[3GScottishUser]

According to a BBC article the following is the 'chart' of Internet sites visited by UK mobile users.

MOBILE MINUTES SPENT ONLINE

Facebook; 2.2bn minutes
Google sites; 395m minutes
Microsoft sites; 165m minutes
Orange sites; 138m minutes
AOL (and Bebo); 106m minutes
Apple; 104m minutes
Vodafone; 89m minutes
BBC sites; 83m minutes
Flirtomatic; 54m minutes
Yahoo sites; 48m minutes

Source: GSMA/Comscore

BBC Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8500368.stm

[Hands0n]

Which sort of tells the lie to the often put about notion that people are generally not interested in using their mobiles for Internet.

What is interesting is the wide gap between the top and second category. That is stark difference in usage.

Clearly though, it is the social media that is driving mobile usage at the present time. I notice it among the under-30's who all seem to be FB'ing away on whatever Internet-connected device they happen to own. Embedded apps and widgets for Facebook encourage that usage even further. I have to wonder, though, what the Twitter usage is, or did it simply not measure against the assessment being conducted by GSMA/Comscore.

What is for certain is that mobile Internet usage will grow and any mobile network operator not building for it is simply sticking their head in the sand.

The genie is out of the bottle and it ain't going back in!

[Ben]

Is it just browsing, though, or does it include apps, too?

I'm assuming it excludes apps, which means that Facebook is even more massive given that a lot of handsets come with dedicated software. Facebook for iPhone really is brilliant. Twitter is also most commonly used via an app, so I'd expect to see that rank very highly.

I also can't imagine why Orange racked up so many minutes, nor Microsoft, Apple, or 'Flirtomatic'...

But then given that I browse 'the whole web' on my phone rather than operator or mobile-specific sites I suppose my views are skewed; the majority of mobile users are still severely limited by basic OSs and small screens.

[hecatae]

According to a BBC article the following is the 'chart' of Internet sites visited by UK mobile users.


i take it thats wap usage, facebook.mobi etc?

[The Mullet of G]

This isn't surprising as people seem to live their lives on Facebook these days, if they aren't uploading 500 almost identical pictures of something no one cares about, then they are telling us in great detail about what soup they are having for dinner. :)

[3GScottishUser]

One can see why the mob ops feature on the list as it probably includes Vodafone Live, Orange World etc.

Many mobile users will access the net using the direct link to mobile ops portals from their handsets.

I doubt if specific apps like Facebook's is included but those account for a minority of the market on smartphones mainly.

No doubt products like the Inq range and other application specific handsets will increase mobile Internet use and that might just provide the networks with capacity problems like 3 have encountered despite having the most bandwidth of any 3G operator.

[Ben]

This isn't surprising as people seem to live their lives on Facebook these days, if they aren't uploading 500 almost identical pictures of something no one cares about, then they are telling us in great detail about what soup they are having for dinner. :)
Oi! =P Something you need to tell me?

[The Mullet of G]

Oi! =P Something you need to tell me?

I'm having tomato soup, and those pictures form a flick book of me dancing if you print them out. :D

[Hands0n]

Facebook does seem to have caught the general population's attention. I keep getting asked for my FB identity when meeting new people who want to keep in touch. A few years ago it was MSN. But I resist at all costs the "I'm in the bog" type of posts that some people insist on putting up. I just cant help feel that some of the information posted is downright dangerous to the poster!

It is hardly surprising that FB has picked up pole position - with the embedded apps in Blackberry, Android and other handsets it is enouraging its use when mobile and so much more traffic bound to be generated.

[colin25]

I must be odd one out, never been interested in facebook.

But begs questions, isn't this just scratching the surface.

The better phones get, and networks coping..the more likely other sites will get hit.

I predict..5 years..we will say Facebook who?

Or..who was the idiot saying above :)

[Hands0n]

I find Facebook oddly interesting, and it has proved a great means of re-acquainting with old friends lost in the mists of time. It has been unbelievable, some had truly been lost and yet turned up on FB, mostly indirectly, astonishingly via other more current friends of mine. It is an odd phenomenon indeed.

I think FB has a tarnished reputation through the "I'm eating a sandwich on the toilet" brigade - of which there seem to be no shortage of. Really, we don't need to know the gory details of their lives posted for all the world to see. Dangerous also.

What may ruin FB is their constant fiddling around with the UI. They had it right a while back, but seem to be hell-bent on ruining the experience with their ever-convoluted updates to the UI. This last one had me fiddling around for quite a while before I could figure out how to single-click back to my "homepage". These sites should not be difficult to use and, judging by the howls of protest, a lot of people would seem to agree with me.

Will FB disappear within 5 years, as predicted by our very own T3G Oracle above ;) I'm not convinced, yet. FB seems to be the securest of the lot - that is if people can work out how to secure it up properly - their update before this latest weakened the security unless/until folk went into their settings and re-locked down previously locked settings.

[Ben]

The UI updates are interesting. On the one hand they have to stay relevant, but on the other they can't alienate their user base.

I find that Facebook and Twitter accompany one another very well. They're complementary, one is more suited to organising events, closed to friends, and posting pictures and details of the bigger milestones in our lives, while the other is more of a fun, micro-blogging real-time buzz IMHO.

Then along comes Google Buzz and blurs the lines.

[The Mullet of G]

I think FB will probably still be here in 5 years, but I doubt it'll be as popular as it is now. I've been on most social networking sites at one point or another, and they have all came and went in much the same fashion. I agree the constant tinkering with the UI is a sure fire way ruin a sites popularity, its been the death of many sites that I've used. In my experience sites like FB only have a certain amount of time in the spot light, before people become bored and the buzz shifts elsewhere.

Finding old friends is a funny old chestnut, as I tend to lose touch with people in a deliberate fashion. Having them turn up again on sites like FB is slightly inconvenient, people were so much easier to snub back in the day. :D

[colin25]

I'm not too concerned if my prediction doesn't come true..I'll just edit my comment and change the date :)

I find facebook a bit scary..last thing I need is for an ex-gf to pop up..saying "how's it going, here are the kids"..lol

I just feel it's a fad..here today..gone in 5 years..6 years..7,8,9..ok..covering my bases. :)

Having said that...if they change the technology..that might work..carrying a phone..that links to friends..who you can contact if you want..share photos etc..wait!..isn't that a mobile?..and don't we have it now :)