Surge of Text Messages Sent on Election Night

November 8, 2008 · By Kalyani Mukherjee Filed Under News Tagged as: elction night, text messages

Three of the four major wireless carriers in US reported at least a ten percent surge in text messaging on the night the country elected its newest president.

AT&T said on Thursday that on election night it witnessed the largest jump in text messaging in the company’s history as traffic jumped by 44%. Sprint too claimed that there was at least a 30% surge in text messages sent in LA County between seven and nine on election night. According to Sybase 365, another provider of mobile messaging service, the number of text messages sent shot up by three times the normal level during the ten minutes after West Coast polls closed and TV channels declared Barack Obama the winner of the presidential elections.

The surge in text messaging that occurred on election night can be put in perspective when compared to the rise in text messages sent on other important occasions. While AT&T reported messaging services peaking by 44% on election night, in comparison last year’s Christmas saw a 30% spike in traffic while Valentine’s Day witnessed a marginally better 33% boost. Last New Year’s Day however saw a slightly more modest 26% rise in text messaging service.

The interesting phenomenon perhaps can be seen as marking a fitting end to a presidential campaign that made innovative use of text messaging services as an effective campaign strategy.

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