Read it Later: Statistics and analysis of online time of users on different devices

In this article, the author summarizes the statistical data of some representative websites (including Read it Later, Financial Times, Linkedin, etc.), and graphically shows and analyzes the distribution of time users use different types of devices to access the Internet in a day. I hope this article can be of some reference value to product students involved in the mobile Internet field.

Desktop users of Read it Later

The following figure shows the number of articles that Read it Later users read on their desktop computers within 24 hours. It can be seen that the peak reading time during the day is at noon, and the data in the two hours before and after is also good. After a low point in the evening, the statistics reach the highest peak of the day around 9 pm.

iPhone users of Read it Later

Let's look at the second chart, which shows the number of articles that Read it Later users read on their iPhones in a day. You can see four major peaks: 6 a.m. (breakfast or early reading time), 9 a.m. (on the way to work), 5 to 6 p.m. (on the way home from get off work), and 8 to 10 p.m. (resting time, reading in bed at night).

As can be seen, the difference between the statistics for desktop and mobile devices (phones) is quite significant.

iPad users of Read it Later

Unsurprisingly, the following pictures show the number of articles that Read it Later users read on iPad in a day. As you can see, the statistical results are somewhat similar to those of iPhone. The daytime peak occurs around 6 a.m. The situation is average on the way to work; the amount of reading on the way home from get off work reaches or even exceeds the time for breakfast and morning reading. The highest peak of the day appears abruptly between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., which, as mentioned earlier, is basically the time for relaxing reading before going to bed at night. Obviously, at least in the use case of reading articles, iPad users are very active in the evening.

Statistics of devices used to access news and information websites

Similar characteristics can also be seen in comScore's statistical reports. The figure below shows the time distribution of users using desktop computers and tablet computers to read news content. During daytime working hours, desktop computers have an absolute advantage in usage, while tablet computer access reaches a peak during the evening rest time, even exceeding the highest point of desktop computers during the day.

TechCrunch has a report about Financial Times. FT is a long-established British newspaper. Recently, they have created a web app based on HTML5 specifically for mobile device users. The following figure reflects the distribution of visits by smartphone and desktop users; it can be seen that even for newly launched websites and services, the statistical results still conform to the pattern we have seen above.

Statistics of devices accessing social networking sites (Linkedin)

Here is a beautiful infographic about Linkedin. We have taken out the part about the statistics of access devices. The first picture does not distinguish between devices and shows the statistics of access by all users within 24 hours a day; the second picture focuses on users of mobile devices. It can be seen that the peak of access occurs between 9 am and 2 pm, during which the device type is mainly desktop. Even though the access of mobile devices reaches a peak in the evening, it still does not exceed the statistics during the day.

At least for Linkedin, we can draw a general conclusion: people visit more during work hours. I guess most people are not very satisfied with their jobs.

Aside from websites and services, the Internet behaviors of different device types also have their own distinct characteristics. The following figure shows the statistical results of the duration and number of sessions of 3G network connections for laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Usage Environment

Regarding the above statistical results, there is a view that the decisive factor is actually the environment in which the device is used. For example, for news and information websites, the number of visits from mobile devices reaches a peak in the morning because people must be on the road at that time; or, for tablets, the peak number of visits in the evening proves that people must be at home. Of course, this assumption has a certain reference value, but after all, the statistics we can see are based on time considerations, and environmental and geographical factors are not included. We cannot be sure that this assumption about the usage environment is 100% correct.

If time is sufficient, people can use their mobile phones to read the Financial Times after getting up, because it is on the bedside table next to the pillow. You can think of many similar assumptions. Through these statistics, the only thing we can confirm is the Internet access situation of different devices at different times of the day.

via:beforweb