College students favor mobile phone comms over computers
Almost half (49%) of mobile communication carried out on college campuses is conducted via smart phones, found Ball State journalism professor and director or the University’s Institute for Mobile Media Research, Michael Hanley.
Nowadays, computers are for studying while entertainment and communication take place via handheld devices. Mobile phones are used by just about every student (99.8%) and text messaging has overtaken email and instant messaging. While 97% of students send and receive text messages, just 30% use email and 25% instant messaging.
“The use of smart phones by college students has nearly doubled in one year, and along with it comes heavier Internet use and an increased desire to use mobile commerce like coupons and incentives,” said Hanley. “In nearly all mobile content categories, smart phone ownership is driving increased consumption and usage of mobile technologies.”
According to a recent article by eMarketer, more students are reporting seeing mobile ads this year than they did in 2005. However, their reaction to mobile ads isn’t positive. Over 40% found them annoying while just 1.2% was happy to receive ads.
In fact, nearly 30% were less likely to purchase a product after having received an ad via mobile phone.
Their reactions to mobile advertising go to show just how “personal” students perceive their mobile phones to be and how much more innovative marketers need to be to engage this demographic in this private space.
