Telecom market in America
experienced 50 percent growth in mobile users accessing social networking sites
such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter on mobile phones.

 

The significant growth in
America brings lot of growth opportunities for emerging telecom markets like
India, Brazil, Africa and the Middle East.

 

Around 72.2 million
Americans accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device in
August 2011, an increase of 37 percent in the past year, according to comScore.

 

Many people are logging the
social networks through mobile browsers, and mobile applications for social
networking have grown five times faster. In the past year, the mobile browser
audience grew 24 percent to reach 42.3 million users. App-based population has
expanded 126 percent to 38.5 million people.

 

“Social media is one of the
most popular and fastest growing mobile activities, reaching nearly one third
of all U.S. mobile users, this behavior is even more prevalent among smartphone
owners with three in five accessing social media each month, highlighting the
importance of apps and the enhanced functionality of smartphones to social
media usage on mobile devices,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice
president for mobile.

Facebook had more than 57 million mobile
users in August, up 50 percent from the previous year. Facebook was followed by
Twitter as its mobile audience jumped 75 percent to 13.4 million people, while
LinkedIn’s mobile audience climbed 69 percent to 5.5 million users.

This growth offers lot of mobile marketing
opportunities for emerging markets like India. The growth in mobile access for
social media is a boon for social media marketing as mobile social networkers
also interacts with brands.

The study says more than half (52.9 percent)
read posts from organizations, brands, or events. One in three mobile social
networkers receives a coupon, offer or deal, with one in four (27.7 percent)
clicks on an ad while on a social networking site.

“Advertisers and marketers should take
note – mobile users are not only engaging with their friends through social
networking, but a majority is also interacting with brands in these social
media environments. Knowing that fans and followers engage with branded content
on mobile devices opens the door to a world of opportunity for location-based
services,” Donovan added.

India has more than 22.1 Facebook million
users and people spend 55 minutes per day, with 50 percent of total Facebook
users logging on to Facebook daily. This gives all kind of companies to make
social media marketing as their go-to market strategy and flourish further.

Moreover, companies in emerging countries are
capitalizing on growth in the mobile social networking by investing in such
websites. In 2010, LinkedIn translated its Brazilian website into Portugese,
and the country’s membership increased by 4 million, or 428 percent. This also
creates lot of employment opportunities in the space. The countries like India
are coming up with international joint ventures attributed to growth in mobile internet users,
globally.

 

India has more than 600 million active mobile
users. The number of 3G phone users is growing rapidly. Once 4G is launched in
India, mobile users with mobile internet will grow significantly and this will
assist in the growth of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin in India, the second
largest mobile market after China.

By Rashi Varshney
[email protected]