• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, March 16, 2009

The number of people who access news and information daily on the mobile Web more than doubled over the last year, according to comScore.

About 22.4 million U.S. mobile users checked their phones for news each day in January 2009, compared to only 10.8 million in the year-earlier period.

Those who visited social networking sites or blogs grew even faster--up to 9.3 million from 1.8 million a year ago. The number of mobile subscribers accessing financial accounts and movie information roughly tripled to more than 3 million, while the number of users accessing business news and directories more than doubled to 2.4 million and 5.5 million, respectively.

"Social networking and blogging have emerged as very popular daily uses of the mobile Web, and these activities are growing at a torrid pace," said Mark Donovan, senior vice president for mobile at comScore. "We also note that much of the growth in news and information usage is driven by the increased popularity of downloaded applications, such as those offered for the iPhone, and by text-based searches.

Young men are the most avid mobile news and information consumers, with 18- to-34-year-old males accounting for half of the category's audience. The mobile Web is also gaining ground with young women, as 40% of those ages 18 to 24 accessed it at least once in January.