Popularity of social networking has been unprecedented. Let us just take Facebook for example. The sheer volume of users on the social network is incredible. Add other social networks to the picture and you are looking at a phenomenon that is here to stay for a while. These days, smartphones are the point of access to most applications, be it checking your email, paying your bills, or of course social networking. In a recent study, it was proven that social network has now overtaken even emails when it comes to the number of hours spent on an activity in a week.
The study
This was a large research spanning over 46 countries with over 50,000 subjects between the age of 16 to 6o. According the the results, the instant gratification provided by social networking, along with update functionalities and multiple messaging formats are the key to the popularity of social media on mobile devices.
Social networking on mobile phones
We have, in the past, written about how mobile social networking was becoming the next big thing. Considering the reach of mobile phones, combined with portability and accessibility, it is no surprise that users prefer to access social networks through mobile phones. However, how has it overtaken emails, something that is more essential than social networking? According to the study, percentage of checking emails daily is much higher as compared to that of social networking. However, when it comes down to the total hours spent in a week, social networking beats emails.
Are social networks more important than emails?
I would like to be diplomatic on this one. Both are important in their own ways. Emails were primarily used for communicating between friends or family away from each other, but now it has more become a medium for formal mails related mostly to work. This can largely be attributed to social networks providing a much faster, if one can say that, form of communication.
The study states that accessing social networks through mobile phones will just increase over time. Do you think it might one day overtake email on the percentage of use on a daily basis soon?
