Only 43% of Americans use their smartphone for making calls.

What do most consumers do with their smartphones?  Believe it or not, it’s not making phone calls.  When using their mobile devices making calls ranks close to the bottom of the top five smart phone uses.

In an informal survey conducted by social communications platform, CloudTalk, the company found that the top five activities Americans engage in most on their smart phones include:
1. Texting / messaging – more than seven in 10
2. Emailing – nearly six in 10
3. Social networking – nearly 50%
4. Talking on the phone – 43%
5. Surfing the Web – about four in 10

For those talking less on their smart phones because they find phone calls to be too time-consuming or intrusive, how are they expressing themselves using these devices? Consumers who participated in the survey said they prefer texting or messaging (nearly nine in 10) over talking on the phone and dealing with voicemail. In fact, about half of the respondents had negative feelings toward both of these activities from finding calls to be too intrusive and just plain disliking live phone conversations to outright hatred toward voicemail.

The results clearly indicate smart phones are primarily used as a communication device, but what’s really interesting is that it appears the intrusiveness of phone calls has forced talking to take a back seat to more convenient modes of communication, such as text messaging,” said David Hayden, chairman and CEO of CloudTalk. “What we’re seeing at CloudTalk is that people love to talk, as long as, (like text messaging), it doesn’t require our immediate attention, we can respond on our own time and see the entire conversation thread at a glance – it’s just more convenient.”

We also asked survey participants what the ultimate super communications app would look like if they could create it themselves. The following are the top five most desired features:
1. Texting or messaging – nearly nine in 10
2. Multimedia content sharing – about 70%
3. Maps and directions – nearly seven in 10
4. VOIP – More than half
5. Private group chat – nearly 50%

“With the quick deployment of new applications and mobile technology and the constant evolution of consumer behavior, it will be interesting to poll consumers again in a few months time to see how the results differ,” continued Hayden. “Will live conversations via cell phone become extinct? Perhaps, but some other way to communicate with our voice will need to take its place. It is after all the most natural way we express ourselves.”

Photo credit: Lipstick

Via Pitch Engine