New reports show that nontraditional messaging may surpass texting as the most popular form of instant messaging among young people.
An annual technology report released by Deloitte, a professional services company, reported that the number of text messages sent in the U.K. decreased by 7 billion last year. The report predicts that in 2014, 300 billion instant messages will be sent through apps using the Internet while only 140 billion messages will be sent through text.
“For some people, texting isn’t available. I know people who don’t have cellphones or people who are out of the country,” said Jose Cotayo, a 19-year-old French sophomore who uses Skype to stay in touch with his family and friends. “It’s more convenient and free.”
Andrew Selepak, the director of UF’s online master’s program specialization in social media, said the decrease in texting is the result of more young people owning smartphones and apps like Snapchat.
“Snapchat has cut into text messaging because you’re limited with the capabilities of text messages. Other than sending a couple smileys, it’s just words,” Selepak said.
The report coincides with an announcement from mobile-messaging app WhatsApp — stating that since April 2013, the number of active users had risen from 200 million to 430 million and that the app is used to send a daily average of 50 billion messages.
“WhatsApp is faster and more efficient to use,” said Archangela Dias, an 18-year-old UF biology freshman. “I use it mostly because I have group chat with people who have different phones. Using one mode of communication is easier.”
Deloitte’s report states text messaging is expected to still generate significant revenue, but “text messaging’s global heyday is approaching.”
“From a traditional sense of how we view text messages now, I think that it will continue to decline,” Selepak said, “only because you have so many other options to perform the task of sending a message to someone where you don’t require real-time feedback.”
Julie Coutu, a 19-year-old UF women’s studies sophomore, said she doesn’t plan to replace texting with instant messaging.
“I use Facebook messaging sometimes for group messages, but texting is easier, and I don’t have to rely on WiFi,” she said. “It wouldn’t be in the interest of phone companies to let that go.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 1/28/2014 under the headline "Users say TTYL to standard texting"]
