Nicholas Craig column

Jul 29 2005 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal

Do u spk txt? The rise in the use of text messaging has been phenomenal. And now a number of businesses are jumping on the bandwagon.

An Oxfordshire-based estate agent sends text messages to house buyers, landlords and potential vendors.

A national recruitment agency messages its clients to see if they are interested in new vacancies.

And a CD store sends messages to registered customers, telling them of new releases. One major pharmaceutical firm has integrated a text message system with its email system so if needed, its workers can be reached wherever they are.

The strange lingo that millions of people are now reading and writing fluently can now be found in a dictionary from Collins devoted solely to text language.

The volume will interpret letter strings such as the geekspeak's iliciscomk (I laughed, I cried, I spilt coffee on my keyboard) and dytigad (do you think I give a damn?).

The chances are that the largest group of people using text regularly are the under-16s. At a time when schools and businesses are bemoaning poor standards of spelling and grammar, text messaging will probably erode these even further. The bite-sized nuggets of information within text messages demand a reply that leads to another, and another. Wouldn't a phone call, in the end, be as useful and as cheap? Even better, wouldn't a conversation be far more relaxing?

The exponential growth of messaging - from 100 million to 500 million in less than a year - without the hype and advertising of WAP means it's here for a while.

It's interesting that those companies that rely on instant communication with customers have cottoned on to text messaging first.

Junk mail has arrived at the same time, and with it, the inevitable backlash about abuse, invasion of privacy and scare stories about being bullied by text.

Text messaging reflects the ever-shortening attention span of young and old people today. A message is easily digested, easily deleted and easily forgotten.

There are some conversations I had 20 years ago I can remember word for word.

The resonance of a face-to-face chat can't be replicated with a thumb and a mobile phone, but texting can keep people in contact with each other and it can be fun - so if you don't yet text, the chncs r u wll b4 lng.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton LLP