Social networking is attracting new users to the mobile Web in Europe. In November, 34 percent of mobile phone owners in Western Europe who visited social networking sites accessed social media exclusive of all other mobile Web content, according to comScore.
With 12.1 million users in Western Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.), mobile social networking is a rapidly expanding category that grew 152 percent from November 2007 to November 2008.
The U.K. has the highest penetration of mobile social networking, at 9 percent, almost triple that of Germany, where it is the least popular. The average penetration rate across all countries is 5 percent.
“A large portion of the growth in the mobile Internet audience can be attributed to social networking,” said Alistair Hill, analyst, comScore M:Metrics.
“In the UK, for example, the audience of those accessing news and information, but not social networking services, with their mobile browser or an application grew by 149,000 unique users, whereas the number of those exclusively accessing social networking grew by six times that number in the past year.”
When it comes to demographics of social media users in Europe, those who use social networking exclusive of other mobile Internet content skew more female than those who consume other types of mobile content.
Women make up 48 percent of the audience accessing only social media, but only 32 percent of those who access other types of mobile content. The median age for social media only users is 28, compared to 36 for other mobile Internet users.
“This development is encouraging for the future of the mobile Internet,” said Hill. “Social networking is taking the mobile Internet out of the early adopter demographic, and into the mainstream.”
