Social media apps could be a mobile phone’s greatest asset

Rating: New research from InSites Consulting confirms Brits hooked on it

A study carried out on behalf of InSites Consulting has found that some 73 per cent of the UK’s population now use social media sites – which equates to some 37 million people. Facebook is the most popular – proving the wisdom behind Vodafone’s launching of the 555 Blue handset (see our previous story here). The findings have been linked to recent remarks made by Nikki Moore, founder of girlgeekchic.com, who suggested that the attraction of being able to access social media sites on the go has made smartphones more desirable. But emphasising support for Facebook might be the wrong tack – maybe it should be Twitter instead. While to gain an advantage over rivals, handsets shipped in the UK, handsets should have a Linked-In app built-in.The reason for concentrating on Twitter is clear. The report found that 87 per cent know of its existence but only 24 per cent actually participate.

Better still, 18 per cent of non-users are planning to take it up soon. So where’s the Twitter phone then?

Built-in support for Linked-In would be a smart move because it is the third most popular social site with Brits and runs pretty close to Twitter with 21 per of Brits using it.

Virtually everybody is using social media it seems. According to Professor Steven Van Belleghem, managing partner with InSites Consulting, “These numbers show that social network sites have penetrated all layers of society. 16 per cent of Facebook users are over 55.

An analysis of the users shows everyone is there: young, older, employed or unemployed.” he says. But Twitter might be an exception.

“Twitter users are more often men than women, the average age is lower than on Facebook and they mainly come from the active population,” Van Belleghem observed.

So a Twitter phone would appeal to young men, then? Cancel that idea for a pink Twitter phone. Or should you?

Girlgeekchic’s Nikki Moore is also quoted as saying that social media is one of the major factors that draws people to upgrade to a new mobile phone – with the prospect of updating a status or sharing a tweet while on the move.

Will Nokia get it right? Will we see Twitter, Linked-in and Facebook all heavily integrated into its forthcoming WP7 phones, GoMo News wonders?