• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 3, 2012

Consumers now spend a full 30% of their mobile time on social media networks, according to new data from Nielsen and NM Incite. Limited to their personal computers, consumers still spend close to 20% of their online time on social media -- more time than they devote to any other online activity.
 
Across PCs and mobile devices, the total time that U.S. consumers spent on social media increased 37% to 121 billion minutes in July 2012 -- compared to 88 billion in July of 2011. The research partners attributed the strong social media numbers to a recent proliferation of mobile devices and connectivity.
 
While the computer remains the predominant device for social media access, consumers’ time spent with social media on mobile apps and the mobile Web has increased 63% year-over-year.

Facebook remains the most-visited social network, with some 152.2 million visitors via personal computer; 78.4 million via mobile app; and 74.3 million via the mobile Web. The site is also the top U.S. Web brand in terms of time spent, as some 17% of time spent online via personal computer is on Facebook, according to Nielsen and NM Incite.

While Facebook and Twitter continue to be among the most popular social networks, Pinterest emerged as one of the breakout stars in social media for 2012.