Mobile Social Networks Help the Mobile Industry Overall

Some web trends do eventually translate into mobile web usage.  According to a comScore report this week, the use of mobile social networking is driving mobile Internet usage in Western Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK).  In November, 34% of mobile phone owners in Western Europe that visited social networking sites accessed social media, but not other mobile web content.  That means that a good portion of the 12.1 million mobile users in Western Europe are using their mobile web access just for social networking purposes.

Compared to other applications for accessing mobile web pages, social network mobile access grew at a much faster rate, clocking in at 152% increase between November 2007 and November 2008.  As far as the Western Europe countries go, the UK has the highest penetration of mobile social networking, at 9%.

So what’s it all mean? Perhaps we’re seeing the mobile divide beginning to close. The increase in mobile web usage overall seems to be positively correlated with the increase in mobile social networking.  All those social networking applications must be starting to really pay off.  Between these socially-oriented applications giving users mobile access while on the go, and an overall improvement with mobile devices in the past two years alone, there seems to be an intensely growing trend towards mobile social networking overall.  It’s simply easier to do.

And the trend is good for most parties involved.  Even before popular devices like the iPhone emerged, many web-based social networks were seeking ways in which to offer mobile integration through SMS and mobile web browsing.  Aside from offering on-the-go access to end users, many of these social networks also realized the global potential of offering mobile social networking, as it broadens the pool of potential users.  Increased mobile web usage also encourages the mobile device market to make even more compatible phones that are geared for supporting social networking applications.  This goes for the mobile network providers as well.  Over the past year we’ve seen an especially dedicated effort to partner with social networks and mobile device manufacturers in order to offer an enticing package deal to consumers that desire mobile web browsing.

While comScore did not go into detail about the causation of the growing trend, I believe all the factors above could have contributed in one way or another to encourage mobile web usage.  And whatever the direct causes for such growth may be, it’s an interesting yet expected trend in the mobile world.  I’m sure only see this growth increase over the next year, in Western Europe, the US and beyond.