By: Maisie McCabe, Campaign
Smartphone penetration is now more than 70 per cent and devices are being used for an increasing number of activities, according to new research from UM.
For the study, Wave 7, the IPG Mediabrands agency surveyed people in 65 countries, including the UK, the US, India and China. It found that 73.4 per cent own a smartphone, up from 44.8 per cent just a year earlier.
Smartphones, meanwhile, are being used to do more things – up from an average of 3.7 online activities in 2012 to 5.2. In the past year, there has also been a 34 per cent rise in the number of people who use their smartphone to manage their social media profile.
Globally, 51.9 per cent of 16- to 54-year-olds used a microblogging platform such as Twitter in the past six months, up from 42.9 per cent in 2012 and 14.9 per cent in 2010. The highest proportion of microbloggers (86.2 per cent) was in China.
More than 91 per cent of people have watched video clips online, up from 87.9 per cent last year, while 78.3 per cent have created a social media profile, an increase from 74.9 per cent in 2012.