Valentine's Dilemma

Women Turn to One-to-one Communications When Working Away from Home, Men Prefer to ‘Broadcast’ Their Affections

As the World’s largest telecommunications conference ‘devours’ another Valentine’s weekend, light-hearted research highlights how people are turning to technology to manage their relationships

(Mobile World Congress, 14-18 February, ’10, Barcelona)

Men prefer the broadcast approach to communicating their romantic sentiments if called away on business during Saint Valentine’s Day, while women prefer one-to-one platforms, according to some light-hearted research¹ published by Edelman on the eve of the world’s largest telecommunications conference (Mobile World Congress, 14-18 February, ’10, Barcelona).

While men and women indicated a similar propensity to turn to ‘traditional’ mobile applications to ‘compensate’ their partners in the event that they had to work away from home during Saint Valentine’s Day, such as mobile telephone calls (94% of male respondents and 96% of female respondents would probably or certainly make a special call to their partner), women revealed a distinct preference for the one-to-one approach in the choice of other media for communicating their affections.

According to the survey, 59% more women than men would use Skype telephony with video service or equivalent to call their partner if they were absent on St Valentine’s Day, 67% more women than men would send a personal video message via email while women are also 76% more likely to send a Facebook gift (or equivalent) than their male counterparts.

Male respondents to the survey, which was conducted across 41 countries, invariably preferred the one-to-many approach for communicating their affections if absent during St Valentine’s Day with 70% more men than women proposing to dedicate a Twitter post to their other half.

Jonathan Hargreaves, Managing Director of Edelman’s Technology Practice, Europe, Middle East & Africa, explains that – although the fun research is designed to be ‘indicative’, rather than ‘scientific’ – the findings provide an insight into the role of technology in managing people’s work/life balance and relationships.

“Coming as it does around Saint Valentine’s Day every year, Mobile World Congress does provide a timely reminder of challenges people face in managing their work and personal commitments. The findings suggest that, while both men and women are turning to technology to ‘make up’ for a Valentine’s Day absence, men are more likely to ‘broadcast’ their devotion via a ‘one-to-many’ communications platform, while women prefer the more discrete ‘one-to-one’ approach,” he says.

Industry data confirms the central role mobile technology is playing over Saint Valentine’s Day with US operator Verisign, estimating over 1.06 billion SMS and MMS messages were sent globally on this day last year².

The survey also produced some interesting country differences, with Spanish respondents demonstrating the highest levels of ingenuity with the use of newer technology; 50% of Spanish respondents would probably or certainly use Skype with video or equivalent to communicate their sentiments if absent on Saint Valentine’s Day compared to a global average of 29%, while over a third of Spaniards would send a personalised video from their mobile phone (compared to a global average of just 13%).

The least romantic nation in technology terms is Ireland! According to the survey, 67% of Irish respondents wouldn’t even send a text message to their partner if absent during Saint Valentine ’s Day, against a global average of 42%.

Hargreaves, himself a veteran of 15 Mobile World Congress Conferences (and its predecessor 3GSM), confirms the impact that such events can exert on the work/life balance.

"I can recall spending Valentine’s evenings in successive years with an unlikely combination of clients, prospects, journalists, colleagues and various ‘unidentified’ attendees; in all cases these evenings were highly stimulating and lively – but, in truth, they could hardly be described as romantic!"

¹ Based on online questionnaire across Argentina, Austria, Barbados, Belorussia, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia , Finland, France, Germany , Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia , Serbia, South Africa, South Korea , Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, US, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela – 242 responses.

² Source:mobilemarketer.com