Short Message Service

Short message service (SMS) enables mobile telephone users to exchange short text messages. The key to SMS is that the message be short: The maximum length of a text message is 160 characters in the form of letters, numbers, or symbols in the Latin alphabet. For other alphabets, the maximum SMS size varies.

The terms SMS and text messaging have become synonymous. This is not surprising given the history of SMS, which was invented in the late 1980s in Europe. Engineers wanted to create a simple messaging format whereby messages could reach mobile phone users when cell phones were turned off or were out of signal range. The first SMS text message was sent from New York City to Melbourne Beach, Florida, via a Motorola beeper in 1989 by Raina Fortini, who used upside down numbers to create words. The first commercial SMS text message, “Happy Christmas,” was sent in the United Kingdom by Neil Papworth using a personal computer to Richard Jarvis using an Orbitel 901 handset in 1992. It was not until the following year that Riku Pihkonen sent the first typed SMS on a GSM (global system for mobile) phone.

SMS is currently the most commonly used data application in the world. Approximately 2.4 billion users, or nearly three quarters of the world's mobile phone subscribers, interchange text messages on cell phones. This is probably due to the numerous advantages to SMS. One, it enables users to communicate discreetly in public spaces via silent communication. Two, it can be less time consuming than making a voice-to-voice phone call. Three, its mobile application enables users to send messages without being logged on to a computer in order to receive email or instant messaging. Four, users can store and retrieve messages for long periods of time, and can forward messages to additional users. Finally, SMS technology has proved to be an ideal way for hearing-impaired and physically challenged individuals to communicate.

In addition to sending personal messages, many businesses are taking advantage of SMS technology to market goods and services. SMS can be used to send messages to large populations at one time, anywhere in the world. Press releases and other forms of public relations communication tools are [Page 825]now being delivered in SMS, video, podcasts, and microblog formats. As with any technology that has the potential of reaching mass audiences, there are disadvantages to SMS, especially in terms of privacy and cyber attacks. Overloading control channels with mass messages has the potential of crashing cell phone systems. Other disadvantages include unreliability, whereby some messages are delayed, and approximately 1% to 5% of messages are lost completely.

Because of the limited number of characters that are used in SMS communication due to space, time, and cost restraints, some researchers are focusing on SMS language, also known as txtese or txt-speak (e.g., “CU L8R” instead of “see you later”) in everyday communication.