Facebook Use on Smartphones Heavier on the Weekend

March 28, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Digital | Mobile Phone | Social Media

IDC-Facebook-Engagement-on-Smartphones-by-Day-Mar2013A new study from IDC, sponsored by Facebook, suggests that smartphone owners spend more time accessing Facebook and engaging in a variety of activities on the social network on the weekend. The survey, of 7,446 18-44-year-old iPhone and Android smartphone owners in the US reveals that the 70% who use Facebook on their device spend more than twice as much time doing so on the weekend (defined as Friday through Sunday) than on a typical weekday (41.6 minutes vs. 19.5 minutes).

The average time spent with Facebook on a daily basis is just over a half-hour, constituted as follows: 16.4 minutes checking the newsfeed; 9.5 minutes messaging; and 6.6 minutes posting status updates and/or photos. (The 32+ minutes spent per day is higher than estimates from J.D. Power & Associates, detailed here, which did appear low.)

On the average day, a smartphone owner who uses Facebook is likely to have almost 14 social networking sessions, rising to 17.6 on the weekend, compared to 8.3 on weekdays.

These smartphone owners are also more likely to perform a range of activities on Facebook during the weekend. For example, while slightly fewer read their newsfeed (75% vs. 80%), more Facebook users respond to or post comments on friends’ updates and pictures (46% vs. 37%), post status updates (38% vs. 26%), play games (19% vs. 9%) and find applications to use (8% vs. 4%), among other activities.

About the Data: IDC conducted an online survey of 1,000+ 18-44 year old iOS and Android smartphone owners in the U.S. each day for 1 week (Friday-Thursday) in March 2013, for a total number of respondents of 7,446.

The study was designed to understand how smartphone owners use their phones over the course of a day, with an emphasis on social and communication applications and services. While IDC asked about broader application categories the respondent used on their smartphone, most questions focused on a subset of communications and social applications and services. In various instances, IDC combined activities to assess those that are more active (creation) vs those that are more passive (consumption) or combined various activities by social network.

IDC found that during Tuesday through Thursday, 18-24 year old respondents were underrepresented. In order to correct for this, as well as to have the study reflect the current installed base of smartphones, IDC weighted the data by both age and operating system.

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