Tracking Mobile Social Networking [and Blogs and Downloads]

12.3 mln consumers in the United States and Western Europe reported accessing a social networking site with their mobile device in June 2007, according to a new study by M:Metrics. The American audience for mobile social networking sites was the largest, with 7.5 mln, or 3.5%, of mobile subscribers. Italy follows, with 1.3 mln or 2.8%, then the UK with 1.1 mln, or 2.5%, Spain with 751,000 (2.3%), Germany (1.9%) and France (1.7%). &MySpace garnered the most mobile users in the United States and United Kingdom whereas MSN was the forum of choice for mobile Web 2.0 users in the other geographies surveyed.

MySpace and Facebook are the top two social networking sites accessed via mobile in both the U.S. and UK. MySpace attracts 3.7 million U.S. and 440,000 UK mobile users. In America, Facebook's mobile audience is about 2 million, and in Britain, about 307,000. Rounding out the top three is YouTube in the U.S., with 901,000 mobile visitors and Bebo in the UK, with 288,000.

The study also tracks the availability of content across all operator portals and found that in June, the top three U.S. mobile social networking sites had strong distribution, with MySpace appearing on the decks of : Amp'd, AT&T, Helio and Nextel. Facebook was accessible on the Sprint, AT&T, Virgin and Amp'd decks and YouTube on the Verizon deck*. In this UK, MySpace has distribution on Vodafone, Bebo is on the 3 deck, but number-two MSN Live Spaces is offered nowhere on-portal. Those under 25 are the most active users of mobile social networking sites across all geographies. In France, Germany, Italy and Spain, the age demographic with the largest percentage of use is 13-17-year-olds, whereas college-aged consumers (18-24) are the most avid users in the United States and the United Kingdom.