Text-messaging Cultures of College Girls in Hong Kong: SMS as Resources for Achieving Intimacy and Gift-exchange with Multiple Functions.

The article provides a preliminary literature review of earlier studies related to short messaging services (SMS). The social impact of new mobile communication technologies is analyzed. Mobile text messaging has fulfilled an important function which provides a sense of co-presence for young people who lack the means to share some private physical space free from adults' surveillance. A study in Taiwan found that SMS is used to negotiate subtle gender relations especially among couples. The increasing popularity of text messaging in Hong Kong is discussed.