Social Networking Now More Popular on Mobile than Desktop
A recent study from Ruder Finn revealed that Americans are spending nearly three hours per day on their mobile phones. And what are they doing there? Educating themselves, conducting business, managing finances, instant messaging, emailing? All of the above, as it turns out, and then some. But perhaps the most interesting finding from the new data is the fact that more people are using the mobile web to socialize (91%) compared to the 79% of desktop users who do the same. It appears that the mobile phone is actually a better platform for social networking than the PC.
During the 2.7 hours per day that people in the U.S. spending on the mobile web, 45% are posting comments on social networking sites, 43% are connecting with friends on social networking sites, 40% are sharing content with others and 38% are sharing photos. While those last two figures represent activities that can take place outside of a dedicated social networking service, like a Facebook app for example, they still are inherently social activities.
Mobile Web: A Better Platform for Socializing?
What has given rise to this trend? What makes social networking such a popular mobile web activity? It's easy to point to the proliferation of smartphones and their host of applications, 3G network speeds and more affordable data plans, built in web browsers and mobile-ready websites. Of course these are all important factors that have helped increase mobile social networks' popularity. However, these measurements are the reason why mobile web use, in general, is growing, not specifically mobile social networking.
A less quantifiable statistic that may also have impacted the rise of mobile social networking to the point where it has surpassed desktop-based social networking is the fact that it's an activity that taps into how people - normal, everyday people - go about their lives. Readers of a technology site like this may indeed spend hours upon hours behind a computer screen scouring news sites, reading RSS feeds, updating Twitter and chatting on Facebook, but that's not necessarily the norm. A good many of folks out there still spend more time offline than on. For these people, screen time is spent doing business-related activities at the office (with the occasional jaunts over to YouTube and Facebook) followed by briefer after-hours web surfing that includes catching up with friends on Facebook and reading personal email, downloading music and other media, streaming videos and/or playing games. But these online sessions have to be interspersed with other real world activities like cooking dinner, caring for the kids, watching primetime TV, running errands, etc. That's why it's no surprise to find that the rise of the mobile phone corresponds with the rise in Facebook's (and other social networking sites) numbers. It has become a do-anywhere activity that captures people's attention whenever they have free time instead of an activity that requires people make time for it.
Beyond Geekdom: Mobile Brings the Mainstream
In addition (and although I don't have statistics on hand to back this up), the mobile web allows social networks to overcome their more "geeky" stigma of days past. As one friend recently scoffed to me about this particular pastime, "I never saw the point of going home, logging on to the computer and updating my Facebook status. I mean like, who cares what I'm doing? But then I got an iPhone and I could share photos and stuff right then and there. It was cool." OK, not the most eloquent speech, but the point is obvious: mobile social networking isn't just convenient, it's cool.
Here's the bottom line, a trend we've been seeing for some time: the mainstream has arrived. They're buying smartphones and downloading mobile applications. They're surfing the web on the go. They're playing FarmVille on Facebook. They'll probably get an iPad. And for them, mobile social networking is an easy activity to participate in now that it's been unchained from the PC. The broader implications of having the less tech-savvy masses online are only beginning to be explored and understood (as ReadWriteWeb recently saw here when Google users accidentally mistook the blog for the new Facebook). Developers and designers will now have to take this into consideration, too. Either they make their applications accessible and simple enough for least common denominator - or risk losing out to competitors who do.
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I guess that is what Google is getting at with Google Buzz. They may not end up on top in this marathon, but they have certainly made a statement about the way things are. Everything is obviously headed the mobile way and why not? We're constantly on the go and want to stay connected.
Google just got sued for it's lame Buzz. Nice start to a predictable Google product failure.
Makes Total Sense
What, I'm to hang out on Facebook while I'm trying to get real, actual work done vs. more frequent updates on the go (including the gaining much steam Foursquare)?
Good point about making sites accessible to the 'least common denominator' too. You should see the trouble my father has navigating complicated mobile sites on his BlackBerry.
No, I don't think it's a better platform for socializing, it's just don't feel right for me anyway :)
I bet 90% of it is 1. iPhone and 2. Facebook/Twitter.
I think it's because when you make a mobile app (Facebook and Twitter) you strip out all of the crap that makes these services start to suck.
Facebook's mobile app is perfect. None of the horrible navigation or confusion that the web version has.
Every twitter app I have tried on my iPhone is better than the web interface.
These services should just give me a big iPhone app on my desktop. Then, I could see just what I needed, plus type on a real keyboard.
Oh yeah, the ads.
Well, there goes that idea.
I think you're implying a bit more significance to this statistic than it actually deserves. A larger percentage of the mobile population goes online for social purposes, that's true. But does that mean that mobile is better for socializing?
Not hardly. It can just as easily mean that mobile is just worse for doing anything *other* than socializing. I don't find the Facebook mobile app easier to use than the web version, but if I'm not by a computer then that's what I'll use -- and there's *no* way you could get me to tweak spreadsheets on a phone. If almost everyone who goes online on their phone does so to socialize, that sounds suspiciously like a poor multitasker.
Nobody would get excited about a study saying 95% of hammer holders prefer pounding in nails over screws :-).
excellent mobile phone
nice information about technology
thanks
I definitely find myself using Facebook and Tweetdeck a ton even at home keeping connected. Both apps are great on the iphone, especially tweetdeck when managing multiple accounts. Great post and information.
I'm curious about how these mobile social activity statistics, tools, and patterns are different for smartphone users vs. "feature phone" users.
Remember, lower-end cell phones may not be great for mobile web browsing or apps, and they typically have limited or no data plans. But they generally do handle SMS and MMS messaging, and e-mail. And from what I've been seeing, these are popular low-end mobile channels for the kinds of social interactions that smartphone users turn to services like Facebook and Twitter for.
When planning social-oriented services and features, if you want to pull in more users, don't overlook the opportunities and constrains of lower-end cell phones. Because there's likely to always be a digital divide for mobile. Better technology and bandwidth will always cost more.
- Amy Gahran
I'm not sure that the data point to the mobile interface as being superior (in fact, that doesn't sound right to me). A possible driver for people using mobile phones more often than PCs for social networking could be that it goes around existing restrictions for accessing those sites from the workplace. In other words, the mobile device is by necessity the primary gateway.
People are socially networking on their personal phones because Facebook, etc are blocked on their corporate network.
Also, it's easy and more productive to do this life admin stuff when you're commuting on the Tube, etc.
I find it slightly ironic that you are talking about Facebook on the iPhone, and that these people are likely to get an iPad, and then mention the technology that Apple controversially hasn't supported (Flash) by saying that these people play Farmville.
Not on those Apple products they won't!
BEWARE:
Don't give up that land-line just yet !!!
Because this administration and Homeland Security are planning on taking over control of all cell phones in case of future cyber attacks. . . . that's what I heard on a CNN special (round-table talk) on this subject.
With everyone so dependent on the cell phone - you will be LOST without it (if and when they decide (for safety sake) to turn them off) !!!
Wow, this article really brings home the fact that, as an online marketer, it is wise to become active in social media, as this is something that customers have access to all the time and in which they are consistantly participating. Company or product facebook fan pages can be a significant way now to engage more customers with your brand and bring them to your site. Additionally, the ecommerce sites themselves should think about creating an alternative ecommerce site that facilitates online mobile shopping. Developers and designers (as stated above) really do have to take alternative approaches to accommodate this new phenomenon.
I have samsung jet..But I don't like small screen..
excellent article...
benar sekali, dan saya rasa penjualan gadget juga meningkat tajam akhir-akhir ini.
i think that your english needs work haha go back to school. " mobile phone is" thats not good english you should have put " mobile phones are " dumb arse.