A new survey out by Pew Research suggests American adults are just as addicted to text messaging as the younger generation, with the amount rising substantially over the past year.

The survey found that roughly 72% of adult cell phone users send and receive text messages these days, up from 65% in September 2009.  This still falls short of the 87% of teen cell users who text.  The research shows teens text 50 messages a day on average, which is five times more than the typical 10 text messages sent and received by adults per day.

“Texting among adults has reached the mainstream and the charge is being lead by African-Americans, Hispanics and young adults,” said Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and author the report. “Of course, none of these adult groups hold a candle to teens when it comes to texting, who swamp adults in messages sent per day by a factor of 5.”

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Mobile is immensely popular in India, as evident in new figures out by SMS GupShup that indicate the text-based social network has reached 35 million total users while adding over 1 million each and every month.

These figures show SMS GupShup surpassed July traffic on Facebook (with 21 million unique visitors) and Orkut (with 20 million unique visitors) — two social networks who have long fought for social dominance in the region.  Granted, SMS GupShup differs, but it shows mobile’s dominance in India.

There are roughly 550 million mobile phone users in the country and only 50 million web users, according to the company.  With a 10 to 1 mobile-to-PC ratio and SMS serving as the most popular communications platform, the market is ripe for SMS GupShup to take off, which it obviously already has.  The startup currently processes more than 500 million messages a month and accounts for over 5 percent of all texts sent within India.

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NBC Universal Digital Studio has teamed with human-powered answering service ChaCha for a unique mobile engagement initiative for NBC’s new “FCU: Fact Checker’s Unit” series.

The series, based on a short film of the same name, follows two overzealous fact checkers employed to confirm or disprove various statements made in articles scheduled to be published by a magazine.  Viewers and fans can participate by joining the show’s mobile alerts and “Check Your Own Facts” by texting ChaCha on the show’s site and engage more deeply with the content by experiencing a live feed of fact checking questions.

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Vibes Media today announced a new mobile marketing platform tailored for retailers, dubbed “Retail CRM Alerts.”  The SMS-based platform allows retailers to “build databases of mobile customers, leverage text message campaigns to increase mobile and Web traffic, and drive m-commerce.”

While numerous mobile marketing platforms exist, Vibes hopes Retail CRM Alerts will give retailers direct and simplified access to leverage the m-commerce market — which is estimated to be worth $2.5B today.  ”The mobile explosion and m-commerce growth have gone hand-in-hand, and mobile marketing campaigns offer a uniquely effective path to mobile purchases,” said Drew Green, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Vibes.  ”The Vibes Retail CRM Alerts platform provides brands with an effective way to create powerful connections with consumers that increase engagement, drive in-store visits, and push activation to m-commerce.”

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There’s big news for SMS marketing in Latin American countries today, as the “Latin America Common Short Code” initiative announced in March by the CTIA has gone live.  The initiative provides a much-needed centralized CSC registry process for all of Latin America — a high-growth region in terms of mobile technology.

The initiative is supported by all major operators in the region and uses technology provided by Syniverse Technologies, a company that provides a wealth of telecommunication services to over 800 mobile operators, ISPs and other enterprises around the world.  Syniverse has built a short code system that every single operator in Latin America can tap into that provides 6-digit short codes that work the same in any country, as long as your operator is part of the CSC initiative.  With the new system in place, marketers will be able to reach an additional 500 million people within Latin American countries.

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Consumers with medical conditions can rest easier with the debut of an ID card that uses SMS, or text messaging, to alert emergency medical workers of patients’ histories.

Called InvisibleBracelet or iB, this is how it works: Consumers sign up online for a $10 annual membership, and after receiving iB cards (which can be carried in wallets, on key fobs, or attached to a bag), they can use the website to program the cards with information about illnesses, allergies, and conditions, as well as one’s emergency contacts. Should a medical emergency occur, first responders will receive a text message with the patient’s information.

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Shakey’s Pizza Parlor recently partnered with Options Media Group on a comprehensive text messaging initiative to drive foot-traffic to its restaurants and encourage mobile opt-ins using a three-month test program targeting 30 stores in Southern California.

The campaign encouraged users to send a text message to Shakey’s to receive a mobile coupon good for a large pizza.  After the short pilot program in just 30 of its stores, Shakey’s was able to build a significant database of over 16,000 people who responded to the initial promotion.  Customers responded to in-store advertisements as well as Shakey’s ads placed throughout the location’s respective communities.  A follow-up campaign resulted in a 10% conversion rate of customers who used their text coupon to buy a pizza during a one day special offer sent to Shakey’s mobile subscribers.

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