Consumers continue to spend more time in mobile applications than they do browsing the Web as they migrate traditional desktop behaviors such as going on Facebook to mobile devices, according to new research from Flurry Analytics.

The average amount of time smartphone and tablet users spend with mobile applications reached 94 minutes in December 2011, more than the 72 minutes they spend on the Web. Flurry?s research suggests that Facebook?s apps are playing an important role in this trend as users increasingly access the social network via mobile apps.

?The most surprising find is how aggressively Facebook is pivoting to position itself as a mobile company, and how significant their consumer lock-in is, even on mobile apps,? said Peter Farago, vice president of marketing at Flurry Analytics, San Francisco.

?Facebook will have a unique position, leveraging the power of social, and applying that to the mobile experience in a way that few can,? he said. ?Facebook may also find itself increasing its ?co-opetition? or ?frenemy? status with Apple and Google as platform providers.?

More convenient access
While the amount of time spent with mobile apps is growing, the average amount of time spent on the Web via both desktop and the mobile Web ? continues to shrink, reaching 72 minutes per day in December.

Users are substituting Web sites for applications, which may be more convenient to access throughout the day, per Flurry.

The growth in time spent with mobile applications is being driven by several factors, including growth in the number of sessions as mobile owners use apps more frequently.

The numbers suggest that Facebook is influencing this trend as it tries to leverage its hold over consumers across multiple platforms. For example, thanks to Facebook?s recent push into HTML5 with Project Spartan, apps built for Facebook?s platform can run on top of the Facebook Messenger app instead of requiring the user to launch the iOS app equivalent.

Facebook has also recently added news feeds to its service, enabling users to discover content without having to go to Google search. 

While the amount of time the average user spent on the social network?s Web site declined from 33minutes in June to below 24 minutes in December, recent  data from Nielsen shows that Facebook is the most used app on Android among 14 to 44 year olds, surpassing usage of Google?s own native, pre-installed apps. Additionally, Facebook Messenger ranked as the top overall app across most of the holiday week in the U.S.

Changing behavior
Flurry research shows that consumers spend the most time engaging with games and social networking apps, with 49 percent of their time going to games, 30 percent to social networking, 7 percent entertainment, percent news and 8 percent other.

Flurry first reported that app usage had surpassed the time spent on the Web in June, when the average amount of time spent on the Web totaled 74 minutes while time spent with apps was 81 minutes. Since then, gap has continued to widen.

The numbers point to a quick and dramatic change in consumer behavior. As recently as June 2010, consumers still spent more time on the Web then with mobile applications. Flurry reports that the average amount of time spent browsing the Web in June 2010 was 64 minutes while the amount of time spent with mobile apps was 43 minutes.

?The biggest news is that marketers are living in an era where the most highly engaging media platform is exploding around them,? Mr. Farago said. ?It's growing four times faster than PC adoption, and two times faster than Internet adoption.

?The opportunity for them is to reach consumers in a meaningful, relevant way to increase brand awareness, purchase intent for off-line products, and more,? he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York