News

U R so flunked - no As 4 U

In an ideal world (kids say) they would rather get their A-Level exam results by phone text message, than in a letter. Well, some of them, at least.

According to a survey - commissioned by Freever - actually two thirds of them said they'd rather have a letter - but the surprise is that so many of them did indeed think that the text would be better. "Overall, only 19% of 16-23 year olds preferred the texting option, which is surprising considering 98% of them have a mobile phone," reported the mobile messaging group.

Surprising? This is August, and anything makes news in August, but you surely don't have to be a mouldy teenager to realise that you'd have to give the authorities your phone number to get the result, that some people's texts would go walkabout and never arrive, and that some would be fake results from windup friends, do you? Freever dug out some positive responses: "Great idea! It means that I don't have to wait for the post. However, I would prefer to be notified in both text message form and by letter, just as a confirmation!" said Bindi Pandit, 18 years old from East Ham in London.

Or there's Shura Joseph, 16 years old from London: "It's a good idea, especially for me as I'll be at the Reading music festival when my GCSE results are due and I don't want my parents finding out before me."

Where text logically has it over a letter, is where you don't know where you'll be: "I would rather receive exam results by post rather than by text, because it's a big part of my life and a text message isn't as personal. However, if I was out of the country, I'd definitely want to receive the details by text," said Jeffery Agyei, 18 years old from St Albans.

Thomas Blonz, managing director of Freever UK said: "A-Level students in the UK already receive their exam results later than most of their European counterparts. Getting results by text will not only speed things up, but means the information is delivered directly to the student, wherever they are."

The survey was conducted in July 2003 by BMRB International. Almost 400 (374) young people, aged 16 to 23 years old, were questioned.

Freever is a text-based chat room; it lets people chat in groups rather than just one-to-one. Freever reckons to have over one million users across Europe, flirting, gossiping, sharing interests and chatting to their home-grown heroes.