Social networking sites are the No. 1 destination for users of Opera's Mini browser, with 40% of all traffic headed to MySpace, Facebook, and similar sites. In the United States, that number jumps to 63%. WAP sites aren't so popular (gee, I wonder why), and have seen traffic decline as full HTML browsers become more readily available on mobile phones.Opera released the results of the State of the Mobile Web report today, and it shows some interesting trends in mobile browsing. Looking at the bookmarks I have on my phones, it seems I fall right into step with the study results. Many of my bookmarks take my phone's browser to social networking sites and services.

Opera Mini is seeing some good traction. More than 11.9 million people used Opera Mini in March to browse 2.4 billion pages. Thus far, more than 44 million cumulative users have tried Opera Mini. With nearly 12 million people using Opera Mini, it has twice the presence that the iPhone's Safari does in the market. What's crazy is the amount of data Opera Mini users consume. Those 11.9 million people generate more than 33 million megabytes of data traffic for operators worldwide. Just think of the tariffs network operators are reaping.

With Opera's ability to render full HTML pages, Opera Software believes the full Web experience will push WAP browsing closer and closer to extinction. Full Web surfing comprises more than 77% of all traffic. WAP content still generates the remaining 23% of traffic. WAP percentages have declined somewhat as more consumers realize Opera Mini can access rich Web content. Personally, I've never enjoyed WAP browsing. That was, perhaps, the biggest reason I left my BlackBerry in a drawer. It just didn't have the browsing power I am looking for.

The U.S. ranked fourth in terms of usage for Opera, with more people in Russia, Indonesia, and China taking advantage of Opera. In the U.S., the top 10 mobile sites visited by users of Opera Mini are:

www.myspace.com www.google.com www.mocospace.com www.yahoo.com www.facebook.com www.live.com www.hi5.com www.wikipedia.org www.itsmy.com www.ebay.com

"The mobile Web is also the social Web," said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software, in a prepared statement. "With social networks dominating Opera Mini's traffic, it is clear that people use their mobile browser as yet another communication tool on their phone. I find it reassuring to see that there is decreasing distinction between the types of Web content people use on the mobile device -- it really is one Web, with people using whichever device they choose to connect to that Web."