Mobile: Use of social on-the-go rising

Around 72.2 million Americans used their mobile device to access social networks and blogs during August – that’s about a third of all US mobile users and a 37% increase over last year, says comScore.

“This behavior is even more prevalent among smartphone owners with three in five accessing social media each month, highlighting the importance of apps and the enhanced functionality of smartphones to social media usage on mobile devices,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president for mobile.

But on-the-go social media users aren’t just chatting with their friends. More than half view Pages and posts from brands and companies. Furthermore, for half of social mobile users checking in is a daily occurrence.

“Knowing that fans and followers engage with branded content on mobile devices opens the door to a world of opportunity for location-based services,” said Donovan.

Gartner has recently forecast that half of Internet sales will be done via mobile or social by 2015.