Mobile social networking rockets
The number of people using their mobiles to access social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace has rocketed this year, according to new research by Orange.
640,000 of Orange UK’s customers were accessing a social networking site every month by the end of September, clocking up 66 million page views.
“We are seeing massive numbers of unique users and traffic in social networking and we expect that to continue,” said Paul Jevons, Orange UK director of products, portal and services. “A number of things have come together such as the tariffs and the handsets that really have kick-started social networking on mobile phones.”
The number of users accessing mobile networking sites on their Orange mobile phones increased by 277% between June and October 2008 alone, according to the research.
Usage has increased significantly since the mobile network introduced its Dolphin tariff, which gives unlimited access to social networking sites, and launched its LG KS360 pre-pay phone, which integrates sites such as Facebook.
Other operators have also picked up on the trend, with Vodafone offering unlimited Facebook access and 3’s new INQ1 mobile handset, which offers social networking services within “one-touch” of users.
02 has also recorded a massive surge in mobile internet traffic since iTunes offered iPhone users one-touch access downloads for sites such as Facebook and its business rival LinkedIn.
Meanwhile, Motorola is thought to be working on a new mobile handset that will have a number of social networking services built-in.
The Orange Digital Media Index also found that mobile users are increasingly using their phones to search the internet – which is reportedly due to the take-up of 3G phones as it gives fast access but also coincides with the increase in web content that is optimised for mobile handsets.
Mobile phone searches increased by 30% in the summer / autumn 2008 index compared to the previous index – around 5 million individual search terms have been entered in the past 12 months alone.
Last month, Nielsen Online released data showing that from Q2 to Q3, the number of Britons using mobile internet increased by 25% (from 5.8 to 7.3 million) compared to 3% for PC-based internet (34.3 to 35.3 million Britons) (see Increase in Britons using mobile internet).
The mobile internet audience has a higher concentration of younger users than PC-based internet according to Nielsen’s research; 25% of mobile internet consumers are aged 15-24 compared to 16% for PC-based consumers. Whilst 23% of the PC-based internet population is 55+, only 12% of the mobile internet audience is.
A recent study by Pew Internet and American Life predicted that wireless devices will be the primary means of connecting to the internet for most people by 2020 (see Most people will access the internet via mobile by 2020).
The “Future of the Internet” report said the combination of portability and affordability will be the reason behind the mobile internet’s success in 12 years time.