Mobile texting now more popular than calling in US
Tim Finin, 7:04am 29 September 2008The NYT has a short note (Letting Our Fingers Do the Talking ) on a new Nielsen Mobile report on texting use in the US.
“In the fourth quarter of 2007, American cellphone subscribers for the first time sent text messages more than they phoned, according to Nielsen Mobile. Since then, the average subscriber’s volume of text messages has shot upward by 64 percent, while the average number of calls has dropped slightly.”
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Average Number of Monthly Calls vs. Text Messages Among U.S. Wireless Subscribers |
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|
|
Calls |
Texts |
|
Qtr 1, 2006 |
198 |
65 |
|
Qtr 2, 2006 |
216 |
79 |
|
Qtr 3, 2006 |
221 |
85 |
|
Qtr 4, 2006 |
213 |
108 |
|
Qtr 1, 2007 |
208 |
129 |
|
Qtr 2, 2007 |
228 |
172 |
|
Qtr 3, 2007 |
226 |
193 |
|
Qtr 4, 2007 |
213 |
218 |
|
Qtr 1, 2008 |
207 |
288 |
|
Qtr 2, 2008 |
204 |
357 |
|
Source: Nielsen Mobile |
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The article also points out that “Teenagers ages 13 to 17 are by far the most prolific texters, sending or receiving 1,742 messages a month”. The Nielsen data shows that this age group sends two orders of magnitude more data than people over 65.
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Average Number of Monthly Calls vs. Text Messages Among U.S. Wireless Subscribers by Age (Q2 2008) |
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|
Calls |
Texts |
|
|
All Subs |
204 |
357 |
|
12 & Under |
137 |
428 |
|
Ages 13-17 |
231 |
1742 |
|
Ages 18-24 |
265 |
790 |
|
Ages 25-34 |
239 |
331 |
|
Ages 35-44 |
223 |
236 |
|
Ages 45-54 |
193 |
128 |
|
Ages 55-64 |
145 |
38 |
|
Ages 65+ |
99 |
14 |
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Source: Nielsen Mobile |
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Note that texting is more popular than calling for all but the last three age groups.
Ebiquity Blog
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:03 am
[...] are lots of things to say about new figures from Nielsen Mobile that show US mobile users now text more than they call. But, most important might be the proof it [...]