Social Networking Has Gone Mobile

In the beginning, we used our mobile phone to talk to other humans, then we began texting each other and now it seems we are using our mobile friend to access social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr and all the rest. A study from Comscore reveals that in September 2011, 55.1 million mobile users in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Spain visited social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device, representing 23.5 per cent of the total mobile audience in these five countries.

Huge increase in daily visitors
In the last year, there has been an increase in the visiting frequency. People visit social media sites and blogs more often. 25.8 million mobile users visit a social networking site and or blog almost daily. This is a huge increase compared to the same period last year. The table below shows the frequency for mobile users visiting social networking site or blogs on a 3 month average ending in September 2010 vs. September 2011.

	Sep. 10	Sep. 11	Change
Visited a Social Networking Site or Blog ever	38,395,000	55,125,000	44%
Visited a Social Networking Site or Blog almost every day	15,438,000	25,779,000	67%

Source: Comscore (November 2011)

If you want people to visit your social networking site, you might want to consider making an application. The number of people accessing social networking site via a internet browser is still higher than people accessing it via an application but mobile users accessing a social networking site via an application has double within a year. The table below shows the accessing method for mobile users visiting social networking site or blog on a 3 month average ending in September 2010 vs. September 2011.

Social Networking Access Method	September 10	September 11	Change
Via mobile browser	23,855,000	31,307,000	31%
Via application	12,507	24,208	101%

Source: Comscore (November 2011)

Facebook still rules
Facebook is by far the most popular social networking site. No doubt about that. No one will be able to challenge Facebook for years, it seems. Twitter is growing faster but is still far behind.

Audience for selected Social Networking sites	September 10	September 11	Change
Facebook	25,361,000	39,022,000	54%
Twitter	3,980,000	8,568,000	115%
Tuenti	1,474,000	2,327,000	58%
Linkedin	944,000	2,210,000	134%

Source: Comscore (November 2011)


See press release by Comscore.