Pew: Only 8% of U.S. Cellphone Users Check in or Share Their Location

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 91 percent of adults in the U.S. own a cellphone. Unsurprisingly, the majority of these cellphone owners use their cellphones to access the Internet and send or receive email.

The survey of 2,252 adults ages 18 and older, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates from April 17 to May 19, found that 81 percent of cellphone owners send or receive text messages, while 60 percent access the Internet and 52 percent send or receive email on their mobile phones.

Meanwhile, half of cellphone owners download apps; 49 percent get directions, recommendations or other location-based information; and 48 percent listen to music on their devices.

However, just 8 percent of respondents said they use their cellphones to check in or share their location. This number has remained mostly stagnant, and has even dropped a bit, during the past two years, according to Pew’s findings.

That last bit of information is bad news for Foursquare, which has been active in its pursuit of small-business ad dollars in the past year or so. Social Media Examiner’s “2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” found that 11 percent of marketers use geo-location services like Foursquare, down from 14 percent in 2013 and 17 percent in 2011.

Nevertheless, recent reports of Microsoft and American Express trying to take respective stakes in Foursquare and venture capitalists possibly turning their convertible debt holdings in the firm into equity signal optimism for the company.

Foursquare is also gauging the potential of a new feature that delivers users recommendations based on their location