The various properties of mobile devices, their portability and facility of use encourage users to increasingly log into social networks from smart phones and tablets, rather than from computers. In 2012, in the USA the daily use of social networks through mobile devices increased by 4 percent compared with the previous year. (Source: Google, “Our Mobile Planet” conducted by Ipsos MediaCT and TNS). These “all in one” devices that everyone carries around with them today allow to take pictures and videos and share them in real time on social networks, or to post a thought and describe what is going on while the same action is taking place
According to “Social Media Marketing on Mobile Devices: Turning Challenges into Opportunities”, a study conducted by eMarketer, the fact that social networks have gone mobile is not only changing the approach of users but also the way in which marketers send their messages. For instance, logging into Facebook or Twitter from one’s computer is not the same as doing it from a smartphone or tablet. The latter have smaller screens, so that a single page can show fewer elements than a computer’s, with users having to do a lot of scrolling in order to read all the newsfeeds, which is tiresome.
Nonetheless, this “mobile revolution” might represent a great opportunity for marketers:
“What we’re realizing—along with our clients—is that the most engaged folks on social networks are people who are accessing via mobile, said Chia Chen, senior vice president and mobile practice lead at Digitas.
In fact, mobile users not only log in more frequently, but they also spend more total time on social media sites. Also, mobile devices cause less confusion, since the message does not have to compete with a huge amount of ads and a side bar full of links.
