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The message on the wall in Facebook will soon prevail over the phone call, reveals the survey by the Institute for Business Value (IBV), according to which nine out of ten Greeks who use the Internet have a profile on at least one of the social networks. The survey indicates that the Greeks are concerned about the long-term effects of the debt crisis and will reduce costs for telecommunications, starting from mobile and fixed phones. Social networks will expand their influence, as they will become the main tool of distance communication.

In particular, 61% of respondents are expected to reduce the use of mobile phones and 52% to reduce the cost of fixed phones. Half of the respondents using mobile Internet are also planning to stop using it because it is costly and the number of free Wi-Fi areas is increasing. In the situation of cuts and savings of communication costs, the interest in social networks is growing and nine out of ten Internet users in Greece have their own profile in at least one social network and use it every day.

Young people up to the age of 25 comprise the highest percentage of fans of social networking - 84%. They mainly go to video websites and the most popular among them remains youtube.com with 46%. 73% of those surveyed responded that the main source of information about them is the Internet search engines. Another 63% say they prefer to find the information they need from friends and relatives. Blogs and forums of interest play a major role for 60% - 70% of the young people in getting information on various topics.

Another technology that seems to slowly and gradually be replacing ordinary telephone calls is Voice Over IP or Internet telephony, which allows transmission of voice through the global network infrastructure. This type of service could seriously jeopardize present telecommunications, taking into account that half of the Greeks surveyed said they are not satisfied with their mobile providers. In Greece, there is frequent change of mobile operators and loyal customers of a particular company do not exceed more than 22% of the users of its services.

Currently, mobile phones take the lead over the use of fixed phones in Greece and analysts estimate that this trend will continue.  The company believes that telecommunications companies must develop the capacity of 4G systems (fourth generation of cellular wireless standards), which provide high quality mobile services, but must be combined with proper pricing to justify the investment.