In the wake of free mobile photo sharing application, Instagram’s acquisition by Facebook for a billions dollars, strategy consultant Tomi Ahonen has provided a \u2018preliminary\u2019 list of the largest mobile social networks by user – which features two SA-affiliated companies in the top 10.<\/p>\n
Mobile QQ, owned by China-based firm, Tencent – of which SA media giant, Naspers has a 34% interest in – ranks second behind Facebook, while Mxit is rated ninth largest.<\/p>\n
Ahonen said that a number of news reports suggest that Instagram is the biggest mobile social network. \u201cIt is far from that. It may be the biggest social network purely for mobile – in the USA – but that is hardly the biggest in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Largest social networks on mobile to the end of 2011<\/p>\n
| Social Network (Owner)<\/th>\n | Users<\/th>\n | Home Base<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|---|
| Facebook Mobile<\/th>\n | 425 000 000<\/td>\n | USA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mobile QQ (Tencent)<\/th>\n | 200 000 000<\/td>\n | China<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Sina (Weibo)<\/th>\n | 150 000 000<\/td>\n | China<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| RenRen<\/th>\n | 61 000 000<\/td>\n | China<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| iMessenger (Apple)<\/th>\n | 58 000 000<\/td>\n | USA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mig33<\/th>\n | 55 000 000<\/td>\n | Singapore<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Twitter Mobile<\/th>\n | 55 000 000<\/td>\n | USA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BlackBerry Messenger<\/th>\n | 50 000 000<\/td>\n | Canada<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| MXit<\/th>\n | 50 000 000<\/td>\n | South Africa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Nimbuzz<\/th>\n | 50 000 000<\/td>\n | Netherlands<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Skype Mobile (Microsoft)<\/th>\n | 40 000 000<\/td>\n | USA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Gree<\/th>\n | 35 000 000<\/td>\n | Japan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Instagram<\/th>\n | 30 000 000<\/td>\n | USA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mobile Cyworld (SK)<\/th>\n | 25 000 000<\/td>\n | South Korea<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mobage Town (DeNA<\/th>\n | 25 000 000<\/td>\n | Japan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n Source: TomiAhonen Consulting Estimates April 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n Ahonen pointed out that the listing was preliminary and incomplete.<\/p>\n \u201cI could not find any official number for Skype Mobile users. I did find Android and iOS Skype app download numbers. From the iOS number I arbitrarily assigned Apple’s iPhone percentage ie 58% as in the strict definition of ‘mobile’,” said Ahonen.<\/p>\n “The iPod Touch is a portable\/pocketable device, not a ‘mobile’ device, and the iPad is an ultraportable PC but not a ‘mobile’ device – only true cellular, permanently-connected pocketable devices (ie those that ‘ring in the pocket’) fit the definition of a mobile device.\u201d<\/p>\n In releasing its results in March 2012, Tencent noted that during 2011, popularity of mobile Internet among users grew significantly on the back of the increasing adoption Mobile internet users equated to 69.3% of the total internet user-base at the end of 2011.<\/p>\n Quoting numbers released by the\u00a0China Internet Network Information Center, Tencent said that the total number of Internet users in China increased by 12.2% on a year-on-year basis, to 513.1 million at the end of 2011, while Internet penetration increased to 38.3%.<\/p>\n Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n MXit numbers: Impressive despite incorrect info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n |