Using Facebook Is Killing Text Messaging

As is Apple's iMessage text-messaging service, Facebook is eating into revenues for carriers. Based on measured minutes of use, smartphone users are spending more time on Facebook and sending more messages with its service than they are text messages.

“Many operators are seeing an increasing number of customers moving their SMS traffic over to Facebook, resulting in their SMS cash cow getting thinner and thinner,” Strand Consult wrote in its research note. It said this trend was especially visible in Europe, where an increasing number of customers are communicating on Facebook.

Other reports have also found steep declines in text messaging in the last year. In the Philippines, roughly 400 text messages a month were sent per smartphone owner in 2011, down from about 660 a month in 2010, according to a study by an independent mobile analyst. Internet messaging services like Skype, iMessage and Google were the main reason for this.