“Merry Christmas!” “. Two words and fifteen letters: that’s what the first commercial Short Messaging Service (SMS) in history said. Imagine, we are thirty years earlier, December 3, 1992. It is precisely 6:09 p.m. when Neil Papworth, a young telecommunications engineer, sends this “Merry Christmas!” to Richard Travis, one of the executives of Vodafone, the British telecommunications giant. The message may seem innocuous – especially since 20 minuteswe think that at the beginning of December, it’s still a bit early to send your wishes, but who are we to judge – but it will revolutionize the history of telecommunications.
And you have to imagine the scene. At that time, cell phones did not yet have a keyboard. The young engineer therefore writes the message from the computer in his office. A few minutes later, the recipient, who is at a company party, receives the SMS on his Orbitel 901, one of the first mobile phones, which then weighed more than two kilos. A success for the company, which at the time was looking to develop an internal communication system for its employees.
“We are not obliged to put the forms”
Because at that time, the technology was not yet intended for the general public. Firstly, because the telephone companies do not want to bet on the SMS, considering that the users prefer to exchange by telephone, in person. Then, because the telephones with keyboard, allowing to write messages, quite simply do not exist yet. It was not until two years later, in 1994, that the Nokia 2010, the first cellphone with a keyboard allowing you to write an SMS, was marketed.
It was not until 1997 that operators launched the first packages including SMS. Everyone goes with their little terminology: Orange offers SMS, Bouygues “minimessages” and SFR “text messages”. Small problem, you can only write to people with the same operator. It was in 1999 that we witnessed the real revolution: interoperability. Users can now send messages to all their contacts, regardless of carriers. This is the start of the texting craze.
And bingo, in the early 2000s, the SMS phenomenon seduced the entire planet. We text everywhere, all the time and frantically. The population discovers the message to make an appointment, the one to say good night, the text message so as not to forget the bread or the traditional “Happy New Year”.
“When it appeared, the SMS came to offer another mode of communication, much shorter, more condensed, faster and more discreet”, explains Alexandre Eyries, HDR teacher-researcher in information and communication science at the University of Lorraine. “Sociologically, the SMS has changed the relationship to the other. There is not the same degree of involvement, we are not obliged to put the forms, to be formal, we can be more telegraphic, more expeditious, ”adds the specialist.
Pick-up, emoji and commercial canvassing
We don’t know if its creator expected it, but the success of SMS has led to another social revolution: text flirting (we don’t really know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing). “This is one of the most important sociological functions of SMS. There is a real technological marivaudage that goes through the messages. With text messages, we can allow ourselves compliments, suggestive remarks, which we would not dare to say in real life, ”analyzes the researcher.
In the 2010s, flirting took another turn with the insertion of emojis on smartphone keyboards – in 2008 for the iphone 3G. As soon as they appear, these little drawings are a hit. Whether it’s to flirt, to convey a more critical message, to express dissatisfaction or to tone down a satirical charge, the emoji can say a lot with a single character.
“It’s a way to concretely translate his emotions, his mood, his state of mind, to convey messages with a saving of time, means and energy”, deciphers Alexandre Eyries. We then pass on to you the new features that have only reinforced the success of SMS: the insertion of photos, videos or animated GIFs, the possibility of sending the same text message to several recipients and, more recently, the creation of voice notes.
In addition to communication, SMS is also a commercial revolution. Monoprix, Sephora, Amazon, CDiscount… Which of you hasn’t received any messages in the last few days of commercial canvassing for Black Friday? In e-commerce, SMS is also used by banks to properly identify buyers and avoid fraud with the double authentication system. You receive a code by message allowing you to prove your identity and validate your purchase. And the uses do not stop there, there are also appointment confirmations by SMS, as with Doctolib, and delivery, as with Mondial Relay. And we go.
From 6,000 to 3,000 billion SMS per year
But it’s a bit like with your other half, once the euphoria of the first years has passed, the love gradually fades. After twenty years of honeymoon, in recent years, the SMS has lost its luster, going from a technological revolution to a past tool, even almost outdated. And for good reason, in the dock, instant messengers such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or more recently Telegram, which have become the darlings of crazy texters, will easily be placed first.
“People prefer WhatsApp more to exchange for free with someone abroad or to be able to create discussion groups, between family, friends or colleagues”, continues Alexandre Eyries. Because until 2017, additional roaming costs were applied by telecom operators for calls, SMS and MMS sent to another country, even in Europe.
For those who still prefer texting, it is its content that has changed. If before, text messages took on the appearance of personal diaries, now they have almost become tools of “non-verbal communication”, according to Alexandre Eyries: “These are exchanges with low added value, poor content, not very involving, often sent for a practical purpose, such as “Ok” or “A plus”, “says the teacher-researcher.
And the expansion of social networks has done nothing to help matters. “We detail his life on Instagram or Facebook, these are digital agoras”, continues the researcher-teacher, believing that it is the “targets” that have changed. “Now, we send SMS in our professional environment, it facilitates communication, it’s faster and we are sure that it will be read, unlike e-mail”, he adds.
A decline that is reflected in the numbers. In two years, the number of text messages has halved. In 2016, “only” 3,000 billion text messages were sent worldwide, compared to 6,000 billion in 2014, according to the latest ITU figures, the UN agency that monitors telecoms. In France, around 30 billion messages were exchanged each quarter last year, compared to more than 45 billion in 2017, according to a report by the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution (Arcep). ), published in 2021.