NEW YORK – The world is shifting to digital. While many people still are using traditional technology, more people globally are using email and text messaging. Six in ten (61%) global respondents indicate they most often call when wanting to communicate with someone by phone. Three in ten (32%) text them and 7% email them. The findings reflect a new poll of 18,002 adults in 24 countries conducted by Ipsos OTX – the global innovation center for Ipsos, the world’s third largest market and opinion research firm.
Those most likely to choose calling as their primary mode when wanting to communicate with someone by phone are from China (91%), Poland (86%), Turkey (84%), Hungary (80%), Saudi Arabia (79%), India (74%), Brazil (70%) and Russia (69%). Those rounding out the middle of the pack are from: Mexico (68%), Italy (66%), Spain (60%), Sweden (60%), Canada (58%), the United States (57%), France (56%) and Germany (52%). Those least likely to choose calling are from: Argentina (51%), Belgium (49%), South Korea (49%), Australia (48%), Japan (46%), Indonesia (44%), Great Britain (39%) and South Africa (38%).
Texting is chosen most often by those from: Great Britain (55%), South Africa (54%), Indonesia (52%), Australia (49%), South Korea (49%), Belgium (46%), Argentina (45%) and France (41%). Those clustering around the center of the list are from: the United States (39%), Canada (37%), Germany (35%), Sweden (35%), Spain (34%), Italy (31%), Mexico (28%) and Brazil (25%). Those from Russia (21%), India (20%), Saudi Arabia (18%), Turkey (13%), Poland (12%), China (9%), Japan (9%) and Hungary (8%) are least likely to gravitate to texting when wishing to communicate by phone.
Email is the method of choice most often by those in Japan (46%), Germany (13%), Hungary (12%), Russia (10%), South Africa (7%) and Spain (7%). Fewer from Belgium (6%), Canada (6%), Great Britain (6%), India (6%), Brazil (5%), Sweden (5%), Argentina (4%), Australia (4%), Italy (4%), Mexico (4%) and the United States (4%) choose to email when wanting to communicate via phone. Those from France (3%), Indonesia (3%), Saudi Arabia (3%), Turkey (3%), Poland (2%), South Korea (2%) and China (1%) are least likely to choose email most often.
Demographically, texting is significantly more popular among those under the age of 35 (42%) than those aged 35-49 (28%) and those 50-64 (18%). Contrastingly, those 50-64 are most likely to choose to call (74%) when compared with their younger counterparts (35-49 = 65% and under 35 = 52%). Men (67%) appear considerably more likely than women (56%) to reach for their phones mostly for calling, while women (37%) appear more likely than men (27%) to primarily choose to text. Both genders are equally likely (7%) to email.
These are findings of the research led by Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange (Ipsos OTX) collected by Ipsos Global @dvisor as part of Sociologue, an ongoing publication that features conversation-starting commentary on social media trends and behavior.
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