Facebook continues to dominate social media on mobile in the US, but SnapChat use is rocketing, according to new research looking into social media trends in the US.
The study, from JP Morgan, found that Facebook accounted for 20% of overall mobile time share while several other social networks lost a little ground.
However, Snapchat’s time share has more than doubled in the past year, albeit starting from a low base.
In July, Facebook alone accounted for 18% of overall Internet time, and 20% of mobile time, according to a JPMorgan research note released Friday, citing comScore data.
The social network’s share of mobile minutes (smartphones only) in the U.S. was stable last month, while those of other social sites — specifically, Facebook-owned properties Instagram and WhatsApp, along with Twitter and Snapchat — decreased to 4.7% from 5.1%.
Facebook’s total share of Internet minutes across desktop and mobile increased 2 percentage points from 16% a year ago.
JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth noted that Facebook’s share of U.S. minutes is still six times that of the four competing services he looked at for comparison. If Instagram and WhatsApp were included in the Facebook total, its total minutes would have grown about 29% in July from a year ago — down slightly from the 33% growth rate in June.
Of the five services, Snapchat has seen the highest growth in time spent, with its total minutes more than doubling (up 114%) in July from a year ago.
This is partly due to a much smaller base than larger rivals like Facebook and Twitter, going from 2.6 billion to 5.5 billion minutes. Facebook, by comparison, increased from 137 billion to 178 billion minutes.
The 114% growth, while impressive, is also down from higher rates in recent months, including a 479% gain in February and 174% in April.
WhatsApp — which Facebook bought in January for $19 billion — continues to lag in the U.S. in engagement, with time spent growing only 2% in July from the year-earlier period. The messaging app’s growth to date has been mainly in markets outside the U.S. in Asia and Europe.
The news comes as Facebook rolled out a new cross-device reporting tool that lets marketers view how users move among screens, making it easier to track the path to conversions.
