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Valentine's Day Most Popular Texting Holiday of the YearSAN ANTONIO, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Candy hearts, watch out. The choice du jour for sending a short and sweet missive to your Valentine is a text message. AT&T Inc. has announced that, according to data released by AT&T, Valentine's Day is the most popular holiday for text messages. In 2007, AT&T recorded a 33 percent spike in text messaging traffic on Valentine's Day. That beat increases in text messaging traffic recorded on Thanksgiving Day (21 percent), Christmas (30 percent) and the New Year's holiday (26 percent). "Today's etiquette allows for serious or meaningful messages, like those sent on holidays, to be sent via text messages," said Mark Collins, vice president of Data Marketing for AT&T's wireless unit. "These data points are additional evidence of how influential mobile phones have been, and continue to be, in shaping cultural norms." Shorthand has emerged to accommodate people who send well-wishing text messages to loved ones. Lingo likely to be exchanged by flying fingers this Valentine's Day includes: 2G2BT [Too good to be true] 4EAE [Forever and ever] 4U [For you] AML [All my love] D8 [Date] FTBOMH [From the bottom of my heart] GNSD [Good night, sweet dreams] H2CUS [Hope to see you soon] ILU [I love you] IMU [I miss you] ISLY [I still love you] IWALU [I will always love you] KOTC [Kiss on the cheek] KOTL [Kiss on the lips] MUSM [Miss you so much] QT [Cutie] TY [Thank you] TOY [Thinking of you] URH [You are hot] UW [You're welcome] XOXOXO [Hugs & Kisses] Percentage increases in text message traffic were calculated by comparing day-of volume with the preceding seven-day period, with the effect of natural growth rate removed. Note: This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss. About AT&T AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/. (C) 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T and the AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property. For more information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.att.com/newsroom. AT&T Inc. CONTACT: Lauren Butler of AT&T, +1-404-405-5623, [email protected] Web site: http://www.att.com/ |