Social Media is second only to email in mobile web usage

research by Nielson

The tried and true radio practice of "go where the listeners are" is increasingly pointing to social media. A new look at how Americans spend their mobile internet time from Nielson gives radio another reason to build a meaningful social media presence. Examining the average time spent at individual sites on the mobile web, email came in first, accounting for 38.5% of consumers' mobile internet time. Social media was second with 10.7%, ahead of news and current events (third with 7.2%), search (fourth, 6.3%) and portals (fifty 4.6%. Consumers are using mobile devices to access the web for social media far more than for entertainment (4.3%), sports (4.1%), music (4%) and weather (2.8%). The findings reinforce the noton that listeners are flocking to social media sites in droves. Some programmers have found a correlation between social media and station ratings. "WGCI is a great example of how using those platforms can increase your ratings," says Rick Vaughn, director of social media for Clear Channel-Chicago's young-targeting radio brands. The urban station's 18-34 share increased from 4.6 in July 2009 to a 2nd place 6.7 in July 2010. While it's difficult to attribute a ratings increase to one particular factor, the station and its cluster-mates made social media a priority just over a year ago and the numbers speak for themselves. With more than 70,000 Facebook followers, WGCI is Clear Channel's top station in a metric that's become increasingly important.