Year over
year numbers for January 2010 show that smartphone users are moving toward
connecting to social networks via their smartphones in growing numbers. Users are not just using their PC’s to
connect with social networks as the number of smartphone users that are jump on
social networks doubled from 5% to 10% when compared to January 2009. The number of users accessing Facebook via a
mobile browser grew by 112%, and Twitter grew by an amazing 347% from the
previous year. "Social networking
remains one of the most popular and fastest-growing behaviors on both the
PC-based Internet and the mobile Web," Mark Donovan, senior VP of mobile
at ComScore, wrote in a statement. "Social media is a natural sweet spot
for mobile since mobile devices are at the center of how people communicate
with their circle of friends, whether by phone, text, email, or, increasingly,
accessing social networking sites via a mobile browser."
The mobile
browser available on many smartphones was utilized to access Facebook by 25 million
users and approximately 12 million MySpace users. Although Twitter’s growth rate is the highest
of the social networking major players, it is still playing catch up in the
sheer number of users with 4.7 million mobile users for the month of January. Smartphone sales continue to grow in the U.S.
with 17% of the total cell market at the end of 2009, up from 11% of the same
month of the prior year.
Related Link:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223101506