With Valentine’s Day just under a week away, a new survey has revealed that contrary to popular opinion, instant messaging apps are actually helping to improve romantic relationships in Britain. Over 79% of 9000 UK residents surveyed revealed that they felt instant messaging apps were improving their romantic relationships, with 56% saying that instant messaging is the number one service they use to overcome long distance between them and their partner.
The European wide survey carried out by LINE Corporation, owner of one of the world’s leading mobile messaging platforms, also revealed that 57% of UK respondents felt that mobile chat apps like LINE help them to meet new people. However, 67% of those surveyed in the UK revealed that, rather than a celebrity crush or their favourite sports personality, their dream Valentine’s Day date is their own boyfriend or girlfriend. Interestingly, opinion is rather different on the continent, as a surprisingly high 12% of Italian men chose their own mother as their dream valentine.
Speaking of the survey results, Sunny Kim, CEO, LINE Europe, explained: “We know that a large proportion of LINE users, use our chat service to communicate and stay in touch with their partners and we are delighted to be able to help people enjoy and sustain their relationships as we approach Valentine’s Day. At LINE we are always trying to improve our services to make it as easy as possible for people to communicate with their loved ones.”
The UK’s increasingly mobile savvy nature is also highlighted by the report, as 72% of those surveyed explained they will send their Valentine’s Day message digitally, the majority of them (22%) with an instant messaging sticker, as opposed to in person or by greetings card.
It seems the rise in mobile culture is also helping us to be more sociable, with 33% of UK men revealing that they use instant messaging apps to flirt. However, even with the rise of mobile dating apps, only a relatively small 16%of UK respondents felt that instant messaging apps encourages cheating in relationships.
LINE has a variety of services to help couples communicate over the Valentine’s Day period, including instant messaging, free calls, video calls and also Hidden Chats, a feature for both Android and iPhone which allows users to send 1-to-1 messages with a time limit attached to them – perfect for a private conversation.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day LINE is launching a new set of free Valentine’s themed stickers, the perfect way to show your loved one you care. Stickers can be downloaded from the LINE shop via the latest version of LINE app or by visiting http://line.me/R/shop/detail/3891.