Some 52% of “social sharing actions†– sharing of website content such as articles, photos and videos via social networks – occurred on a mobile device during the first quarter of this year, reveals this in a new report.
Mobile took the lead on the back of a quarter-over-quarter growth rate in sharing that was more than twice as high as desktop’s (28% vs. 11%). While the iPhone (25%) remained the top mobile device used for sharing, Android smartphones (17%) narrowed the gap.
The new data comes after a recent report from comScore [download page] showed a “multi-platform†shift last year. Looking at the distribution of digital media consumption, comScore demonstrated that multi-platform users (those who use both mobile and desktop devices) grew from 48% share of the digital audience in February 2013 to a majority 56% share in December. With another 8% in December counting as mobile-only, that left just 36% of digital media consumers visiting from desktops only.
Meanwhile, the ShareThis report also notes some trends in the social channels used for sharing:
Twitter (+43%) saw the fastest growth rate in Q1 sharing, with most activity by 31-35-year-olds;
Sharing to Reddit (+25%) also grew quickly, with the heaviest activity in the 18-30 age group;
Sharing to Facebook (+14%) and LinkedIn (+12%) was led by older users (50+ and 41-50, respectively); and
Email continued to decline as a social sharing channel (-25%), while content sharing growth was higher for Hispanics than for blacks and whites across Twitter, Reddit and Pinterest.
The top sharing channels, in order of overall shares, were:
Facebook;
Twitter;
Pinterest;
LinkedIn; and
Reddit.
About the Data:Â The analysis is based on sharing behavior across more than 120 social channels using ShareThis tools enabled on websites reaching 95% of the US online population on desktop and mobile devices.
Given that the data pertains to use of ShareThis tools, the results do not account for copying and pasting of links.