60 text messages a day.
* Older girls who text are the most active, with 14-17 year-old girls typically sending 100 or more messages a day or more than 3,000 texts a month.
* However, while many teens are avid texters, a substantial minority are not. One-fifth of teen texters (22%) send and receive just one to 10 texts a day or 30 to 300 texts a month.

Calling is still a central function of the cell phone for teens, and for many teens voice is the primary mode of conversing with their parents (surprise, surprise).

CALL STATISTICS
Teens typically make or receive five calls a day. White teens typically make or receive four calls a day, or around 120 calls a month, while black teens exchange seven calls a day or about 210 calls a month and Hispanic teens typically make and receive five calls a day or about 150 calls a month.

TEEN GIRLS SKEW THE RESULTS
Girls more fully embrace most aspects of cell phone-based communication.

As we see with other communicative technologies and applications, girls are more likely than boys to use both text messaging and voice calling and are likely to do each more frequently.

* Girls typically send and receive 80 texts a day; boys send and receive 30.
* 86% of girls text message friends several times a day; 64% of boys do the same.
* 59% of girls call friends on their cell phone every day; 42% of boys call friends daily on their cell phone daily.

Girls are also more likely than boys to text for social reasons, to text privately and to text about school work.

* 59% of girls text several times a day to “just say hello and chat”; 42% of boys do so.
* 84% of girls have long text exchanges on personal matters; 67% of boys have similar exchanges.
* 76% of girls text about school work, while 64% of boys text about school.

PHONE USAGE AT SCHOOL
Most schools treat the phone as a disruptive force that must be managed and often excluded from the school and the classroom.

Even though most schools treat cell phones as something to be contained and regulated, teens are nevertheless still texting frequently in class.

* 12% of all students say they can have their phone at school at any time.
* 62% of all students say they can have their phone in school, just not in class.
* 24% of teens attend schools that ban all cell phones from school grounds.
* Still, 65% of cell-owning teens at schools that completely ban phones bring their phones to school every day.
* 58% of cell-owning teens at schools that ban phones have sent a text message during class.
* 43% of all teens who take their phones to school say they text in class at least once a day or more.
* 64% of teens with cell phones have texted in class; 25% have made or received a call during class time.

TEEN MOBILE INTERNET USAGE
Cell phones help bridge the digital divide by providing internet access to less privileged teens. Still, for some teens, using the internet from their mobile phone is “too expensive.”

Teens from low-income households, particularly African-Americans, are much more likely than other teens to go online using a cell phone. This is a pattern that mirrors Pew Internet Project findings about adults and their cell phones.

* 21% of teens who do not otherwise go online say they access the internet on their cell phone.
* 41% of teens from households earning less than $30,000 annually say they go online with their cell phone. Only 70% of teens in this income category have a computer in the home, compared with 92% of families from households that earn more.
* 44% of black teens and 35% of Hispanic teens use their cell phones to go online, compared with 21% of white teens.

Cell phones are seen as a mixed blessing. Parents and teens say phones make their lives safer and more convenient. Yet both also cite new tensions connected to cell phone use.

HOW TEENS USE THEIR PHONES
Cell phones are not just about calling or texting — with expanding functionality, phones have become multimedia recording devices and pocket-sized internet connected computers. Among teen cell phone owners:

Teens who have multi-purpose phones are avid users of those extra features. The most popular are taking and sharing pictures and playing music:

* 83% use their phones to take pictures.
* 64% share pictures with others.
* 60% play music on their phones.
* 46% play games on their phones.
* 32% exchange videos on their phones.
* 31% exchange instant messages on their phones.
* 27% go online for general purposes on their phones.
* 23% access social network sites on their phones.
* 21% use email on their phones.
* 11% purchase things via their phones.

UNLIMITED PLANS
Unlimited plans are tied to increases in use of the phone, while teens on “metered” plans are much more circumspect in their use of the phone.

Fully three-quarters of teen cell phone users (75%) have unlimited texting. Just 13% of teen cell phone users pay per message. Those with unlimited voice and texting plans are more likely to call others daily or more often for almost every reason we queried — to call and check in with someone, to coordinate meeting, to talk about school work or have long personal conversations. Teens with unlimited texting typically send and receive 70 texts per day, compared with 10 texts a day for teens on limited plans and five texts a day for teens who pay per message.

BOTTOM LINE
The teen segment has always pointed the way to older demographic groups being socially connected vie various channels. Texting patterns only indicate that text is the preferred method to communicate to this group of today’s consumers. They are also driving usage for their parents which will continue to help shape 35-54 year old segment.

READ MORE: Get the full Pew Internet Research Report here.

May 10, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments

5 Billion Text Messages sent/received each month in the US. Mobile Messaging continues to show enormous uptake in SMS and MMS.

The Wireless Association (CTIA) today announced at it’s semi-annual conference its semi-annual survey results. Mobile messaging continues to grow in both text messaging (SMS) and multi-media messaging (commonly referred to by some as picture messaging or MMS).

THE HIGHLIGHTS
SMS/ Text Messaging Stats:
According to the survey, text messaging (SMS) continues to grow at an unprecedented rate: more than 822 billion text messages sent and received on carriers’ networks during the last half of 2009—amounting to almost 5 billion messages per day at the end of the year. During the 2009 calendar year, there were more than 1.5 trillion text messages reported on carriers’ networks.

MMS / Multi-Media Messaging Stats:
Wireless subscribers are also sending more pictures and other multimedia messages with their mobile devices—more than 24.2 billion MMS messages were reported for the last half of 2009. That’s more than double the number from the previous year, when only 9.3 billion were reported for the last half of 2008 – a growth of over 250% year over year growth. The growth in messaging take up is also fueling mobile marketing growth and adoption of mobile marketing by companies of all sizes.

Device Growth & Increase Data Connection:
There are now more than 257 million data-capable devices in consumers’ hands in the US – up from 228MM at the end of 2008: 50 Million are smart phones or wireless-enabled PDAs and nearly 12 million are wireless-enabled laptops, notebooks or aircards.

As of December 2009, more than 285 million wireless connections. This represents a year-over-year increase of more than 15 million.

“With wireless connections now equal to more than 91 percent of the U.S. population, mobile broadband is pivotal to ensuring all Americans are ‘digitally literate’. CTIA’s survey results show the wireless ecosystem is constantly reinventing itself, and other industries, to be more productive and efficient” said Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA -The Wireless Association. “Mobile broadband will increasingly play a vital role in people’s lives.”

People Still Making Calls:
Other highlights included wireless customers using more than 1.12 trillion minutes in the last half of 2009, up 38 billion from the last half of 2008—and breaking down to 6.1 billion minutes-of-use per day. Wireless service revenues for the last half of 2009 amounted to almost $77 billion—up from a little more than $75 billion in the last half of 2008.

The CTIA Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey results were released at International CTIA WIRELESS 2010. For more survey information, please visit: http://www.ctia.org/advocacy/research/index.cfm/AID/10316

POSTED: March 23, 2010 (LIVE FROM CTIA)

March 23, 2010 in Blog   |   2 Comments

SMS & MMS Outlook Strong; Text Message Revenues Reaching $233B By 2014

Worldwide Messaging Revenues set to exceed USD 233 billion by 2014

According to a new research published by Portio Research called ‘Mobile Messaging Futures’ reveals that revenues for mobile messaging is expected to reach 233B By 2014. SMS and MMS usage continues to grow worldwide. The Mobile Messaging Futures report, focusing on the overall mobile messaging industry worldwide, indicates that in 2009 alone, the industry generated a $150 billion in revenue, with a projected $233 billion by 2014. The report also reveals that the use of the technology shows no signs of slowing down either.

Text Messaging remains a ubiquitous feature on all cell phones in use today. In 2009 alone, the report suggests, worldwide SMS traffic topped 5 trillion messages, and that figure is set to exceed 10 trillion in 2013.

MMS is ready to break out too in the coming months as carrier finish upgrades to their platforms and allow for interaction via short codes. Full year revenues for MMS in 2009 amount to almost USD 27 billion, an impressive figure, and lest people forget and not far off what SMS was generating a mere 5 years ago. MMS is growing fast in all major regions around the world as affordable camera-equipped handsets flood the market and increasingly become the norm. Read more on MMS here: MMS Messaging

QWASI MMS OUTLOOK: MMS will move mainstream as SMS has done over the last several years offering a true multimedia approach to messaging.

The uses of mobile messaging for business today for entertainment, mobile commerce, mobile coupons, mobile ticketing, mobile donations, mobile search, blasts, alerts and additional mobile marketing.

Read the entire report here: Worldwide Mobile Messaging 2010 Report

February 3, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments

Mobile Marketing Center Lets Companies Reach On-The-Go Consumers In 2010

QWASI updates its integrated mobile marketing platform to provide superior mobile marketing services to its clients.

PHILADELPHIA, January 7, 2010 – QWASI Inc., one of the leading enterprise mobile marketing application companies providing interactive mobile solutions for the US mobile market and small and medium-sized businesses (the SMB market), announced today the official launch of the QWASI Mobile Marketing Center 2.0. With this release, it’s never been easier to build, manage and analyze mobile marketing campaigns through a self-managed online portal. Companies of any size can seize the opportunity of enterprise features that mobile marketing offers through the power of QWASI’s mobile marketing platform.

With twice as many users of SMS than email globally and over 125 billion text messages sent every month in the United States, 45% of brands have already deployed text messaging campaigns, with a projection of 89% planned to go to market by 2010. There has never been a more important time to engage customers via the mobile communication channel. QWASI is committed to helping clients and companies navigate effectively through the mobile landscape as they reach SMB consumers on-the-go. The QWASI Mobile Marketing Center 2.0 now provides its clients with the platform that will help to launch their campaigns into the mobile marketing space and realize the power of mobile.

QWASI provides its clients with a variety of key services designed to better promote marketing campaigns with mobile services. With the ability to quickly set up interactive text messaging and mobile campaigns from any browser, QWASI gives its clients the power to control their own interactive mobile marketing solutions.

The QWASI Mobile Marketing Center 2.0 provides such popular features and new services including:
• SMS Auto Responders (NEW): Power drip marketing via text messaging to opt-in users.
• Info-on-Demand: Providing information via custom Keywords. Capture opt-in users for future message blasts including email addresses (NEW).
• Blasts / Alerts: Send text messages to subscribers. Keep customers informed of promotions, offers & events.
• Mobile Coupons: Distribute coupons to potential customers who have opted-in to receive your promotions. Track usage with Promo Codes (NEW).
• Text-to-Win: Enable potential customers to text in a special keyword to instantly enter-to-win a prize.
• Text-to-Vote: Have interested customers text to vote on a topic and provide real-time results.
• Ringtones, Wallpapers & Mobile Video: Deliver rich content to customers with MMS and mobile downloads.
• Website Widget: Build a subscriber list from web-widgets .
• Custom Applications: The Marketing Center API allows companies to build any custom mobile messaging application.

“Many of our new features in this release have been in use for QWASI enterprise clients. We’re now making them available to small and medium size companies to leverage the mobile channel,” states David Geipel, COO and Co-Founder of QWASI, Inc. “We enable companies to power a simple mobile campaign and provide them with tools that connect companies with their customers. We’ve seen an insurgence of companies desiring to utilize a short code to power one-to-one mobile messaging. With the Mobile Marketing Center API, we’re also enabling other companies to power highly interactive campaigns using the same API our platform uses. QWASI has been providing successful and cost effective mobile campaigns for over 5 years.”

QWASI’s Mobile Marketing Center 2.0 also enables companies to white-label a powerful mobile marketing platform using a shared short code provisioned on wireless carriers including Alltel, AT&T, Boost, Centennial, Cellular One, Dobson, Immix, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, Virgin, Verizon and other second and third tier carriers. The platform provides companies the ability to give their clients access to further provide control over their marketing campaigns. In addition, the service can be connected using a dedicated short code (vanity or random).

ABOUT QWASI
QWASI, Inc, is a leading mobile solutions provider of interactive applications for clients across the US utilizing SMS (text messaging), MMS, WAP and iPhone applications, QWASI makes complexity to simple with mobile marketing, mCommerce (mobile commerce), private label mobile search tools, click-to-chat, click-to-text, Mobile IM (MIM) applications, interactive property marketing services and customized alerting for Fortune 1000 businesses.

QWASI CONTACT
Patricia Scanlon, QWASI, 877-747-9274, patricia.scanlon @ qwasi.com

January 7, 2010 in Press Releases   |   No Comments

Jiffy Lube: Mobile Marketing Campaign beats out Online

Part of a Series: Mobile Campaigns Live Up to HYPE

As seen on Mobile Marketer.
A Jiffy Lube mobile advertising initiative that was part of a larger multichannel campaign achieved a 0.2 percent response rate, outperforming its Web counterpart.

Jiffy Lube tested this program in Los Angeles, California using a geo-targeted mobile ad campaign offering coupons for oil changes. The program launched in March where twenty-eight percent of respondents texted in their ZIP code to receive a list of oil-change stores closest to them. More than 200 coupons were redeemed at Los Angeles stores, which equates to around 10 percent of original respondents.

According to the company release, “The strategy was to reach the 18-24-year-old demographic group by advertising on text messages being sent to existing mobile content subscribers. The goal was to evaluate the mobile channel, and gauge the interest of the audience in engaging with the brand over a mobile device.”
A similar campaign was advertised online to compare the opt-in and response rates between the mobile and wired Web channels, she said. Jiffy Lube agency Kovel/Fuller declined to disclose the online metrics in the case study first posted on MarketingProfs.com.

The 20-percent-off messaging generated more text-in responses overall. However, the coupon for $7 off resulted in more coupon redemptions. The text message ad copy was appended to user-requested text message content with messages such as “20 percent off Jiffy Lube Oil Change! Reply JIFFY” or “Save $7 on a Jiffy Lube Oil Change! Reply JL.”

Customers who replied to the ad received a text message with a coupon code for redemption, and an invitation to find their nearest Jiffy Lube location by replying via text message with their ZIP code.
Jiffy Lube wanted to find a new way to reach consumers ages 18-24, a demographic likely to ignore the company’s television, newspaper and Yellow Pages ads.

Further building the case for mobile, the company chose to conduct its test in the Los Angeles metro area, where residents—especially Jiffy Lube’s target demographic—spend a lot of time on the road.
Mobile offered a means for connecting with these hard-to-reach individuals even while they were out and about.

The companies learned a few lessons from this campaign including:
• To win over the attention of a hard-to-reach market, first figure out how you can best work your way into their existing day-to-day routines.
• Test multiple mobile offers and messages to determine the optimal approach for attracting your audience and driving conversions.
• Refresh mobile ads regularly to optimize performance.
• Try advertising SMS campaigns via mobile advertising. You may generate a higher response rate because all user activity is performed using the same channel and device

Activate a Multi-Channel Mobile Campaign today.
Contact QWASI: Call 877-747-9274.

October 15, 2009 in Blog   |   No Comments