The year of the digital citizen.

Whether it be news, entertainment, work, lifestyle, a large percentage of people’s lives now incorporate aspects of the digital world and really can’t be without it.

With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that Facebook is now the top mobile service on smartphones.

Facebook is the app most popular with American smartphone owners, according to a report by Nielson. In fact, Facebook is the most popular app even for BlackBerry users who are typically seen as more business-focused.

Nielson’s mobile application report found that Facebook was the most used app on iPhone and iPod Touch, BlackBerry and across all other smartphones, other than devices running on the Android platform.

More than 4,200 people were surveyed who had all downloaded an application in the last 30 days, with 58% who own an iPhones and iPod Touch, use the Facebook app on their device. This was closely followed by Google Maps, which 47% of iPhone OS users use the most after the Facebook app, and then the Weather Channel – a forecasting app.

The report also found that the average number of installed apps on a BlackBerry device was 10, while this nearly quadrupled when it came to iPhone’s average of 37, and doubled when comparing to Android’s average of 22.

21% of American wireless subscribers now own a smartphone – which is up from 19% on the previous quarter. 14% of mobile subscribers have downloaded an app in the last 30 days.

Overall, social networking, maps, weather and music were the most popular app genres across all platforms. Thus, also highlighting the ever expanding areas of opportunity for companies to reach out to consumers, especially through successful forms of digital PR.