Author: Stephen

Facebook moves to become more mobile friendly

| March 16, 2013

Facebook mobile friendlyFacebook sets sights on mobile technology

Facebook has become one of the world’s most used social networks and has shown aptitude in adapting to the evolution of the Internet and the advent of mobile technology. Even amid scandals concerning user security and privacy, Facebook has managed to retain its position in the world of social media. In order to continue being considered a leading social network, Facebook is having to become more mobile; accessible to those that access the network solely from a smartphone or tablet. As such, Facebook has begun reaching out to mobile developers.

Social networking is becoming increasingly mobile

Over the coming months, Facebook will be hosting a series of events that are designed with mobile developers in mind. More than half of the network’s 1 billion active users access the network through mobile devices. Facebook notes that mobile advertisements made up 23% of its advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2012, up 14% over the previous quarter of the same year. Becoming more mobile friendly holds major potential for Facebook that the network is eager to take advantage of.

Events will allow Facebook to engage mobile developers

Through its upcoming series of events, which will be held around the world in major cities like New York, London, and Seoul, Facebook will reach out to mobile developers that are interested in social media. The network will help developers make use of its software development kits in order to create innovative services that are designed to promote social interaction with Facebook users, including large businesses. The events are also a good chance for developers to get face time with Facebook leaders, giving them an opportunity to find work within the company.

Social networking becoming more competitive as consumers become more mobile

In recent years, Facebook has been losing much of its clout to rival social networks, such as Twitter and Instagram, despite the fact that the company owns the latter. The current generation of consumers appears to be more interested in mobile technology, and Twitter is one of the social media networks that is best suited for the mobile space. In order to compete, Facebook is prepared to make drastic changes to its network, putting more emphasis on mobile consumers. How this will be received by the large number of people that do not access the social network from a mobile device has yet to be seen.

Mobile games take up majority of consumers’ time

| March 14, 2013

Mobile Games TimeMobile games account for massive time sink for most consumers

Mobile games a very popular with a consumers all over the world, but a new study shows that these consumers are spending a large portion of their time on these simple application. The study comes from Flurry Analytics and shows that the majority of mobile consumers spend their time either engaged in mobile games or social networking. Mobile games are, however, the most popular way for these consumers to spend their time, eclipsing social networking.

Study shows that people spend a lot of their time on gaming

The study from Flurry Analytics shows that 43% of consumers spend their time on mobile games, while 26% of consumers make use of social networking applications. News and productivity applications account for only 2% of the time that consumers spend on their mobile device. Mobile games are exceedingly popular among iOS users, where these game applications tend to be less expensive than those found on the Android platform. While many games for both the iOS and Android platforms can be obtained for free, the study shows that consumers appear to favor the former over the latter.

Reports highlights the prevalence of mobile games

Flurry Analytics’ study corroborates data found from a similar study conducted by Arbitron last month. The Arbitron study showed the smartphone users spend an average of 594 minutes on mobile games every month. The study suggests that 80% of mobile consumers participate in gaming with their mobile device in some way. Another study conducted by Flurry Analytics in October 2012 also shows that tablet users tend to play more mobile games than smartphone users by a margin of 67% to 39%.

Games are attractive due to their accommodating nature

The allure of mobile games is largely due to their convenience. Most of these games are designed to be very accommodating for all types of gamers. The fact that these games can be played anywhere and at any time is also part of what makes them so attractive. Free games, in particular, tend to have the highest attraction to consumers as they do not need to be purchased before they can be enjoyed.