Texting and e-mail becoming harder habits to break

It’s not just us lowly rank-and-file workers cowering in our cubicles any more.

Seems the suits also have succumbed to cellphone addiction.

At least that’s the word from NFI Research.

According to a worldwide survey of senior executives and managers, 59 percent of respondents said they use their phone for receiving e-mail, 57 percent send e-mail and 54 percent text both during work and off hours. (Of course, if you’re a senior executive, do you really have any off hours? Do please send me an e-mail or text from your phone and let me know.)

However, it doesn’t appear that the folks with the real wood furniture, leather chairs and corner offices have embraced social networking.

Only 6 percent use their phones to tweet (that’s what they call sending a Twitter message) or watch video.

Why the aversion to tweeting? (That’s not something you get to write every day.)

Well, even though it’s a cost-effective marketing tool, Drew Gerber, CEO of PitchRate.com says you need to determine whether Twitter is right for you and can make a difference in your business. (Which apparently 94 percent of the suits surveyed by NFI gave a big thumbs down to.)

In fact, Gerber has a few tips to help you determine whether Twitter is right for your business. (C’mon, you didn’t think I was going to completely omit the helpful hints, did ya?)

Be clear about your resources: Twitter and social networking is not a part-time job. Make sure you or someone in your company has the bandwidth.

Know your market: Is your target market tweetaholics? You must be clear on whether the market you are trying to reach is likely to be tweeting at 10 p.m., or tweeting at all.

Are you an adventurer? Are you the type of person who would have been on Columbus’ ship, or would you have waited until there was a Starbucks on every corner before you came to the New World?

Are you the center of attention? What wins the day in social networking is being engaging and creative. You have to ask: “Am I or someone in my company a big personality that people crowd around?”

Guess the majority of the big guys and gals aren’t.

Gerber said that the tips will work because social networking is all about building community — and to be successful using Twitter it is vital that you have time to say something, that what you say matters and that someone is listening.

“Just like the community you live in offline,” he said, “the people that have a say are the people who are engaging and really provide value for the community.”

Good stuff, but enough of Twitter and tweets. Let’s get back to the survey.

Here’s something that’s really interesting. Six percent of respondents said they don’t use a cell phone at all while working. (Ah, those halcyon days of 2007 when I was still bucking the technology trend and refused to even own such a device. When if I wasn’t at my desk, lying on my couch at home or wandering aimlessly about The Famous, I was unreachable.)

So, why are the suits so connected?

“We see the phone becoming the dominant communications device, since everyone has phones, which are becoming smarter over time,” said Chuck Martin, CEO of NFI Research and the author of “SMARTS (Are We Hardwired for Success?).

Yeah. Guess it might be time to upgrade my cute but bare-bones little Nokia for a phone that at least has the capability to take pictures, receive e-mail, surf the Web, etc.

Not that I’d give into the temptation, mind you. The only reason I ever learned to text was because Malibu Barbie refused to have a telephone conversation. (Probably should have been my first clue that happily ever after wasn’t going to be a long-term proposition.)

Maybe I should send Allan Roth a tweet and make sure my investments are at least focused on the long-term. From what I remember, he’s got a really cool cellphone.

Mike Boyd is editor of the Colorado Springs Business Journal. He can be reached at Mike.Boyd@csbj.com or 329-5206.