What do sadomasochism, Snapchat, Eastern China and pet insurance have in common? The answer is they are all incorrect answers given in a recent study of the telecommunications market in the US.
Ligo, a telephone retail supplier based in Glasgow, carried out a survey to study the familiarity of US citizens with commonly used acronyms from the telephone industry. They discovered some quite alarming facts, including 11.8% of participants believing that SMS was shorthand for sadomasochism.
Telecommunications experts www.ligo.co.uk have been supplying telephone devices to the UK, France and Germany for a number of years and hoped to learn more about the growing potential of the US market.
Daniel Stockhaus from the Glasgow company said:
“We wanted to establish how well the average US citizen could identify commonly used acronyms from our industry. The market, and indeed the world, is demanding more and more technologies and we hope to find ways to meet these demands”.
The study itself comprised of 2,999 male and female participants answering a survey consisting of 6 questions. The volunteers were asked to identify which response (from three possibilities) best described the preceding acronym. Naturally participants were not aware of the overall premise behind the study and were also shown non-industry related acronyms as to eliminate potential bias.
Among the acronyms examined were:
DECT- A digital communication standard to most, but according to fifteen percent of the US citizens studied DECT is an area of dense population in Eastern China. More surprisingly nearly fourteen per cent believed it to be an Australian government quango.
UKIP - Understandably the British political party was relatively alien to the individuals tested. Less understandable was that 17.3% of Americans believed UKIP to be a type of Urinary Tract infection. Only thirty per cent were able to provide the correct answer.
VOIP - 67.8% of all participants correctly identified VOIP as a phone service provided over the internet. The rest were split between it being a social network (19.1%) and a type of virus that commonly affects puppies (13.1%).
SMS - The most identifiable of all the acronyms examined with eighty two per cent correctly identifying it as a text message service between mobile phones. However over 11% claimed it was shorthand for sadomasochism and the eight percent minority thought it was a form of internet slang used exclusively on Snapchat.
ADSL - had 2 in 10 respondents confusing the method of transferring data along copper phone wires as a form of Pet insurance, and another 2 in 10 thought that ADSL was a disability standard for European business owners.
With the ever increasing sophistication of telephone technologies many of these terms may soon become mute before they are even established. However as communications continue to improve across the world, education is needed to ensure the US isn’t left behind.
Ligo stated “These results conclude that as an industry we must enhance the education of the US markets, to ensure continued progress”.
To be honest I'm quite amazed by some of the weird results provided by these types of studies.
Ligo, a telephone retail supplier based in Glasgow, carried out a survey to study the familiarity of US citizens with commonly used acronyms from the telephone industry. They discovered some quite alarming facts, including 11.8% of participants believing that SMS was shorthand for sadomasochism.
Telecommunications experts www.ligo.co.uk have been supplying telephone devices to the UK, France and Germany for a number of years and hoped to learn more about the growing potential of the US market.
Daniel Stockhaus from the Glasgow company said:
“We wanted to establish how well the average US citizen could identify commonly used acronyms from our industry. The market, and indeed the world, is demanding more and more technologies and we hope to find ways to meet these demands”.
The study itself comprised of 2,999 male and female participants answering a survey consisting of 6 questions. The volunteers were asked to identify which response (from three possibilities) best described the preceding acronym. Naturally participants were not aware of the overall premise behind the study and were also shown non-industry related acronyms as to eliminate potential bias.
Among the acronyms examined were:
DECT- A digital communication standard to most, but according to fifteen percent of the US citizens studied DECT is an area of dense population in Eastern China. More surprisingly nearly fourteen per cent believed it to be an Australian government quango.
UKIP - Understandably the British political party was relatively alien to the individuals tested. Less understandable was that 17.3% of Americans believed UKIP to be a type of Urinary Tract infection. Only thirty per cent were able to provide the correct answer.
VOIP - 67.8% of all participants correctly identified VOIP as a phone service provided over the internet. The rest were split between it being a social network (19.1%) and a type of virus that commonly affects puppies (13.1%).
SMS - The most identifiable of all the acronyms examined with eighty two per cent correctly identifying it as a text message service between mobile phones. However over 11% claimed it was shorthand for sadomasochism and the eight percent minority thought it was a form of internet slang used exclusively on Snapchat.
ADSL - had 2 in 10 respondents confusing the method of transferring data along copper phone wires as a form of Pet insurance, and another 2 in 10 thought that ADSL was a disability standard for European business owners.
With the ever increasing sophistication of telephone technologies many of these terms may soon become mute before they are even established. However as communications continue to improve across the world, education is needed to ensure the US isn’t left behind.
Ligo stated “These results conclude that as an industry we must enhance the education of the US markets, to ensure continued progress”.
To be honest I'm quite amazed by some of the weird results provided by these types of studies.
