An Acision study reveals that mobile phone users in North America would like to have .more control over mobile messaging. Users want to have control over the messages they receive, and parents would like to be able to blacklist numbers for a reasonable price.
While only a few respondents experienced mobile cyberbullying, 87 percent would like to have control over the messages they receive, opting for a preventative measure that can address cyberbullying threats immediately, rather than be caught off guard.
More than half questioned (62 percent) would like to be able to blacklist mobile numbers on their cell phone and would activate a blacklisting service for a reasonable price if it was available to them.
In the same research, parents were also polled about their concerns
regarding text or multimedia messages received by their children. The
results reveal that the majority (82 percent) of parents would like to
have more control over when their child can send messages, what content
they can send and receive, and with whom their child is exchanging
mobile messages.
The most interesting mobile feature for parents would be the ability
to blacklist certain people from exchanging messages with their
children. Most parents questioned (75 percent) would like this feature.
Offering parental control features would have operators looking at a
major increase in mobile phone adoption among teenagers: over half (57
percent) would be more likely to let their child have a mobile phone if
parents were offered more parental control features.
"With the rise of 'cyberbullying,' 'sexting' and other forms of inappropriate messaging in the US, it is increasingly important that individuals, particularly parents, have control over mobile messaging usage to help prevent abuse," said Wayne Irwin, President, North America, Acision. "Acision is working to highlight the benefits of offering subscribers personalization services such as text message blacklisting. Solutions like Acision Message Plus enable operators to provide their subscribers with these services, giving consumers more control of the messaging on their mobile phone and giving them peace of mind."
Besides addressing the issues of mobile 'cyberbullying', Acision's Message Plus platform incorporates personalization services that allow subscribers to have more control over their text and multimedia messaging services on their mobile phone. This enables mobile operators to differentiate their messaging service while also providing its subscribers with the service they require.
Research
The research was carried out by Toluna, the online market research panel provider at the end of 2009. The results in this release are from a representative sample of 4,000 mobile phone users aged 18 and above.
About Acision
As a world leader in mobile data, Acision aims to power innovation and profitable growth in mobile data services. As a pioneer of mobile messaging, Acision's real time mobile data solutions support its customers worldwide to drive new revenues with innovative services while controlling, optimising and monetising data traffic. For more information, visit Acision at www.acision.com