Mobile Usage Differs In U.S., Europe, Japan

Mobile phone users in different global regions are using their devices more, but they differ greatly in how they use them, according to a survey by web measurement researcher comScore.

U.S. phone users have the highest percentage of social networking/blogging users -- 21% -- while device users in Europe text the most and Japanese mobile phone users are the "most connected." In Europe 82 % of mobile phone users text while 74% of their counterparts in Japan are online the most.

"Mobile media usage continues to accelerate across the globe, driven by advancing technologies and the growing number of content options available to consumers," said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile, in a statement. "As we look across markets, dramatic differences in mobile media consumption, brand adoption and user behavior become evident. These differences are even more pronounced than they are for PC-based Internet usage due to the complex nature of mobile -- including various device capabilities, operating systems and methods of accessing content."

As expected, Facebook is the most popular social network brand in the U.S. and Europe. But in Japan, Mixi is most popular in the social networking category. "Twitter was the only brand to be ranked in the top four (rankings) in all markets," according to comCast. In the U.S., the remaining major social networking brands in order of usage after Facebook were MySpace, YouTube and Twitter.

The comScore compilation also broke out usage patterns according to age. In the U.S., 25-34-year-olds were 44 % more likely to access mobile media than average users while 18-24 year-olds were 39% more likely.

Japanese consumers used more apps on their phones, taking more photos and sending more email than their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe.

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