Even when there is no money on the table, marketers employing these texting techniques are getting valuable information: the user's mobile phone number. They have to be very careful with this, however, because the key to a successful relationship with this market is a solid bond of trust, and spamming them with unwanted messages is not the way to build it.

The temptation for retailers and brand marketers might be strong, but must be resisted. Analysts such as Forrester feel that teens are not amenable to push-promotion on their mobile phones. It is invasive and interrupts their interactions with each other, and if it incurs data charges, it will be very negatively received.

Read what a consumer had to say after getting the following SMS from his provider:

In general, charges are a barrier to mobile web and texting usage that must be accounted for. One major brand doing user research found that kids are generally fuzzy about what is free and what isn't, but they are very sensitive to the costs. When an otherwise free promotion or site incurs data costs, kids often associate the charges with the brand providing the service, not the carrier actually imposing the bill. This has very negative ramifications on brand perception and should be avoided.

Even if the company is providing very popular phone accessories such as ringtones, wallpapers or videos, some kids would prefer not to incur the costs. Urban youth pay for their plans, and they don't want to shell out for something. Suburban youth are concerned with upsetting their parents. In both cases, teens are savvy shoppers and will go to lengths to minimize their costs.

Twenty-five percent of one sample audience has two phones: a simple one for a voice plan and then a T-Mobile Sidekick to browse the web and use social networking applications.