The Graying of Social Media

The good news for social media? Usage is up across the board.

A majority of all adults now access sites like Facebook. The 'who-knows-what-this-means news: people over age 50 are a growing force on the web and on social media. Since Baby Boomers make up the largest cohort in the population this simply makes sense. Technophobia no longer characterizes the demographics over those over age 32.

But this does have implications for who uses what media and why. Advertisers naturally want to know the best way to reach the audiences that will buy their products and services. They will follow the data and invest where they perceive the most cost-efficient return. However, perceptions of utility are sometimes dwarfed by perceptions of humility: if Facebook becomes a site dominated by those sharing pics of their grandchildren, will impressionable younger netizens stay or flee? And will this trend - and it is a trend, not a data point - affect the services offered as well as their quality?

The guess here is that the web will continue to evolve as will social media. As the economics permit, more age-specific sites will emerge, some as subsets of those already established. Those wishing to connect without fear of embarrassment will find a way to do so. Those wishing to sell will follow the money, however gray its provenance. JL

Sheila Shayon reports in Brand Channel:

A new Pew Research report finds social networking sites are gaining traction with adult Internet users as sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn engage the largest share of adults to date.

The Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reports that two-thirds of adult Internet users (65%) say they use a social networking site, up from 61% percent in 2010 and 29% in 2008.
“The pace with which new users have flocked to social networking sites has been staggering; when we first asked about social networking sites in February of 2005, just 8 percent of Internet users—or 5 percent of all adults—said they used them,” wrote report co-authors Mary Madden and Kathryn Zickuhr.

This marks the first time in Pew Internet surveys that 50% of all adults use social networking sites.

While frequency of social networking site usage among young adults under age 30 remains stable with 61% of Americans in that age cohort using social networking sites on a typical day, (up 1% from last year) among Boomer’s, 50-64, social networking site usage on a typical day grew a significant 60% (from 20% to 32%).

On a given day, only e-mail and search engines are used more than social networks by adult Internet users said the report.

“The graying of social networking sites continues, but the oldest users are still far less likely to be making regular use of these tools. While seniors are testing the waters, many Baby Boomers are beginning to make a trip to the social media pool part of their daily routine,” said Madden.

Asked for one word to describe their social networking sites, “good” was the most common response; positive responses outweighed negative and neutral words; users repeatedly described their experiences as “fun,” “great,” “interesting” and “convenient.”

Nearly 80 million Baby Boomers turned 65 this year, “officially” considered senior citizens. This most recent Pew report is a snapshot of a nation embracing digital communications to a breadth and degree heretofore unimagined, with far-reaching implications for every facet of ordinary and extraordinary daily living as these new technologies redefine aging, connectivity and commerce