Interesting little report from the folks at Pew: Older Adults and Social Media.
The report shows that us older folks — anyone over the age of 50 — are the fastest growing group when it comes to using social media. That does not mean we outnumber the teens and 20-somthings who seem to have their smart phones permanently attached to their hands, but we are getting there.
Overview
While social media use has grown dramatically across all age groups, older users have been especially enthusiastic over the past year about embracing new networking tools. Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled—from 22% in April 2009 to 42% in May 2010.
- Between April 2009 and May 2010, social networking use among internet users ages 50-64 grew by 88%–from 25% to 47%.
- During the same period, use among those ages 65 and older grew 100%–from 13% to 26%.
- By comparison, social networking use among users ages 18-29 grew by 13%—from 76% to 86%.
- One in five (20%) online adults ages 50-64 say they use social networking sites on a typical day, up from 10% one year ago.
- Among adults ages 65 and older, 13% log on to social networking sites on a typical day, compared with just 4% who did so in 2009.
I kept looking for a pithy comment to make here about how us oldsters like to remain connected to friends and family across the miles but nothing is coming.
So just leave it that sending up Tweets and being active on Facebook just ain't for the kids any more.