According to the findings of a new Pew Internet survey, adults are turning to the mobile web in numbers never before seen.
The results of the survey are based on data collected via telephone interviews by Princeton Survey Research Associates International last spring with a sample of 2,252 adults ages 18 and older.
Based on the survey’s findings, six in ten American adults are now deemed “wireless internet users,” with approximately 60% of all adult Americans going online wirelessly as of May 2010.
Accessing the mobile web, however, is not limited to those who do so via cell phone. The survey also takes into account those who go online with a laptop using a wi-fi connection or mobile broadband card.
And while cell phone ownership “has remained stable” during the previous twelve month period, Pew has learned that mobile phone users are steadily growing more comfortable with a “much wider range” of their phones’ bells and whistles compared to last year at this time.
Among all cell phone owners, for example, 54% have used their mobile device to send someone a photo or video, and another 23% have accessed a social networking site using their phone. And even though mobile videos are only just becoming ubiquitous now, 20% have already used their phone to watch a video.
Pew also noted that African-Americans and Latinos “continue to outpace whites” in their use of data applications on handheld devices.
I've seen the term "SoMo" being thrown around several places on the web; it is supposed to stand for "Social Mobile Media". Do you see this "SoMo" term catching-on?
Be careful how you define "access the Internet". I believe in this survey, simply having a blackberry device that accesses your email account counts in "access the Internet". This artificially inflates this figure by a good 8 to10%.
It is one thing to access your browser or an application to perform IP functions on a feature or smart phone. It is completely different for those who ONLY use their IP based phone for email.