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Nearly 80 percent of social media time now spent on mobile devices

Facebook dominates all other networks in engagement, while Snapchat skews much younger than the other social sites.

Greg Sterling on April 4, 2016 at 10:38 am

One of the more revealing discussions in comScore’s 2016 U.S. Cross-Platform Future in Focus is about social media. It illustrates how mobile social media access has become. It also vividly shows how dominant Facebook is.

Roughly 1 in 5 minutes (19 percent) of all digital media time is spent on social sites or in social media apps across the desktop and PC. This exceeds all other categories in the report outside of the composite “other.” And, as the chart above shows, nearly 80 percent of all social media time is spent on mobile.

The demographic composition of each of the social networks is generally similar, with one major exception — Snapchat. Instagram, tumblr, Vine and Snapchat skew somewhat younger than the others. However Snapchat is the true outlier, with 76 percent of its audience under 34. From an advertising standpoint this is its unique selling proposition to brands that want to reach younger consumers.

In terms of time spent, however, Facebook is far ahead of all the other networks. The two charts above reflect social network usage by Millennials and everyone else. These show just how dominant Facebook is in terms of user engagement, even among Millennials.

The full report, which also covers TV, e-commerce and general online ad trends, is free and can be downloaded after registration here.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.