72.2 million Americans accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device in August 2011, an increase of 37 per cent in the past year, according to a comScore study.

“Social media is one of the most popular and fastest growing mobile activities, reaching nearly one third of all U.S. mobile users,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president for mobile. “This behavior is even more prevalent among smartphone owners with three in five accessing social media each month, highlighting the importance of apps and the enhanced functionality of smartphones to social media usage on mobile devices.”

In August 2011, more than 72.2 million people accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device, an increase of 37 per cent from the previous year. Nearly 40 million U.S. mobile users, more than half of the mobile social media audience, access these sites almost every day, demonstrating the importance of this activity to people’s daily routines.

Research also indicated that although more people accessed these sites via their mobile browser, the social networking app audience grew five times faster in the past year. While the mobile browsing social networking audience grew 24 percent to 42.3 million users in the past year, the mobile social networking app audience surged 126 per cent to 38.5 million.

A look at selected social networking brands, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, revealed that each grew their mobile audiences by at least 50 per cent in the past year. Facebook was home to the largest mobile audience among the three destinations with more than 57 million mobile users in August, up 50 per cent from the previous year. Twitter saw its mobile audience jump 75 per cent to 13.4 million people, while LinkedIn’s mobile audience climbed 69 per cent to 5.5 million users.

Of those accessing social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device in August 2011, 80.3 per cent read posts from people known personally. 69.5 per cent posted status updates while on their mobile devices. More than half or some 52.9 per cent of mobile social networker read posts from organizations/brands/events. One in three mobile social networkers received a coupon/offer/deal, with one in four 27.7 per cent clicking on an ad while on a social networking site.

Mobile users are not only engaging with their friends through social networking, but a majority are also interacting with brands in these social media environments.