AT&T Text Messaging Surged 44% During Election Night
November 7, 2008 11:45 AM | AT&T | Comments (0)
| As media called the presidential race on Tuesday, Americans fired off text messages at a record pace. AT&T Inc. today reported that in the hour following the announcement, text messaging traffic across its network surged about 44 percent — the highest spike in company history. Tuesday night's jump in text messaging volume smashed previous spikes in text messaging reported by AT&T. For example, the peak transactions per second following Tuesday's announcement was significantly higher than the peak transactions per second logged for the most recent New Year's Eve, a day that consistently ranks among the busiest texting days for AT&T. Text messaging became the ubiquitous language of politics for young people this election cycle. Throughout the election, AT&T worked to advance public discourse through text messaging and mobile technology, teaming up with Rock the Vote to drive voter registration and turnout among young adults ages 18-29, in particular. |  |
For example, the two organizations launched a short code that let youth opt in to receive election information and reminders via text.
A recent Nielsen study reported that U.S. consumers now use their cell phones for text messaging more often than for talking. In third quarter 2008 earnings, AT&T reported that more than 64 billion text messages crossed its network. The company also recently launched a new line of quick messaging phones that are designed to make texting faster and easier. For more information on AT&T's messaging plans and quick messaging phones, visit www.att.com/textmessaging.
The percentage increase in text messaging traffic for election night was calculated by comparing day-of peak messages per second with the average messages per second peak for the previous five days.
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