SMS became so popular because it allowed people to message each other over the phone, this made it possible for long range conversations and for business reminders. On December 3 1992, engineer Neil Papworth sent the first SMS message to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone. It simply read "Merry Christmas," and Jarvis had no way of replying, this was the first ever SMS message sent, since then SMS has changed the way people talk to each other and use mobile phones in general. By January 2001, texts sent in a month hit a billion in the UK. The Telegraph reported that "Text messages sent on mobile phones have spawned their own truncated language, using allusion and codes to squeeze whole sentences into a maximum of 160 characters." This had a surprising effect on the way people would now type and write out sentences, people would often find themselves shortening sentences like they would for a text. In 2004, then Prime Minister Tony Blair took part in a live text chat, but struggled with the technology. "My texting talents are poor, let's say underdeveloped," he told Capital FM. At the Leveson Inquiry, Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, told how she had to inform the Prime Minister that LOL means 'Laugh Out Loud' not 'Lots Of Love'. In the 8 years since, texting has become a part of many peoples lives, it's a new means to stay in touch with people and have long distance conversations, and texts have also saved lives, caused heartbreak and speeded up daily life for millions. Nine in ten 16-24 year olds now say they communicate with friends and family on a daily basis via text messages, compared to 15 per cent of over-65s, according to Ofcom.
Although it's extreme popularity in the past, SMS has become less convenient for people, especially those with smart phones as they are able to get such applications as whatsapp and kik that allow for messages to be sent via the internet and therefore don't cost you money, and video call over 3g and 4g networks have also become popular, although texting is still used by many, but it's popularity seems to be falling as new messaging services are appearing. According to Forbes, the use of SMS during the holiday season has declined. People of course like to wish each other ‘Happy new year!’ or ‘Merry Christmas’ but instead of sending a SMS like they used to, they are turning to social media like Facebook/RenRen or Twitter/Weibo. This has become especially apparent in Finland, Netherlands, Philippines, Hong Kong and China.
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