Happy 25th Text Messaging!!

Looking at disruptive technology, it's important to consider how quickly it can rise from nothing to seemingly being indispensable.

Enjoy the ride!!

The very first text message was sent 25 years ago, in 1992.

In 1993 the first phone that the first phone that supported sending text messages found its way into the market.

Mashable
"Like any new technology, initial growth for SMS was slow. The average American user sent 0.4 texts per month in 1995. Gradually, phones and networks adapted to better accommodate SMS. In 1999, texts could finally be exchanged between different networks, which increased its usefulness. By 2000, the average number of text messages sent in the U.S. increased to 35 a month per person."

First SMS Message CBC

World's first SMS text message sent 25 Years Ago

The man who sent the first ever text message 25 years ago has told British broadcaster Sky News that he is proud of his achievement.

British engineer Neil Papworth sent the first SMS (Short Message Service) from a computer to a mobile phone belonging to the then-director of Vodafone Richard Jarvis, he told Sky News.

The message read simply: "Merry Christmas."

Papworth said that Jarvis was unable to reply, because at that time it was not possible to send text messages from mobile phones, only to receive them.

According to Sky, in 2007 the U.K. was sending 66 billion text messages per year and by 2012 that had increased to 151 billion for SMS and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

The U.K. currently sends 96 billion text messages every day, Sky reported.

"Texting isn't as popular as it once was," said CBC's Dominic Valitis, reporting from London. "The peak for messaging in the U.K. was 2012 ... but we've seen a steady decline since then."

Some experts believe, however, that although text messages are an extremely quick and popular form of communication, they are no match for speaking with someone in person.

"When you send someone a text message you often lose a lot of the context that you might get when you are speaking face to face," social media expert Toby Beresford told Sky News.

"And that's a real challenge for us in the new era."


Texting Statistics

Worldwide Texting Statistics (5/24/16)

1. The number of monthly texts sent increased more than 7,700% over the last decade. (Statistic Brain) (Tweet this!)

2. Over 560 billion texts are sent every month worldwide. (Statistic Brain) (Tweet this!)

3. 18.7 billion texts are sent worldwide every day, not including app-to-app messaging. (Statistic Brain) (Tweet this!)

4. (2017 Update) 15,220,700 texts are sent every minute of every day worldwide, not including app-to-app messaging. (Domo) (Tweet this!)

5. (2017 Update) 913,242,000 texts are sent every hour of every day worldwide, not including app-to-app messaging. (Domo) (Tweet this!)

6. (2017 Update) 22 billion texts are sent every day worldwide, not including app-to-app messaging. (Domo) (Tweet this!)

7. (2017 Update) 8 trillion texts are sent worldwide every year, not including app-to-app messaging. (Domo) (Tweet this!)

8. WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger combine for more than 60 billion messages sent every day. (The Verge) (Tweet this!)

9. 4.2 billion+ people text worldwide. (MBA Online) (Tweet this!)

10. Text messaging is the most used data service in the world. (Nielsen) (Tweet this!)