Mobile social media audience jumps 37%

The number of people in the U.S. who visited a social networking site or blog on their mobile device jumped 37 percent in the three months ending in August compared to the same time period in 2010, according to a report from Web metrics firm comScore. That double-digit jump means nearly 72.3 million people, or about 30 percent of those 13 and up who own mobile devices nationwide, accessed a social media site during that time period. More than half of those people, nearly 40 million, did so almost every day. "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, in a statement. "This behavior is even more prevalent among smartphone owners with 3 in 5 accessing social media each month, highlighting the importance of apps and the enhanced functionality of smartphones to social media usage on mobile devices." Smartphone owners ma...