![]() Its Android app had to wait a long time - until 2010 - but the rise of Android phones has meant more priority being given to it. It launched an iPhone website in August 2007 to grab those very early adopters, and then in July 2008 launched its iPhone app. Mobile growth was powered by smartphonesįacebook started on the desktop 10 years ago mobile use only began to take off once capable smartphones were around. For Facebook, though, more data is always helpful in targeting ads - and mobiles do tend to give away more information, including location, and contact and email data. ![]() Boiten says he would consider using it on his Android phone if he could control the permissions for what data Facebook can access at the moment it's all or nothing. ![]() Perhaps it's telling that both the desktop-only users, Boiten and Huntley, are security-minded it was Huntley who discovered that LG's Smart TV was sending back data about what you watched to LG servers. That's no surprise, says Denhard: "Facebook mobile has become one of the main destinations for second-screen experiences and expect that to continue with public hashtag statuses," he remarks. For many companies which started their lives in the "desktop era" - arguably up to about 2009, when the last of the "big desktop" apps appeared (Spotify and Dropbox) - the key problem has been how to shift to the rapidly-growing mobile space, which is where the biggest new opportunity lies. What's important is that Facebook has managed to keep up with that trend. Better security on mobiles and tabletsĪnother, Sean Cansdale, explained that he has used the desktop version perhaps a couple of times in a year: "a good thing about keeping it exclusive to mobile/tablet is security, as it is far easier for me to secure my device than my home/work computer." Besides Vydra, another new parent told me that while he previously used the site on desktop, he now didn't have the time mobile-only was the solution. Why? While it's far from scientific, when I sought (via Twitter) people who exclusively use Facebook on the desktop (or laptop), or exclusively on mobile, it was the latter who were more plentiful. But it's taken a while for that to become embedded enough for mobile-only to overcome desktop-only. The shift has been coming for a long time: at the end of 2012, Facebook said that in December 2012 "mobile daily active users exceeded web daily active users for the first time". Facebook's numbers show desktop-only users (whose number can be calculated by taking the total monthly users, and subtracting the "mobile" users - which includes both mobile-only and mobile-and-desktop users) are a dwindling band.Īt the end of 2012, they were 376 million of the 1,056 million total (or 35%) now they are 285 million of 1,230 million (23%). Photograph: Guardian Photograph: Guardianīut it's the trend that's most telling. ![]() That of course leaves the majority, 649 million, accessing it through a mixture - sometimes on desktop, sometimes on mobile.įacebook's changing mix of users: from desktop-only, to desktop-and-mobile, to mobile-only. According to the company's most recent financial results, it had a total of 1,230 million users during the month of December 2013 of those, 296 million accessed the site only through their mobile, and 285 million only via the desktop. "Customising my experience on mobile is far easier and better than on desktop." As a digital marketing professional, he says he's noticed that family and friends find the desktop experience "increasingly difficult and misleading" - what's an ad, what's a sponsored story?įacebook's own figures show that the trend is in the direction of people like Vydra and Denhard - whose busier lives mean that Facebook use has to be squeezed into smaller segments. "The desktop is too busy and even noisy," he says. The other reason for using Facebook on mobile, she says, is that "when I am working, corporate networks tend to block sites like Facebook." What's a sponsored story?ĭanny Denhard, 31, based in London, also only uses Facebook on mobile now, despite having been a user since it opened up beyond academia. ![]() "With an infant and a toddler, it's the quickest way and smallest device (to keep away from little baby fingers)," she explains. The 36-year-old mother of two used to use Facebook on her PC now, though, she only ever uses it on her iPhone (and occasionally iPad). For Bernadette Vydra, living in Melbourne, Australia, it's quite a different story. ![]()
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