Multi-screen, cross-platform… These are all buzz-phrases in 2012, but often they’re slung around without much deep thought into what they actually mean for the way people are using technology. A new report from Google may help.

It’s called The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior, and it aims to explain how people are moving between different devices to accomplish a variety of tasks.

Apparently 90% of them do “whether that’s on smartphones, PCs, tablets or TV”. This includes ‘sequential’ screening (moving from one device to another in turn to complete a single goal, like booking a flight) and ‘simultaneous’ screening (for example using a phone or tablet while watching TV).

The full report is available to download. Expect search and advertising – the two core parts of Google’s business – to figure prominently.