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At
the end of 2000 a large-scale survey tried to shed additional light on the
uses of the mobile telephone and the Internet in nine European countries
(Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, the UK, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands
and the Czech Republic). Representative samples of 1,000 respondents per
country covered users as well as non-users. Several questions dealt with
uses of the mobile telephone and SMS for private purposes. In the following
short research report we look at some previously unknown comparisons of
adoption and uses of SMS in several European countries. SMS is a simple
text system that has readily been adopted by numerous mobile phone users
throughout Europe.
As we well
know, the diffusion of a technical innovation takes place in successive
phases: different strata of the population adopt it as it proves its usefulness
in daily life. With the mobile telephone this process now seems to have
entered into its final phase. In the nine countries studied, roughly 60%
of people aged 15 or over say they use a cell phone, and differences between
countries seem to be fading fast. By contrast, SMS seems to be used primarily
by youth who have snatched at this GSM function, partly to reduce their
telecommunications costs and partly for its efficiency and discreetness
(2).
In general,
the average age of SMS users in Europe is 30, compared to 42 for mobile
phone owners who do not use SMS . This difference is consistent throughout
Europe. There is no significant gender difference: young people, whether
men or women, use SMS to the same extent. Education does not make a difference
either. Thus, SMS use has proved to be largely democratic.
 
Figure 1 : Proportion of SMS users by age and country
The
SMS in Europe
If we map
penetration rates of mobile phones and the proportion of SMS users by
country, we can see that the two are partly independent. While the Norwegians,
Dutch and Germans are the most strongly attracted by an exchange of short
text messages, the Italians - who are the champions of the GSM and who
have already overtaken the Scandinavian countries - are rarer among SMS
users than the Czechs, for example. Italians seem to prefer voice contact
rather than sending text messages on their mobile phones, as is shown
by their high consumption levels - the highest in our sample. By contrast,
the British and Spanish seem to have little interest in the SMS.
Figure
2 : Proportion of SMS users among mobile telephone users
(at least one message sent in the week preceding the survey) in 9 countries
studied.
E-mail
and SMS - the same family?
More in-depth
statistical analysis of the many influences on the levels of SMS in the
various countries studied enabled us to further our understanding of text
messaging. If we compare the strength of the influences on using SMS or
not, the mere fact of using the Internet and the overall level of a respondent's
household telephone budgets appear far more important in the explanation
of SMS use than the country a person lives in. In total, 26% of mobile
telephone users in the nine countries studied are also SMS users. But
while only 16% of Internet non-users send short text messages, this level
climbs to 36% for Internet users. This finding suggests a certain proximity
between written modes of communication in the worlds of the Internet (e-mail,
chats, etc.) and of the mobile phone. Yet if we examine the contact pattern
with friends - who are the biggest SMS target group - we note that face-to-face
contact, telephone calls and short messages with friends are all strongly
concentrated in the geographic area surrounding the user, whereas other
written contact (letters and e-mails) is far more dispersed (cf. fig.3).
Figure
3 : Spatial distribution of contact with friends
The association
between Internet use and SMS adoption (the strongest predictor of SMS
use) appears far more important than differences between users in different
countries. Therefore, bringing these two communication services closer
together might be a way of further stimulating the use of SMS, which is
by far the most profitable service for mobile telephone operators. In
the following sections we shall concentrate on the most interesting users
of both the SMS and the Internet and look at their specific social and
lifestyle profiles.
SMS
when one goes out a lot…
Depending
on the country and the users' needs, sending SMS messages is a way of
reducing one's telephone bill. Good examples of this are Czech users who
use text messaging on mobile phones extensively. Use of SMS may also indicate
an intense social life. In this case, SMS use does not aim at reducing
the telephone budget but fits into everyday routines that facilitate daily
life or help sustain relations with family, friends and acquaintances.
For German and Czech users aged between 35 and 44, who have an intense
social life and who often go out, lifestyle can conflict with rigid time
schedules for work and private life and with the widely accepted norms
of punctuality. To relieve time pressures, users prefer to send an SMS
(61% of all SMS users, compared to 31% for people without rigid time schedules
or strict norms of punctuality). Furthermore, SMS is well-suited to the
lifestyle of young Germans and Dutch below the age of 24 who play individual
sports like tennis, swimming or jogging: 70% of people playing individual
sports use SMS, compared to 40% of those who do not go in for individual
sport.
When Internet
users are also big mobile consumers, the probability of being an SMS user
increases even more. Among those with low levels of mobile phone consumption,
28% use SMS, compared to 48% of big consumers. However, this relationship
varies considerably from one country to another, and according to the
size of the town. Thus, even for low consumers in large Czech or German
cities, 69% of mobile telephone users communicate via SMS, but only 46%
in smaller towns. Independent of city size, this rate falls to 30% in
France, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway, to 17% in Denmark and Spain,
and to as little as 9% in the UK.
Spatial
patterns in the spread of SMS in different countries
In general,
SMS is more frequently used in the larger cities than in the rest of a
country. However, does this fact suffice to conclude that this innovative
communications service primarily concerns urban dwellers? How can we conceive
SMS diffusion throughout a country's territory? Geographic research has
shown that the spatial diffusion of a technical innovation like the SMS
most often starts in urban systems in major cities, and then spreads to
provincial centres and finally to peripheral regions. This is called hierarchical
diffusion. While diffusing top-down, the innovation also radiates from
the diffusion centres to surrounding areas. Here we have a so-called contagion
effect. When comparing SMS penetration rates among mobile telephone users
simultaneously by country and size of city, we see that these two effects
co-exist.
In countries
with low SMS penetration rates, such as the UK, Spain and Denmark, there
is little urban-rural difference. Diffusion has not yet really started,
so the penetration rate is low everywhere.
By contrast,
in the Czech Republic, a country of recent, rapid and strong mobile diffusion,
it is mainly the inhabitants of the Prague region who use SMS. In Norway
and France, two other countries with a strong population concentration
in the capital, the large number of inhabitants facilitates the imitation
of modes of communication and thus the diffusion of SMS from the centre.
In these three countries we observe a process of "hierarchical diffusion".
Finally,
in the Netherlands, a country of high population density, a relatively
egalitarian culture and a high penetration rate of the mobile telephone
and SMS, the tendency is the opposite of that observed in the Czech Republic.
SMS penetration rates in urban agglomerations surrounding the large cities
are as high as those in the cities themselves. By contrast, in medium-sized
towns like Groningen, relatively far-removed from the main agglomerations,
the SMS is used less often. This is an example of diffusion which also
includes a contagion effect due to the geographical and cultural proximity
of urban centres in the Netherlands.
Notes
(1) In this article we analyse the results of the EURESCOM P903 study
"Cross-cultural attitudes to ICT in everyday life". This research
is the result of cooperation between researchers at FRT&D (DIH/UCE:
apart from the authors, Chantal de Gournay also contributed to this project),
KPN Research, TeleDanmark, Telenor R&D, Telefonica I+D, Telecom Italia
Lab and Cesky Telekom. It was financed by EURESCOM (European telecom operators'
research consortium: www.eurescom.de). For Eurescom member companies the
final research report can be obtained free of charge.
(2) See also:
Carole Rivière, Usages n°8.
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