On Friday, comScore published the results of a new study of mobile social networking check-in service users based on data from its comScore MobiLens service.
According to the findings, there are areas of mobile services and practices that are yet to be widely embraced by the mobile community at large.
The study found that only 16.7 million US mobile subscribers used location-based “check-in” services on their phones in March 2011, representing a mere 7.1 percent of the entire mobile population. 12.7 million check-in users did so on a smartphone, representing 17.6 percent of the smartphone population.
Check-in service users, defined as those accessing services such as Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla, had heavy skews toward 18-24 year olds (26.0 percent) and 25-34 year olds (32.5 percent) in relation to both the total mobile audience and the overall smartphone audience.
Not surprisingly, the study similarly found a strong correlation between check-in service users and the propensity to consume mobile media and access retail sites and shopping guides.
Mobile users presently embracing location-based “check-in” services also displayed other characteristics of early adopters, including a stronger likelihood of owning a tablet device and accessing tech news, when compared to the average smartphone user.
“Although still in their relative infancy, location-based mobile check-in services are seeing rather impressive adoption among smartphone users,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile. “The ability to interact with consumers on this micro-local level through special offers, deals and other incentives provides brands with the real-time opportunity to engage consumers through their mobile device.”
