Burst reply time
The typing-speed number — how fast someone answers while a back-and-forth is already happening, usually measured in seconds.
Once a conversation is under way, replies come fast — often in the seconds, because both people are already looking at the screen. That’s a real, useful number, but it measures something closer to typing speed and attentiveness-in-the-moment than the "how responsive are you" question people are usually asking, which is answered better by reply wait time. A conversation is considered to end after 30 minutes of silence, so someone who replies "the next morning" to a message from the night before isn’t counted as a nine-hour burst reply — that gap starts a new conversation instead.
Example
A burst reply median of 13 seconds on a 29,000-message chat is normal and simply describes two fast typists mid-conversation, not two people racing to answer every single text.
Frequently asked questions
Why is this number so much smaller than reply wait time?+
Because it only measures replies inside an already-active exchange, when both people are typically already engaged — opening a brand-new conversation takes longer because somebody has to notice the message first.
What ends a "burst" and starts a new conversation?+
Thirty minutes with no message from either side. It’s an arbitrary but consistent line — some chats might reasonably use a shorter or longer gap, but every measurement in a given recap uses the same one.
Related terms
- Reply wait timeHow long an opening message sits before anyone answers it — the number most people actually mean by "how fast do you reply".
- Conversation (session boundary)A run of messages with less than 30 minutes between any two of them — the boundary that separates "a reply" from "starting something new".