Social networking main mobile web driver in Europe
Published: 30 January, 2009
READ MORE: Europe
In Europe, the number one factor driving uptake of the mobile internet is social networking, says a new study by comScore. The firm found that, in November, 34% of cellphone users who visited sites such as Facebook did so exclusive of any other mobile web content.
Mobile social networking now boasts an estimated 12.1m users in western Europe, a growth of 152% year-on-year. The UK leads the way, with 9% of users accessing social sites from their cellphones, while the average is 5%, and Germany is the least interested, with just 3.3% penetration.
"A large portion of the growth in the mobile internet audience can be attributed to social networking," said Alistair Hill, an analyst at comScore M:Metrics. In the UK, the growth in subscribers accessing social networking as their only or primary mobile web service was six times higher than those focused on news and information.
In terms of demographics, mobile social networkers are younger than the average for all mobile web users (28 versus 36) and more heavily female (48% versus 32%). "Social networking is taking the mobile internet out of the early adopter demographic and into the mainstream," concluded the report.
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