Missed call
A missed call is a telephone call that is deliberately terminated by the caller before being answered by its intended recipient, appearing as a "missed call" on the receiver's cellphone. It is commonly used in South Asia, the Philippines and Africa as a way of communicating pre-agreed messages for free. For example, a group of friends may agree that two missed calls in succession means "I am running late".
In Bangladesh, missed calls make up 70% of cellular network traffic at any given time.[1] The Cellular Operators Association of India, COAI, has instituted a study to understand the revenue implications of missed calls in India.[2] Industry estimates of loss of revenue due to this social phenomenon are 20–25%[3] to as much as 30%.[4] At least one company in Bangalore is using this "tool" to generate business.[5] The culture of the missed call has also been used by political parties like the Aam Aadmi Party as a call to action to drive membership [6]
To "miss call", in the Philippine-adapted form miskol, was declared the Word of the Year in 2007 at a language convention held in the University of the Philippines Diliman.[7]
Equivalents in other places are to drop call in the US, to beep in Africa,[8] and to prank in England and Australia.[9] and to flash in Nigeria
Example messages
- Two missed calls can mean "I am running late".[1]
- Friends misscall a member of their group who was unable to join them that evening to convey "we're missing you".[1]
- In Syria, five missed calls in rapid succession means "I am online, let's chat".[1]
- In Bhutan, farmers know how much milk their customers want by the number of missed calls they get.[1]
- In India, a missed call from a shop or business means "Your order is ready".[1]
- Syndicate Bank, Introduced Missed Call Banking Facility, Which allows custmers to know their Balance outstanding in their CASA Account instantly, by giving a Missed Call to the number 09664552255. After registering the Customer Phone number with the Bank, This facility can be activated
- In Bangladesh, an online protest was arranged with the help of a Facebook event on 27 January 2013 demanding the mobile phone operators cut their internet price. More than 250,000 Facebook users participated by exchanging millions of missed calls.[10][11]
- In the United Kingdom, taxi drivers may use missed calls to let customers know that their taxi has arrived.
- Facebook partnered with VivaConnect to launch a Missed Call Ad Unit[12] business specifically for the feature phone heavy Indian market, where a person could place a Missed Call to a number displayed on Ad and get offline content in return call.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 jeremy (2010-11-10). "The Missed Call: The Decade's Zeitgeist?". Loosewireblog.com. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
- ↑ "Missed call ends in missing revenue". Retrieved 2007-10-02.
- ↑ "Etiquettes go missing in missed calls!". Retrieved 2007-10-02.
- ↑ "Missed call virus bugs telecom firms!". Retrieved 2008-10-13.
- ↑ "Give a `missed call' to get information on city". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 2006-08-09. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
- ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-26028381
- ↑ Alexander, Villafania (2007-08-13). ""Miskol" is Filipino word of the year at conference". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
- ↑
- ↑ wiktionary:prank
- ↑ Gabe Wachob, USA (2013-01-25). "Bangladesh: Missed Call – A Tool For Protest? · Global Voices". Globalvoicesonline.org. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
- ↑ "বাংলাদেশ প্রতিদিন". Bd-pratidin.com. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
- ↑ http://mashable.com/2014/07/02/facebook-missed-call-ads-india/
External links
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