Email and social networks most popular on the mobile

Social networking sites are helping the mobile internet reach a tipping point

Over half of mobile phone users are now using the mobile internet, and email and social networking are the most popular activities, according to a new survey of over 1,000 people by web usability consultancy Webcredible.

Around 55 per cent of those who use the mobile internet said that they mainly use it for email and visiting social networking sites. The figure is a far cry from the last Webcredible survey two years ago, when downloading ringtones was the most popular activity.

Just 21 per cent of users in the 2007 survey said that they mostly checked email, and social networks did not even register on the survey. The research did not count calls or texts.

Abid Warsi, senior consultant at Webcredible, argued that social networking sites are helping the mobile internet reach a tipping point, as the proliferation of more advanced handsets, such as the iPhone, gives users the means to grow their communication channels via the mobile.

"Although there are still a substantial number of people who use their mobile phones for nothing other than calls and texts, these results clearly demonstrate the evolution of mobile internet use, in line with the increase in the ease with which mobile phone users can access the internet, the increase in speed and technological capabilities, and the decrease in cost," he said.