CYBERSPACE—The oldsters are catching up, and are in some regards surging ahead of the youngsters in their use of social networking sites. You read that right.
The trend is unmistakable, according to new Pew Research data. Over the past year, social networking use among internet users aged 50 and older has nearly doubled, from 22 percent to 42 percent. Assessed another way, half (47 percent) of internet users ages 50-64 and one in four (26 percent) users ages 65 and older now use social networking sites.
The older set still has some ground to make up if it wants to equal or better the 18- to 29-year-olds, 86 percent of whom say they use sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. But if the current adoption rate holds, it could happen.
“Between April 2009 and May 2010,” reported Pew, “internet users [aged] 50-64 who said they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn grew 88 percent and those ages 65 and older grew 100 percent in their adoption of the sites, compared with a growth rate of 13 percent for those ages 18-29.”
The data also suggests that, in addition to their acceptance of social networking, older people say they also are becoming regular users.
“The use of Twitter and other services to share status updates has also grown among older users—most notably among those ages 50-64,” said Pew. “While just 5 percent of users ages 50-64 had used Twitter or another status-update service in 2009, 11 percent now say they use these tools. On a typical day, 6 percent of online adults aged 50-64 make Twitter a part of their routine, up from the 1 percent who did so in 2009.
“By comparison, social networking sites have gained a much larger foothold in the lives of older Americans over time. One in five (20 percent) online adults ages 50-64 say they use social networking sites on a typical day, up from 10 percent one year ago. Likewise, 13 percent of online adults ages 65 and older log on to social networking sites, compared with just 4 percent who did so in 2009.”
Looked at another way, among the pool of adults ages 50 and older who use social networking sites, 44 percent used them on the day prior to their being contacted for the survey.
For more information about the Pew research, click here.
