A poll, of 2,000 adults who use social media and are part of online groups, found 36% communicate more with people through these chats than they do in person. More than half (52%) speak to others more through online group messaging than they do phone calls, and 26% opt for chatting in groups rather than one-to-one conversations.

The most common group names include ‘holibobs’, ‘hen huns’ and ‘famalam’, with those who use WhatsApp (86%) being part of 10 groups on average totalling…