British are more inclined to use social networking applications than are American or German mobile phone users, with 10.1 percent of Britons, 7.2 percent of Germans, 6.5 percent of French and 6.7 percent of Americans reporting they uploaded photos or videos to the Web, used chat or used dating applications in the month of April, according to findings issued by M:Metrics on the audience for mobile social networking.
The firm found that the demographics of subscribers who generate user-created content are similar across the three geographies, with students, particularly those aged 13-17, being the most predisposed to the activity. The monthly survey, which is the largest of its kind, also revealed that males are the most active, comprising of 56.2 percent of the audience in the UK, 59 percent of the German audience, 62.4 percent of the U.S. audience and 56.8 percent in France.
In the UK market, UMTS operator 3 has the highest percentage of socially networked subscribers creating their own content, at 17.4 percent. In the U.S., T-Mobile has the highest penetration, at 10 percent, in the French market SFR leads with 7.1 percent and in the German market it's O2, with 10.6 percent of its base using at least one of the applications.
"As we have seen with the rise in MySpace, YouTube and Flickr, there is a substantial population of connected creators on the Web," said Mark Donovan, vice president and senior analyst, M:Metrics. "With as many as 10 percent of mobile subscribers participating in this activity over the operator network, there is a sizable business here across the entire mobile sector, which will only grow when more of these sites fully integrate mobile access."
"The mobile content industry has learnt that the ringtone and games markets are not just about the youth and are broadening their offerings accordingly," added Paul Goode, vice president and senior analyst, M:Metrics. "This is not just older groups catching up, but also the youth moving on to become creators rather than just the consumers. Social networking is the most youth-driven category of mobile content."
M:Metrics applies trusted media measurement methodologies to assess the audience for mobile content and applications. As the world's most authoritative mobile market measurement firm, M:Metrics delivers the most accurate mobile market metrics through the largest monthly survey of mobile subscribers in the U.S., U.K., Germany and France, as well as automated data collection methodologies. Below are the findings of its April Benchmark Survey. |
