Boomers: the New Social Networking Mavens – One of Our 65 Reasons Why Marketers Still Need to Target Boomers

According to the good folks at the Pew Research Center, social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled—from 22% to 42% over the past year. In fact, almost half (47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one in four (26%) users age 65 and older now use social networking platforms to help manage their daily communications—sharing links, photos, videos, news, and status updates with a growing network of contacts.

The growth rate of younger users pales in comparison with that of Boomers and seniors.
Between April 2009 and May 2010, internet users ages 50-64 who said they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn grew 88% and those ages 65 and older grew 100% in their adoption of the sites. That compares with a growth rate of 13% for those ages 18-29.

So much for those who say Boomers won’t try new things!

Source: Pew Research Center