• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 29, 2014

With Facebook hitting a billion monthly mobile users worldwide as of the first quarter, it's more than aspirational for the company to define itself now as a mobile company. What's more, more than half (55%) of its daily active users are coming from the mobile side, and 59% of its ad revenue is from ads served on devices.

The mobile shift reflected in Facebook's results is also having an impact on content sharing, according to the latest report from AddThis, which collects data from social sharing buttons across 14 million Web sites. “We are seeing firsthand how the continued adoption of smartphones and tablets is changing the content consumption patterns of consumers,” it stated.

Specifically, its analysis found interaction with content continued to decline -- 17% -- while that for mobile has increased to more than a third (35%). Despite the increase in mobile adoption, however, the majority (65%) of content sharing and engagement still takes place on PCs. That's partly because people are simply more accustomed to sharing from their desktop computers and screen size other limitations of devices.

Keep in mind that the activities AddThis tracks includes cutting-and-pasting URLs and printing. So while mobile is gaining, it looks like there's a lag between the broad penetration of handsets -- and to a lesser degree, tablets -- and the level of content sharing happening. Whether it will ultimately surpass computer-based interaction isn't yet clear, but wise for publishers and media companies to keep an eye on.

Among mobile operating systems globally, Android accounted for the vast majority of content sharing, at 79%, reflecting the overall dominance of the Google platform. Among mobile browsers, however, Apple's Safari led the way, with 49% share. But that was down 11% from a year ago, as Google's Chrome browser increased to 33% and Chrome Mobile to 14%. The balance was split between Opera Mobile and Internet Explorer Mobile.

"Mobile user" photo from Shutterstock.