Nielsen Email, Social Networking Remain Key Mobile ActivitiesLooking to move past email and social networking in your new mobile marketing strategy?

Not so fast. These oldies but goodies remain major players in mobile.

According to new research published by the Nielsen Company, email still accounts for better than 41 percent of mobile Internet time for mobile users in the United States. One year ago, that figure was just 37 percent.

The dominance of email activity on mobile devices, however, is closely followed by the use of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and the wide array of social networks and services that keep us connected.

No surprisingly, Americans now spend more time than ever involved in social networking. In this Nielsen survey of mobile web users, there is a double-digit (28 percent) rise in the prevalence of social networking behavior among mobile users.

“Despite the almost unlimited nature of what you can do on the web, 40 percent of US online time is spent on just three activities – social networking, playing games and emailing leaving a whole lot of other sectors fighting for a declining share of the online pie,” said Nielsen analyst Dave Martin.

As the report confirmed – despite some predictions otherwise – the rise of social networking “hasn’t pushed email and instant messaging into obscurity just yet.”

For mobile marketers, however, the value of this study lies in the presentation of further evidence suggesting that both email and social networking sites and services remain vital platforms for targeting one’s message to large mobile audiences more dependent than ever on their mobile devices to stay connected to the world at large.