The online phone retailer, Wirefly has conducted a behavioural survey on the use of SMS, based on the answers from more than 2,000 U.S.-based cellphone users.

The results show, that 35% say that they never use text messaging where as 36% see themselves as heavy users, sending anywhere from 1 a day to hundreds a month. The last 29% consider themselves as average users with a text-usage of less than 25 messages per month. Within the top-third of heavy user category, 63% send more than 100 messages a month and 20% even send above 500 a month.

A view at the inside reveals that 92% of the messages being send, contains personal, non-professional content. Only 8% use text messages to contact co-workers or others, for professional reasons. When asked about the number of people they regular 'text' with, 48% have a closed circle of 2-5 people, where as 21% have 6-10 and 20% send to more than 10 recipients.

In addition and perhaps most interesting, the Wirefly data seems to refute the wide-spread notion that text messaging is generally a medium for brief, choppy communication. A full 35% of those who do send text messages reported a typical message length of "several sentences." This option beat out "one word" (4%), "several words" (33%), and "one sentence" (28%).

The last mentionable result from the Wirefly survey showed the primary reasons for sending the message:

• 52% - text instead of calling when “the situation makes talking on the phone difficult”;

• 23% - involved "lack of time" for a call;

• 15% - simply "prefer text messaging to talking"; and,

• 10% - attempting to avoid speaking with a specific person.

About the Survey

The recently completed U.S.-based online survey was conducted from an opt-in pool of customers who had purchased new wireless phones and new service plans from Wirefly.com. The sample of 2,377 respondents was 55% female and 45% male. 36% of respondents were between the ages of 31-44, 34% were 45 and above, 17% were between the ages of 25-30, and 13% were 18-24. The margin of error was 2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.