TMCnet News
IM An Essential Business ToolBy DAVID SIMS Recent research on the UK text messaging market released by the Mobile Data Association forecasts that 32 billion text messages will be sent in 2005. The MDA has also found that the most common business use of text messaging in the UK is meeting reminders or appointment scheduling. Health services are beginning to see the benefits of text reminders. In one case documented by bridges.org, personalized messages are sent to remind tuberculosis patients to take their medication. And more customer support services are providing customers with a call log reference number and status updates via text messaging. The southern Californian newspaper Ventura County Star writes about customers using text messaging to find out "if the local department store is having a sale or where to find the closest sushi restaurant."
AskMeNow in Irvine, California launched Nov. 1 after a test period that signed up more than 15,000 users, the County Star writes: "Everyone on the Internet was researching answers every day, but it was difficult to do on the cell phone," AskMeNow CEO Darryl Cohen said. AskMeNow sends text messages with answers to specific questions, providing free content along with relevant ads to make its money -- "A question about travel may be answered along with an ad for a hotel Web site." Anymore using text messaging is just speaking the language people understand. According to TechNewsWorld a national survey released earlier this month indicates that instant messaging has grown 19 percent since last year, and is penetrating the United States market as deeply as e-mail -- "with many Americans sending as many, if not more, IMs than they do e-mails." What's more, at-work and mobile messaging usage have gone mainstream, according to the third annual Instant Messaging Trends Survey from AOL. Instant messaging is "now deeply entrenched in the U.S.," Krista Thomas, a spokeswoman for AOL -- based in Dulles, Va. -- told TechNewsWorld.
"Thirty-eight percent say they send as many or more IMs than e-mails, and the younger users are, the more likely they are to favor IM," TechNewsWorld reports. "Two-thirds of teens and young adults say they send more IMs than e-mails, up from 49 percent last year… One in three IM users send mobile IMs or text messages from their cell phones at least once a week. This is a dramatic increase over 2004, when just 19 percent said they do so, and 2003 when the figure was 10 percent." And at-work IM users now send IMs to communicate with colleagues, to get answers and make business decisions and even to interact with clients or customers. Twelve percent have used IM at work to avoid a difficult in-person conversation, the study finds. David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet. |