Social networks are the fastest-growing mobile content category, both via application and for browser access, confirming the increasing popularity of social networking via mobile devices, according to data from comScore's MobiLens service.
The browser, however, remains more popular than applications for accessing the mobile Web, comScore finds.
Social networking app audience triples in one year
Overall, 69.6 million mobile users accessed applications on their phones in April 2010, up 28% from the same period a year earlier.
Mobile use of social networking applications reached 14.5 million users in April, up 240%, followed by news apps, with 9.3 million users, up 124% and sports information apps, with 7.7 million users, up 113%.
Bank accounts apps also more than doubled their audience, growing to 5.0 million users in April.
More consumers use browsers than applications
Nearly 73 million mobile users accessed their mobile browser in April, up 31% from the previous year.
Social networking was the fastest-growing content category accessed via browser, comprising 29.8 million users in April, up 90% from a year earlier, followed by bank accounts (up 69% to 13.2 million users).
Mobile access of online retail sites increased 47%, comprising 7.3 million users, as Americans continued to adopt the mobile retail channel.
"Social networking is by far the fastest-growing mobile activity right now," said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of mobile. "With 20% of mobile users now accessing social networking sites via their phone, we expect to see both application and browser usage continuing to drive future consumption of social media."
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Smartphone users post triple-digit growth in app and browser access
Some 78% of smartphone users accessed their browser in April 2010, while 80% smartphone users accessed applications. By comparison, just 19% of feature-phone users accessed their browser and 17% accessed applications.
Although smartphone users are driving growth in browser (up 111% from the previous year) and application (up 112%) access, feature-phone users still account for nearly half of all users accessing mobile browsers and apps.
"Although growth in application usage on smartphones continues to grab the spotlight in the mobile market, the audience using their mobile browser remains larger and is growing just as quickly," added Donovan. "Brands need to remember to take into consideration the user experience across both channels when building their mobile strategies."
