IPhone given title of “Most Social Device” in new study

Graeme Parton +

Research carried out by online embedding platform ShareThis has revealed that iPhone users share more content than those with other web-capable devices.

According to the study, the results of which were published on the firm’s blog last week, Apple’s handset is the “Most Social Device” across the ShareThis network, which covers nearly 2.5 million sites.

The researchers found that iPhone users are three times more likely to send links to their friends than desktop PC users, and 1.5 times more likely than those using other smartphones and tablets.

To collect the data, ShareThis looked at and compared nearly five billion “social signals” coming from desktop computers with more than one billion mobile device signals. The research was carried out in the hope of providing a better understanding of users’ sharing behaviour.

As mentioned, Apple came out on top in the study, with 12.4% of iPhone owners more likely to share content while using the device. In second place were Android users, at 7.4%, and BlackBerry, with 6.3%.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the sharing activity carried out on mobile devices was done so via social networking sites and apps, such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Facebook alone, for instance, accounted for 60% of all mobile shares.

In terms of desktop usage, Apple’s Mac platform led with 5% of shares; PC users followed closely at 3.9%.

The figures represent an overall leaning towards smartphones; a category that researchers limited to cover just the three main operating systems: Apple’s iOS (iPhone), Google’s Android and BlackBerry. On the whole, at 7.7%, mobile users are nearly twice as likely to share content as desktop users are (4.1%).

Interestingly for business owners, though, more internet shopping is still carried out on desktop computers, with users seemingly preferring to view imagery and product details on larger screens. While online retailers must ensure their sites are optimised for mobile use, many choose to refer customers to desktop sites for more in-depth content.