Information technology is
changing its mode of communication in the era of globalization as communication
is changing the norms of socialization. Information is disseminated using
variety of instruments; computer networking, internet, mobile communication, and
social networking sites. Among all theses, mobile communication is wide spread
and is utilized by majority of people to communicate and share ideas or
information. The most basic function of mobile phones is to connect people
through phone calls. With growing advancements modern mobile phones support
multiple services including SMS (Small Messaging Service), MMS (Multimedia
Messaging Service), Internet, Short ranged wireless communication (Bluetooth and
Infrared) and other Business applications. A mobile phone is regarded as a
facilitation tool that institute “constant touch” to connect socially. The touch
leads to the expression of speech through the use of text messaging labelled as
“SMS”. This type of communication is easy to use and the generation of 21st
century prefers using it for instant communication.
The frequent use of SMS communication is evident in Pakistan as it is prevalent
in the world. Pakistani youth is relying on the use of the digital tool “mobile”
to communicate with their friends, family members and distant relatives. The
digital tool is changing the mode of socialization as sending an SMS is
considered more easily as compared to visiting anyone. In Pakistan first mobile
service provider came in mid-1990’s. Initially, use of mobile phones was limited
and only rich or elite class could afford mobile phones. It was considered as a
status symbol. With the passage of time, cellular networks increased and began
introducing service packages in order to attract customers. Gradually, besides
providing call services, SMS, MMS, GPRS, Bluetooth, Radio, Internet and
Television services were introduced. However, in Pakistan SMS communication
remained one of the major attractive features due to affordability and
quickness.
Youth is the key target audience due to their preference of using SMS instead of
calls to communicate with distant people. Beside this, daily routine of
Pakistani youth is dominated by the use of SMS for sending jokes, communicating
ideas, prviding information, socializing and greetings.
Teenagers are the most skillful mobile users. They use text messaging as a form
of day to day interaction. They are now learned users as they know how to create
connections within and outside the family through mobile usage. They use
multiple features of the mobile technology to easily convey their ideas and
opinions.
Texting is referred as ”Use of abbreviations and other techniques to craft SMS
and instant messages”. It is to note that texting neither follow standard rules
of English and grammar, nor the usual spellings. This craft of language is the
new emergent language. Now a days youth is adopting new and innovative ways of
interaction among each other through the use of latest technology. For them
mobile telephony has changed their lifestyles and attitudes. Youngsters use
mobile technology for voice, they send SMS messages, use mobile calendar for
setting particular dates, play games and receive news alerts frequently.
The widespread diffusion and the frequent use of mobiles has produced a new
‘personal communication society’. This includes prevalent social change,
innovations in technology, new means of social networking, emergence of virtual
public spaces and youth mobile culture.
The generation of this era heavily depends on mobile text-messaging to keep
themselves in-touched. It has become an indispensable communication tool in
their daily lives. This has resulted in a new communication culture that is the
play of buttons. This communication culture contains "consumer related
communication" and "brief messaging (just to kill time)". SMS allows to send and
receive textual messages directly on to the mobile phone. It utilizes handset
keypad and certain menus to write, edit and send or receive. This is the success
of cellular industry as youth has shown highest reception of this technology for
day to day interactions.
Mobile calling and texting behaviors among Pakistani youth. The study includes
the data from seventy-seven college students of 17 to 21 years of age. It is
found that the majority of students are heavy users of mobile phones. They are
fond of texting or messaging but they use voice calls less in quantity. The use
of mobile for communication is found within their particular age group. The
usage is motivated as low-priced prepaid packages are offered by
telecommunication services in Pakistan.
Instead of youth’s attraction in using messaging for daily interaction,
messaging is also a major attraction to the businesses. The reason behind this
is that it is cheaper than mail marketing and the possibility of reading text
messages is higher in youth. The use of mobile phone and its feature of
messaging is the latest trend among the youth. The frequent use of mobile phones
has been woven in the lives of young generation that provides the sense of
independence from family and power relations. In Europe digital media can help
in increasing the participation of citizens in democratic processes of the
council. It focuses on two issues; to find level of citizen’s participation in
SMS project and to find the impact of the project on council’s democratic
processes. For this “Youth Services Department of the council” started ‘Youth
Participation Project’. It prepared SMS system for one year trial. Chosen
population is surveyed through messages using council’s SMS system to get their
opinions regarding the project. The results indicate that the system is
appropriate in getting the responses of the audiences but it does not provide
feedback to them to let hem know that their ideas have been received. This
positive result is that people participated in the project but they were
unawared of the details of the project. Hence, regardless of the project it is
to say that mobile is the most preferred means of communication and if the
authority decides to communicate with this technology the youth gives a positive
and desired response.
Whereas the use of mobile for specific purposes by Chinese teenagers has been
studied in china. It includes the areas of chain-messages, greeting messages,
use of emoticons and parental control. For studying these areas field survey is
conducted with the sample of one hundred Chinese teenagers. This adoption is
because of seven reasons; low cost, flexibility, privacy, avoiding
embarrassment, entertainment, fad and escape. The mobile phones can be utilized
as a civil resistance to certain issues. Through the use of mobile technology
public can fire their opinion collectively. It is now harder to trace and censor
information originating from cross-border sources with high velocity.
SMS communication is an effective medium for advertising in Bangladesh. A study
in Bangladesh finds qualitative as well as the quantitative data from field
interviews of 160 customers belonging to different business people from all
businesses show positive attitude in adopting SMS advertising through mobile
phones. There is a huge prospect of responding to the SMS advertising in
Bangladesh because people are compelled to use mobile phones daily. The new
media form of mobile communication is used by young Chinese women in keeping
social relations. Moreover, this communication has enabled the modern Chinese
women, especially, to take initiative in self expression and building of new
social relations particularly in sustaining social interaction with males. Along
with females, males are also becoming SMS users for establishing new
interactions. Whereas text messaging is more frequent used by women as they are
less comfortable in speaking in front of public. With SMS, fingers do the work
of talk rather than the verbal speech.
The advancement in technology has created new forms of advertising. This helps
in reaching consumers at large. The increase in the need for advertising has
resulted in the wide use of ”short message service (SMS)” advertising. The study
deals with the perceptions of young consumers towards this SMS advertising. For
this quota sampling is done within a large university and questionnaires are
filled by the sample of 198. The result indicates the perception of youth value
SMS advertisements that are precise, short and to the point but relevant to
their interests. The attitude of youth in SMS marketing is found to be positive
as they give frequent responses because this technological use is a credible
source of information for them.
Text messaging, called Short Messaging Service (SMS), Instant Messaging (IM), or
micro blogging can be used in imparting education. This can create the feeling
of being connected. IM is a computer-based chat that provides on-line text-based
conversations between individuals on the internet. SMS is another communication
tool that delivers instant messages up to 160 characters. Micro blogging is a
new web technology. It is a blend of blogging, texting and social networking.
These new technologies are being used for education and information as the youth
develops conversation and help each other in understanding certain issues of
their interest.
It is concluded from multiple studies analyzing SMS communication that the
advancement in technology people are fond of using SMS as a mode of frequent
interaction. The feature of exchanging short service messages are used for
imparting education, frequent communication and affordable recreation. It is
helpful in providing information related to different issues including
agriculture, advertising and democracy as it is a credible source.