Quick Links

Mobile Security Industry News

[January 09, 2013]

How Social Are You? [Los Angeles Sentinel (CA)]

(Los Angeles Sentinel (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Channel surfing over the weekend, I stopped on a favorite old romantic comedy that was centered on a relationship that blossomed over emails. The movie isn't even all that old, yet its premise now seems almost ancient. Because as we all know, in today's world there is a plethora of ways other than email to connect socially. Social media has exploded over the last 20 years. There is simply no way to avoid it; no matter how bahhumbug you may be over all this "new-fangled" connecting. (Mmm-hmm. You know who you are, Mr. and Ms. "You Can Call Me if You Want to Talk to Me"). According to Nielsen's latest Social Media Report, the total time spent on social media in the U.S. on both personal computers (PCs) and mobile devices (smart phones and tablets) jumped 37% between July 2011 and July 2012; from 88 billion minutes to 121 billion minutes.

As you know from reading this column regularly (right ) we love our mobile devices. Smartphones saturate more than 50% of the total mobile phone market. African-Americans account for 62% of smartphone owners; and tablets are owned by 20% of American households. It makes sense that our increased connectivity through the penetration of mobile devices has fueled the explosion of social media. Overall, more and more people are connecting to the internet and are connecting for longer periods of time. During the same time period, time spent on PCs and smartphones was up 21%. Of our time on the internet, the report shows that we spend more time on social networks than on any other sites, with computers still our device of choice. However, it also reports that app usage has seen the biggest growth in accessing social content. Accessing mobile appS now accounts for more than one-third of social networking time across PCs and mobile devices. That is a 76% increase in social app time over last year.

And, where do we like to visit Facebook is the reigning champ of time spent on social media whether people are getting there via their PCs, mobile web browsers or a mobile app. This is how the top social networks rank in the analysis of unique PC visitors in the U.S. over the last year: Facebook .......... More than 1.5 billion Blogger ..........58,518,000 Twitter ..........37,033,000 WordPress ..........30,945,000 LinkedIn ..........28,113,000 Pinterest ..........27,223,000 Google+ ..........26,201,000 Tumblr ..........25,634,000 Myspace ..........19,680,000 Wikia ..........12,594,000 Pinterest has to be crowned the breakout star among the social networks. Even though it ranks sixth, its year over year change is up a whopping 1,047%. And, who is doing all of this picture and image pinning/bookmarking on the virtual pinboard site Women - 70%, 84% and 72% via PC, mobile app and mobile internet, respectively. They are mostly white -86% via PC, 79 % via mobile app and 74% through mobile internet.

The Social Media Report shows that minority women, including African-Americans, have yet to warm up to Pinterest, with audience composition in the single digits; with the exception of mobile internet access, which we penetrate at 10%.

The report's data reiterates what I have shared in previous columns: Americans are multi-taskers. Having a mobile device onhand while watching TV is almost a requisite activity. Forty-one percent of tablet owners and 38% of smartphone owners use their device daily while watching the TV. While shopping and looking up program or product information, people are also chatting with their connections via their social networks- often about the show they are watching on TV. This is especially true on Twitter, which has emerged as a key driver of social TV interaction.

During June 2012, more than a third of active Twitter users tweeted about TV-related content, which is an increase of 27% from the beginning of the year. Chances are, you're one of them, as all of the research shows that Black consumers are 30% more likely to visit Twitter than the average demographic and that we watch 40% more TV than other groups.

This behavior is so prevalent Nielsen and Twitter announced this week a new measurement service available at the start of the Fall 2013 TV season called "Nielsen Twitter TV Rating." The service will be a syndicated-standard metric around the reach of the TV conversation on Twitter.

How many of you have tweeted during your favorite show's season finale or during an extraordinary moment on a reality show You know what all of this means, don't you We consumers are better informed and more connected every day. Because of the exponential growth of social word-of-mouth and social engagement, this means we hold even more power than before.

Cheryl Pearson-McNeil is senior vice president of Public Affairs and Government Relations for Nielsen. For more information and studies go to www.nielsenwire.com.

(c) 2012 Los Angeles Sentinel

[ Back To Mobile Security Homepage's Homepage ]

Request a Demo

Weekly Demonstration: SAP Mobile Secure
Solution including SAP Afaria Cloud

Free 30-day Trial

Best MDM in the cloud. Best MDM
Analytics. Best MDM price.

Featured Whitepapers

What Is Your Mobile Content Policy? A Checklist for Content Risk Mitigation
We are living in a world that only 20 years ago was the realm of science fiction. Devices once just barely imaginable have become common consumer items, carried casually in pockets and purses, with constantly growing capabilities.

SAP Enterprise Mobility: Bringing a Cohesive Approach to a Complex Market
Mobility and consumerization are creating complexity in the enterprise, but embracing the change can lead to more productive mobile workers as well as better communications with employees, partners, customers, and consumers. The trends in the enterprise mobility landscape drive a need for technology solutions to emerge.

View All

Featured Datasheets

Securing Enterprise Mobility for Greater Competitive Advantage
We are living in a world that only 20 years ago was the realm of science fiction. Devices once just barely imaginable have become common consumer items, carried casually in pockets and purses, with constantly growing capabilities.

Secure Mobile Content Management for the Enterprise
Every day employees move business files onto their mobile devices so they can work at home, on the road, or at client sites. The mobile workforce is a reality, as 80% of employees say they need to access work documents from outside the office.1 Instead of insecure, consumer-based tools, enterprises need a safe, reliable platform for managing content on mobile devices.

View All

Featured Webinar

Mobile Drives Field Service Productivity at Satellites Unlimited
Field service has never been more competitive or faster changing than it is today. Going mobile is a must to stay ahead of the competition, provide improved services, and keep up with ever-increasing customer expectations.

View All

Featured Webcast

End to End Mobility Requirements: IDC and SAP explore the 3rd Platform
A new IDC study states that we're in the midst of a shift that takes place once every 20 - 25 years - introducing a new technology platform that will inspire growth and innovation for enterprises of all sizes. IDC calls it the 3rd Platform - built on mobile devices and apps, cloud services, mobile broadband networks, "Big Data", analytics, and social technologies.

View All

Featured On-Demand Webinar

Analyst Webcast: Secure Content Management in a Mobile Age
Securing and managing content is taking on new importance as organizations try to cope with the explosion of business-oriented file sharing services while at the same time taking advantage of the proliferation of "smart" mobile devices.

View All