New user growth slows on social networking

The proportion of UK social network users who will access their accounts via mobile phone will continue to increase substantially rising from 75.3% in 2014 to 90.2% in 2018 according to an eMarketer report, ‘UK Social Networking Trends: Mobile Is Becoming the New Normal’.

This shift will mean marketers will need to put more effort into these networks in the mobile environment, given the size of the audience. Real-time social engagement, mainly enabled by access via mobile devices, should become top of mind for many UK marketers.

Mobile ad revenues are increasing. Facebook’s recent results showed that in Q1 2014, the company saw a 72% year-over-year rise in total global revenues, driven by mobile, which accounted for 59% of ad revenues during the same period — up from 30% in the previous year.

EMarketer projections further highlight the importance of mobile social advertising. Net mobile internet ad revenues worldwide for both Facebook and Twitter will essentially double between 2013 and 2014. At $6.82 billion, Facebook’s mobile ad revenues in 2014 will be 14 times higher than they were just two years prior.