While it is no surprise that mobile Internet access and usage is one the rise here in the US some of the percentage increase numbers start to get eye popping pretty quickly. comScore reports that of the people who access news and information the Internet via mobile devices daily has doubled in size from January of 2008 to January of 2009. As with the early days of Internet adoption rates the percentage increases are large because of the smaller sets of users but it’s hard to ignore that kind of growth regardless of where we are on the growth curve.
The shift that is most apparent is the frequency of use. It appears that what was once a more infrequent use of mobile devices to access the web is turning into a daily activity. So what’s driving this? You guessed it; social media. Take a look at the chart below and you’ll see where this is most prevalent.
Over the course of the past year, we have seen use of mobile Internet evolve from an occasional activity to being a daily part of people’s lives,” observed Mark Donovan, senior vice president, mobile, comScore. “This underscores the growing importance of the mobile medium as consumers become more reliant on their mobile devices to access time-sensitive and utilitarian information.”
The demographic group most involved in this trend is males between the ages of 18-34 years old with a 50% engagement rate at least monthly. That should surprise no one. The apparent gender imbalance of SXSW would bear that out I suppose. Among the ladies it is most utilized by the 18-24 year old group with 40 percent of this group utilizing mobile devices to access the web at least monthly. Ok, I am no social scientist but I think I can see the appeal here. Maybe these two groups should get a chat room.
What’s your mobile device usage for Internet access? Is it a critical part of your existence or is it more of an up and coming habit? What’s your favorite activity? Where’s this heading? Inquisitive Pilgrims want to know!
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