How often do you Text Message (IM or SMS)?

[encece]

How much Instant Messaging and Text Messaging do people in the US do? Now I'm not talking to anyone under 20 or so...who live by their InStAnT MeSsAGiNg and TeXt MesSaGiNg. (though I'm not excluding you from commenting). I'm talking about older adults, thrust into the business world and adult life.

I'm currently 35...not an old man...but not a young "whippersnapper" either by any means. My peer/work groups range from their mid 20's to late 40's. I for the life of me can't get anyone to consistently use and utilize these "new" forms of communication. Maybe once in a blue moon...but the novelty wears off for them very quickly.

I would LOVE to use instant messaging at work. I would find it the most useful there. But my IT department at work blocks the use of IM clients as they run a very tight ship...too tight. A small group of us used Lotus Sametime Messenger for a while but when we switched to Exchange servers...that secret option was lost. We could use NetMeeting...but there is no way as far as I know to login automatically and keep a list of Buddys as it is tied to Windows Messenger now...and those ports are blocked on our network.

At home, I use Trillian with AIM, MSN, and Yahoo! I have a small buddy list of family, friends and coworkers...but no one really uses it consistently. Mostly, I use it to talk to my teenage neices for as long as they'll tolorate their wierd uncle interfering with their 25 other simultaneous conversations.

On my SPV, I have yet to use Instant Messaging as my small circle of IMers use different clients..only a few on MSN. I know there is iMov Messenger...but it is ugly and I tried it twice unsucessfully and finally gave up trying.

But, I love to SMS. I could text message all day long. There are one or two of my friends who do periodically but their usage is sparatic and they used it more for a novelty before it wore thin.

Why is it more popular in Europe than here (at least from my point of view)? Is it because we have better voice plans and people would rather speak than IM or SMS? I can understand this in a way as I just read a post where someone was IMing their wife from the airport to kill time via his SPV or Tanager. Why wouldn't he just use the phone in his hand to call her instead of typing text on a little phone keyboard? Was it just for the novelty or would they rather just type to eachother than speak? (I'm not knocking it...if that's the case. I wish I could get my ex to just text message me so we would never have to speak! ).

I would use both more if I just had more family and friends who would or could as well. (Maybe everyone's throwing me a hint! )

But out of curiosity....how often do you SMS or IM? (Phone or PC)?

[spg]

Well I fit into the all day everyday type of category... of course I'm also in the "young whippersnapper" category as well. :)

Seriously though, IM is an essential tool for me when it comes to running my web-site and work. IM is how I stay in touch with my team, and fire off links and suggestions to them for posts, etc...

Last summer I worked for the IT department at a local university, and they were quite opposite of your IT department. IM was actually made a department wide requirement to enable better communication. Now, the developers could send code samples back and forth, questions could be answered in a matter of seconds, and best of all there were no busy signals for important matters. IM really became an important part of the daily work there...

As for SMS, I don't use it much, although at that university we had IT people with SMS devices that would be able to send back messages when they were out and about on campus. I just had my Wi-fi enabled Pocket PC and used IM and e-mail on that to communicate out of the office.

[Eric Lin]

encece, i'm just a year younger than you, and i text all the time. my friends and coworkers are between 25 and 35. some of them are into im, others are into sms. i seriously only call people when they don't have im or to coordinate plans once they've been set up over sms or im. luckily i work with alot of people from microsoft, who are encouraged to use msn messenger as a mode of communication. i do have friends who work in places that ban im (or internet connections outside of email altogether... seriously!!) and those folks and i sms - a lot. the rest of my friends initially perceived sms as weird, but even they have been getting into it alot more now. i don't like to im from my smartphone. i really need a qwerty keyboard to im so that i can type at the speed i talk/think. i don't mind smsing by t9, or even composing a short email. but im has to be fast, it is, after all, called "instant"

[freitasm]

I text from my Pocket PC using SimpleSMS (over Bluetooth to my Nokia 3650). Or directly from the mobile phone (when out and about without the Pocket PC).

My company uses SMS for paging and voicemail paging notification. We left the pagers behind a couple of years ago. Actually we have a gateway in Australia, and a handy webpage in our intranet, so it's all you can eat SMS - althoug we use e-mail most of the time.

[jenneth]

I text from my Pocket PC using SimpleSMS (over Bluetooth to my Nokia 3650). Or directly from the mobile phone (when out and about without the Pocket PC).

My company uses SMS for paging and voicemail paging notification. We left the pagers behind a couple of years ago. Actually we have a gateway in Australia, and a handy webpage in our intranet, so it's all you can eat SMS - althoug we use e-mail most of the time.

Hey freitasm - care to tell me what your gateway is? I'd love all you can eat SMS too :wink:

I used to SMS a lot a few years ago - now I just IM coz it's cheaper - either that or I just call them (also cheaper than having a "text conversation"). I have IM on all the time, but sometimes it gets really annoying when people are trying to chat to you while you're trying to concentrate. I know, there's a "Busy" option in MSN Messenger - but there are some people that I don't mind talking to even when I AM busy, so ..

[pdantic]

I tend to use IM and SMS a lot, and I'm a relatively old guy -- 45 years old...

My employer uses an in-house IM system that is actually pretty cool, so I tend to use it all the time. When I'm at home or have my Pocket PC Phone or Smartphone up & running, I try to fire up MSN Messenger so that I can keep in touch with friends and relatives.

As for SMS, I receive more than I send. I subscribe to various news update services so I get the latest weather, news and sports sent to my SMS inbox.

While I was in Europe last fall, I actually used SMS from my Pocket PC Phone to send "e-postcards" to people at home since GPRS roaming wasn't available at that time. It worked great!

Steve

[shindullin]

I im all the time but entering text into my cell phone is WAY to slow and it doesn't have bluetooth so I can't enter via my pda either. IM is the way to go bc if you're busy you can just ignore it and reply back when you have time. (Sort of like screening your calls)

[scottmag]

I subscribe to various news update services so I get the latest weather, news and sports sent to my SMS inbox.


Do you get some kind of alert every time one of those service messages comes through? I would like a system where I could get frequently updated information without an active indication, or at least get one that's easily ignored. I used to have an alphanumeric pager way back before I ever got a wireless phone. It had multiple message "slots" and an info service that would periodically fill up designated slots through the day. Those updates (news, sports, weather, entertainment, etc.) would be silent and I could choose to view fresh information when I wanted. Normal pages would beep/vibrate to alert me. I really liked that system. Could a Smartphone work in that way?

Scott

[Janak Parekh]

Why is it more popular in Europe than here (at least from my point of view)?
There's a couple of reasons, but the biggest is, IMHO, that only recently have we had intercarrier SMS in the US (i.e., about 6-12 months), and only even more recently has it become reliable. I now SMS a lot more knowing that people might actually get my messages, especially if I or they are stuck in a meeting. I think you'll see it continue to grow here... and we'll finally catch up to the rest of the world on this one. ;)

--janak

[freitasm]

My company uses SMS for paging and voicemail paging notification. We left the pagers behind a couple of years ago. Actually we have a gateway in Australia, and a handy webpage in our intranet, so it's all you can eat SMS - althoug we use e-mail most of the time.

Hey freitasm - care to tell me what your gateway is? I'd love all you can eat SMS too :wink:


The gateway is our own, and only visible from our intranet... We actually have our own SMSC software (did I say I work for a consulting company in the telecommunications area?)...

We also have a MSN Messenger server collocated to our MS Exchange Server, so everyone in the company (40,000 people) can IM each other. Pretty cool...

[ppcsurfr]

Do you know which country in the world sends the most SMS?

Anyway, I normally send a thousand SMS a month, and use MSN Messenger on my Smartphone or Pocket PC almost everyday...

And I'm 34... :roll:

Mabuhay! ~ Carlo

[Skitals]

I text message endless times more then i make voice calls. Come to high school for a day and look around a classroom... for some reason everyone is looking at something under their desk. Yeah... everyone is text messaging eachother. No we are not allowed to. Yes we do it anyway :P

hmm... maybe it's just my school. I dont know anyone who doesnt have a cell phone.

dont text message and drive

[ppcsurfr]

I text message endless times more then i make voice calls. Come to high school for a day and look around a classroom... for some reason everyone is looking at something under their desk. Yeah... everyone is text messaging eachother. No we are not allowed to. Yes we do it anyway :P

hmm... maybe it's just my school. I dont know anyone who doesnt have a cell phone.

dont text message and drive

Cellular phones? They're everywhere!!!

Anyway, some schools ban the use of mobile phones during class and they have to be surrendered to the school first every morning and released every afternoon after class... this of course is done to prevent cheating.

Don't Text and Drive... and Don't Text while crossing the street.

Hmmm... Sounds like the Nokia Phonethics.

Mabuhay! ~ Carlo

[Skitals]

i was driving down the street after a storm the other day and there was this awsomeeeee rainbow. i got all excited and had to tell someone about it. it was harder then i imagined to text with iTAP while driving (and shifting). just say no.

[Janak Parekh]

hmm... maybe it's just my school. I dont know anyone who doesnt have a cell phone.
No, it's not that. I can't believe I'm saying this 8O, but you're the future generation, the truly connected one (at least, in the US). Parts of mine are (like me, since I've always been a technologist), but when you guys become the main consumers I think you'll see SMS (or MMS, or whatever is its true successor) to be a very big thing in the US as well.

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Anyway, I normally send a thousand SMS a month, and use MSN Messenger on my Smartphone or Pocket PC almost everyday...
And you've posted here a 100 times already... 8O :lol:

--janak

[Skitals]

No, it's not that. I can't believe I'm saying this 8O, but you're the future generation, the truly connected one

Hahaha.... when you said that I couldnt help but picture "neo, you are the one"

I guess that is true and I am damn happy about that. But soon we will see if technology truely helps mankind, or destroys it.

I have a feeling the next world war will be World War Final.

To be honest at times I would rather live like they do in little house on the prairie... or Where the Red Fern Grows. I like the whole hunter-gatherer age better the the information age.

Wow I get off topic fast.

[ppcsurfr]

Anyway, I normally send a thousand SMS a month, and use MSN Messenger on my Smartphone or Pocket PC almost everyday...
And you've posted here a 100 times already... 8O :lol:

--janak

Hehe :oops:

It was empty when I started posting. :wink:

Mabuhay! ~ Carlo

[spg]

Anyway, I normally send a thousand SMS a month, and use MSN Messenger on my Smartphone or Pocket PC almost everyday...
And you've posted here a 100 times already... 8O :lol:

Well that isn't so amazing... what is amazing is that he has more posts than Jason! I never thought I'd see the day when Jason was outdone on number of posts on one of his own web-sites. :lol:

Alright... Back on topic now. (Man, I sound like a moderator!)

[spg]

hmm... maybe it's just my school. I dont know anyone who doesnt have a cell phone.
No, it's not that. I can't believe I'm saying this 8O, but you're the future generation, the truly connected one (at least, in the US). Parts of mine are (like me, since I've always been a technologist), but when you guys become the main consumers I think you'll see SMS (or MMS, or whatever is its true successor) to be a very big thing in the US as well.
I agree with you completely. An interesting thing to me is seeing how little I use the phone these days... it's all on instant messenger or SMS!