81 billion minutes and 134% growth

I love free research. White papers. Reports. Reputable blog posts. Infographics. They can all inform my view of the world around me and influence the decisions I make on a daily basis. Recently, two of my favorite sources released new reports; comScore and Nielsen.

The two numbers in the title are pulled from these reports, but are not related (hey, it’s a title).

134% growth in mobile health

The report, US Digital Year in Focus 2012, by comScore has many stats and trends. Most show predictable data for those in the industry;

• Facebook is the #1 social network by a wide margin and accounts for 14.6% of all time spent online
• Google sites are the most visited on the web with 187 million visitors in Dec. 2011
• Social networks have essentially matched portals for time spent (engagement) online in Dec. 2011 – this points to a significant shift in how users are starting their online sessions
• Google+ is making inroads on page views, but engagement is elusive, it gets only 5 minutes per month of engagement vs. Facebook’s 423 for every user
• Pinterest and Tumblr have emerged as the two other sites that get more than 1 hour of engagement time from users per month in Dec. 2011
• 100 million US consumers viewed online video every day with half of that traffic going to YouTube (50.4%) and, interestingly, no other channel accounting for more than 1.8%
• The number of consumers looking up health information on mobile devices grew by 134% year-over-year to 18.5 million

There are more numbers and nuggets about online media, mobile channels, and e-commerce – definitely recommended.

81 billion minutes on social networks

Nielsen’s report shows the progression of US internet usage from 2000 to Q4 2011 and the numbers are significant. Consumers are making a mass migration toward a plethora of devices that give them access and interactivity with their online lives from anywhere, on demand.

• From 132.2 to 274 million internet users
• From 0 (not measured) to 81 billion minutes of social network engagement (social networks became the top destination, in minutes, in 2009 taking over from web-based email)
• 117.6 million mobile internet visitors
• 70% of tablet usage is at home
• 51% of homes with TVs have digital cable
• The top 5 destinations for internet users while they watch TV: Facebook, YouTube, Zynga, Google, Yahoo Mail
• During TV watching, users were checking email, surfing for unrelated content, and using social networks
• The number of blogs tracked has increased from 35.8 million in 2006 to 173 million in 2011 (however, there is no indication how many of these are autoblogs, see also Autoblogs are fraud)
• The most trusted source of information is the venerable branded website, followed by TV and search engine ads

So, check out these reports and leverage the free research available to those who look.

Do you have a favorite place to find free research? Let us know, I’m always looking to increase my own list…