Consumers want to access social networking sites while they’re on-the-go.
Researchers at comScore, Inc. looked at mobile social media usage across the five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) during the month of September 2011 and found that the audience for mobile social networking in the EU5 region grew a full 44 percent over the last year.
All told, 55.1 million mobile users in the EU5 –that’s 23.5 percent of the total EU5 mobile audience –accessed social networking sites or blogs via their mobile devices that month.
The study also found that:
- Nearly half (46.8 percent) of the mobile social media users reported accessing social networking sites on a daily basis. Interestingly, the growth in daily social networking use from the previous year outpaced that of mobile social networking access as a whole (67 percent vs. 44 percent), indicating that the mobile platform is proving to be conducive to very frequent social networking use.
- Most mobile social media users (31.3 million) accessed social networking sites via a mobile browser (31.3 million). But, the number of people using mobile apps grew, too, doubling over the previous year to 24.2 million.
- Facebook boasts the largest mobile social media audience in the study (71 percent), followed by Twitter, Tuenti.com (a Spanish social network) and LinkedIn.
- Nearly three in four mobile social networking users reported reading posts from people known personally, and more than 60 percent posted status updates on their mobile devices.
Marketers take note: The data showed that mobile social networking users engaged with brands on their mobile devices.
- Four in 10 (44.3 percent) reported reading posts from organizations, brands, or events.
- Likewise, 41.6 percent reported reading posts from public figures or celebrities.
- And, more than one-quarter (26.7 percent) reported receiving coupons, offers, or deals on their phones.
As mobile increasingly becomes integral to our everyday routines, it offers tremendous opportunities for brands to connect with consumers with discounts and other promotions, as well as via location-based services.
“Over the past year we have seen social networking use grow rapidly among mobile users across Europe, driven largely by the growth in smartphone adoption, making it easier than ever for users to stay connected and engage in social activities while on-the-go,” said Jeremy Copp, comScore Europe vice president for mobile. “More notably, the rate of growth in daily social networking usage has surpassed even the rate of growth in total social networking adoption among mobile users, suggesting that the behavior is becoming even more ingrained into people’s daily mobile lives. As social networks continue to invest in improving the user experience on mobile devices and tablets, it will be interesting to see how social behaviors on the mobile platform further evolve.”
Categories: Digital Marketing, Facebook, mobile, Social Media Marketing, Twitter
Tags: B2C, B2C social media, blogs, digital marketing, Facebook, LinkedIn, marketing, mobile, mobile marketing, social media, social media marketing, social media research, social media strategy, socialmedia, Twitter
