UK mobile users sent an average of 265 million text messages and 1.6 million picture messages every day in 2009. 96.8 billion texts and over 600 million picture messages were sent across the whole year, an increase of 23% and 9% on the previous year, respectively, according to figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA).
Seasonal drivers still appear to propel the use of picture messaging, with almost 442 million texts and 4.5 million picture messages sent on Christmas Day, while network operators figures also indicate an upturn in picture messaging during the recent cold snap. The number of texts sents on Christmas Day was 31% up on the previous year, while the 874 million texts sent on New Years Eve/Day was 21% up on the previous year.
These statistics show that even with new social media forms of messaging such as Twitter and Facebook, people are using SMS as a social messaging tool because of its simplicity and ubiquity, says MDA Chairman Steve Reynolds. There remains a significant and still developing role for text messaging. In a seemingly relentless tide of status updates, tweets and pokes, the UK populations love affair with mobile messaging for instant, on-the-go communication continues to deepen.