In less than a year, social sharing on mobile in the UK has grown from 28 per cent of usage in November last year, to 68 per cent in August 2013.

Mobile social sharing overtook desktop in the UK in May this year, leading the rest of the EU and North America, according to data analysis performed by RadiumOne. French sharing on mobile overtook desktop in August, while the US still does most of its sharing on desktop. RadiumOne says that it expects Americans behaviour to catch up with Europe by the beginning of 2014.

“Despite what feels like years of analysts and businesses telling us that the mobile reigns supreme as the social and internet platform of choice, our data shows that it’s only in the last few months that real-life consumer behaviour has caught up with these expectations in major western markets,” said Rupert Staines, MD UK and Europe at RadiumOne. “While these figures are interesting of themselves in showing changing consumer behaviours, the impact for brands and marketers is potentially massive. Audiences are demonstrating their interests and purchasing intent on mobile.

“It’s vital for companies to invest in their mobile content and start tracking mobile sharing behaviours to discover actionable customer insights, including the products, content and topics that interest them most, in order to deliver more relevant, real-time targeted communications.”