A new report from Scarborough Research found that El Paso, Texas is the top texting city in America with 57% of adults reporting that they use the texting feature on their mobile phone. In comparison, the national average of adults who text is 48%.
Rounding out the top five texting cities are Salt Lake City (UT), Dallas (TX), Memphis (TN), and Cincinatti (OH).
What makes these cities so text-centric? The study found that among adults who use texting features on their mobile phone, 49% are more likely to be young (18-24), 14% more likely to be Hispanic and 24% more likely to be African-American.
According to Scarborough, the youthful, multicultural texting demographics are a likely reason why El Paso, Salt Lake City, Dallas and Memphis are the top text messaging markets. Moreover, Salt Lake and El Paso lead the nation in 18-24 year olds.
Other key findings of Texters:
- They use a wide variety of phone features - such as picture messaging, streaming video and email -at a rate higher than that of the average cell user;
- Best Buy is their preferred retailer for audio-video purchases: 39% of Texters live in a household that shopped at Best Buy during the past year vs. 27% of all consumers nationally. Target (20%) and Wal-Mart (35%) are other important stores for Texter tech purchases;
- One-fifth (20%) of Texters spend more than $1,000 online annually, vs, 17% of all cellular users;
- Web-based services are a core part of their daily lives, from household tasks (such as bill paying) to entertainment (such as downloading movies or TV programs) to interaction (such as blogging and downloading a wide variety of content);
- They are 46% more likely than all cellular subscribers to typically spend $150 or more on cellular service monthly and are 12% more likely to plan to switch services;
- On average, they spend $87 on their monthly cellular bill. In contrast, all cellular subscribers spend an average of $75 monthly. This demographic are the highest spenders on cellular services.
One common stereotype is that Gen Y are too wired to leave their computer screen or video games to participate in other activities. While they are wired and hyper-connected, due to the ubiquity of the mobile phone and the mobile web, they are able to remain on the go and wired.
Scarborough Research found that:
- Texters are active, on-the-go consumers. They are 37% more likely than all cellular subscribers to have played basketball (as a leisure activity) during the past year; 29% more likely to have gone jogging/running; 29% more likely to have played tennis, and 23% more likely to have practiced yoga;
- Texters are 12% more likely to have attended a professional sports event, and 57% more likely to have gone to an R&B, rap or hip-hop concert during the past year.
If you're interested in the mobile boom (and you should be!), be sure to check out Mobile Persuasion by my friend, Dr. BJ Fogg. This is a must read for anyone involved with digital media and education technology. BJ also is the founder of the Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab.
You can see the Scarborough Research report, by clicking here (pdf).
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