Mobile phone ownership and internet access via mobile phones is very high among students in South Africa and other developing areas, with over 75% of students accessing the internet on their phones. Text messaging is increasingly being used as a portal to share web links, content, and connect people through social networks. With the growth of smartphones, more content and apps are being accessed on mobile devices, demonstrating that for many students, mobile technology and texting have become integrated into their daily lives and the way they access information and services.

1. Brian Hipkin
Director Student Services
University of East London
UK
‘Texting as a means to an end’

2. 1.Prefered means of networking
2. 98% mobile ownership + sim
sharing
3. 2.3 trillion sent in 2010
4.Future growth in ‘Smartphones’
5. The text as a portal
6. Convert to TinyURL!™ and use
landing pages

3. 78% of SA students access the internet via their cell
phones. (Student Village & Interact RDT)
75.4 % of the respondents indicated that they
accessed the Internet via their cellphones. (UNISA’s study of
high school learners)
In poor schools 93% of the Grade 11 learners
reported having used the internet on cell phones with
68% using their phones for internet access on a
typical day, opposed to 39% using computers (Kreutzer
2009).

4. More than 350 million active users
More than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts,
notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week. Just 6 years old.
Living together on your phone
“It is not technology it is a way of
life”
140,000 Apps (Jan 2010), 500 (July
2008).Uploads to Youtube up 400% in 6
days from launch of iphone3GS
150 million viewers (Aug 10), Started Sept 2005
World record stands at 367,025,875 viewers have
watched 1 music video (Oct 10)

5. Capturing data from a self defining group
Embedded links in the auto reply
Pushing short codes at the right time
The Right of Reply – short codes and
‘red hot data’

6. Provide -The right information
Delivered at -The right time- pro active
To be most effective – in many forms
using the right language
Effective use of Texting as a link in the
Web 2.0 world

7. Working with external organisations
-The web 2.0 world is free
-It’s cheaper than you think
-Bring together systems
-Don’t surprise your IT department
-Use a text to bind web 2.0 together

8. A predictable fact
The most vulnerable to a poor experience
A permanent and expensive loss in both
human and economic terms
Time poor but network rich
The power of one message – many forms

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A glimpse into the new student
experience

11. Any Questions?