A new comScore report out today shows that mobile social networking is responsible for the growth of the mobile internet in Europe. One third of European mobile social networking users access social media sites exclusively.

In November 2008, 34 percent of mobile phone owners in Western Europe who visited social networking sites accessed social media exclusive of all other mobile Web content.

There are 12.1 million mobile phone users in Western Europe (comprised of UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain). Mobile social networking is growing at a tremendous rate: the category grew 152 percent from November 2007 to November 2008. The United Kingdom has the highest penetration of mobile social networking users, at 9 percent: comScore says that that’s nearly triple the penetration of mobile social networking users in Germany, where social mobile networking is the least popular. In comparison, the average penetration rate of mobile social networking across all countries is only 5 percent.

Here are the statistics according to comScore:

    Mobile Social Networking Usage
    Three-month Average Ending November 2008
    European Mobile Phone Owners (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK)
    Source: comScore M:Metrics 

              % Mobile Social                                Mobile Social
              Networking Users    Y/Y Change in Social     Networking Users as
            Who Exclusively Use  Networking via Browser  Percent of all Mobile
                 Social Media        or Application           Phone Users 

    Germany          39.1%                 145%                   3.3%
    Spain            46.5%                 114%                   5.0%
    France           21.6%                 167%                   4.5%
    Italy            38.2%                 151%                   4.7%
    UK               29.7%                 167%                   9.2%
    Total            33.5%                 152%                   5.4% 

Mobile Social Networking Heavier Among Females

comScore also says that they “analyzed the demographics of social media users in Europe, and found that those who use social networking exclusive of other mobile Internet content skew more female than those who consume other forms of mobile Internet content. Women comprise 48 percent of the audience accessing only social media, but only 32 percent of those who access other types of mobile Internet content. In addition, the median age for social media-only users is 28, versus 36 for other mobile Internet users.”

comScore M:Metrics also “released the results of its Mobile Benchmark Study. Social networking and e-mail usage posted some of the largest gains, while playing downloaded games and watching video dipped in most European markets.”

Here are the statistics from the comScore Mobile Benchmark Study:

    comScore Mobile Benchmark Study
    Three-month average ending November 2008 and % Change Vs Year Ago
    (% Users Measure is Based on All Mobile Phone Users)
    European Mobile Subscribers (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK)
    Source: comScore M:Metrics 

                Germany       Spain        France       Italy          UK
               %      %     %      %     %      %     %      %     %      %
    Activity Users Change Users Change Users Change Users Change Users Change

    Watched
     video       5%     2%    8%     0%    6%    -7%    7%    -4%    4%  -27%
    Listened to
     music      20%    -2%   23%    -1%   17%    -3%   17%    -2%   22%   -1%
    Accessed
     news/info
     via browser 9%    10%   10%    10%   14%     5%   10%     5%   19%    5%
    Received
     SMS ads    27%     0%   75%     5%   64%    -1%   54%     2%   36%    0%
    Played
     downloaded
     game        8%    -2%   10%    -6%    4%   -14%    8%    -5%   10%   -4%
    Accessed
     downloaded
     application 4%    25%    5%    26%    3%    16%    6%    12%    6%   17%
    Sent/
     received
     photos or
     videos     23%     0%   31%    -3%   25%    -6%   30%    -5%   30%   -2%
    Purchased
     ringtones   4%    10%    4%     2%    3%    -8%    4%     6%    3%    4%
    Used email   9%     7%   11%    -1%    9%    11%   12%     2%   12%   12%
    Accessed
     social
     networking
     sites       3%    25%    5%    33%    5%    20%    5%    33%    9%   12% 

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