Mobile Web Visitors Flock to Social Sites

Mobile access of social networking sites is growing, according to an ABI Research study “Mobile Social Networking User Snapshot.”

In a recent survey, 46 percent of those who use social networks have also accessed social sites through a mobile phone. Of those sites visited, the top two were MySpace (70 percent) and Facebook (67 percent). Other sites came in below 15 percent in the ABI survey.

So why MySpace and Facebook? Web users already have profiles on these social networks, said Michael Wolf, research director at ABI Research. He said these people want to reach out to friends and others already on these sites, rather than to set up profiles on mobile-specific social networks.

“A lot of consumers who adopt mobile social networking probably become aware of it through their social networks,” said Wolf. “You’ll find a lot of people are doing status updates from mobile phones, or uploading photos.”

Mobile social networking is just one of a handful of activities driving mobile Web adoption. “I think the phones are getting better, browsers are getting better, flat rate data plans [are getting better,” said Wolf. “Applications are feeding desire from consumers. Social networking is one component of it.”

The report is based on findings from an online survey conducted by ABI Research in Q2 2008 of 500 online users.