Audience for Social Networks Is Aging: Growth in 35-49 Age Group Says New Nielson Report

According to a report released yesterday by Nielsen Online (download PDF). social networks and blogs have become the fourth most popular online destinations.   And, gasp, the report lists e-mail as No. 5 on the list of users' preferred online tools.  (Although this report from Hitwise finds that visits to gmail surpassed YouTube)

There's been growth in older segments, most notably the 35-49 segment:

As an entity moves from being niche to a major player the composition, or make-up, of its audience changes. Social networks online started out amongst the younger audience. However, as the networks have become more mainstream with the passage of time, it isn’t surprising to see the audience becoming broader and older. This shift has primarily been driven by Facebook, whose successful formula opened up the possibilities of social networking to a much wider audience.

In terms of sheer audience numbers, for example, the greatest growth for Facebook has come from people aged 35-49 years of age (+24.1 million).  Furthermore, Facebook has added almost twice as many 50-64 year olds visitors (+13.6 million) than it has added under 18 year old visitors (+7.3 million).

Consequently, people under 18 years old are making up less of the social network and blogging audience, whereas the 50+ age group are accounting for more of the audience.

In an article from CW, there is a quote from the study's author:

"Social networking isn't just growing rapidly, it's evolving -- both in terms of a broader audience and compelling new functionality."

For more reports on the aging of social networks, see "How Your Nonprofit Can Reach Babyboomers With Social Media"

What are the implications for your nonprofit organization's social networking strategy?

Comments

[JessieX]

Thanks for sharing this info. I like to watch this sort of thing. A few months back, I wrote a blog post on Facebook and GenXers. It's on istrategylabs' blog: http://is.gd/mP40.

[san diego seo]

I agree that this shift has primarily been driven by Facebook, whose successful formula opened up the possibilities of social networking to a much wider audience,this a good news thank for blogging this.

by: ricka

[Maryann Devine]

Beth, thanks for posting this.

For years, some nonprofits have been saying about social media, "but our donors are all over 55!," and they'd be right in thinking they weren't going to reach those particular people with facebook.

Not anymore.

Even more interesting is the lack of growth in the under-18 group. As facebook has become more mainstream, younger people are going to see it as their parents' social network of choice, and go elsewhere.

So the question is, where will we find the elusive Young People?

[Tara Pringle Jefferson]

My goodness you always post such timely info! I JUST had a meeting about this yesterday and was looking for some follow-up info to pass along to our donor staff. Thanks again!

[Walter]

I agree with Maryann that 18-34 Facebookers aren't going to love mingling with 40+ folks, though both groups could probably learn about each other if they did interact. But overall, this seems to be a good trend for nonprofits as older individuals are obviously being attracted to social media in greater numbers. As you advocate, organizations just need to keep reaching out to them.

[LaDonna Coy]

This is exciting news Beth! As I read your post I was reminded of something my colleague @ken_homer said about the fight/flight response. He said it isn't only fight or flight - there's also freeze and friend. How interesting given my experience with social networks and other social media. There are those that resist and warn of the dangers (fight); those that completely choose to stay out of these online places (flee); those that sit at their computers with a huge sense of uncertainty and ambiguity (freeze); and those that engage and learn their way through it (friend). :o)

I've been getting more invitations lately from people in my networks (F2F) on Facebook and some on Twitter so it feels like things are moving. This data confirms it (on the larger scale) and is very encouraging. My hope is people in my networks will find and utilize these tools for giving a virtual life to their existing F2F networks, especially those working with youth.

[Annalise]

Thanks for the great post, Beth. I believe part of the reason for the growth is the opportunities that social networking presents to individuals aged 35-49 including marketing, reconnecting with family and friends, sharing information about their families, and business networking. A great new social network is Hoponthis.com.

[Erica Burman, Director of Communications, National Peace Corps Association]

Walter wrote:
I agree with Maryann that 18-34 Facebookers aren't going to love mingling with 40+ folks, though both groups could probably learn about each other if they did interact.

So timely! We're that this can happen. The social networking area of our new website http://community.peacecorpsconnect.org seems to be attracting a very good cross section of our Peace Corps community--both "old-timers" who served in the 1960s as well as 20-somethings interested in joining Peace Corps or already serving. What's bringing them, IMHO, is a shared set of values around service, and an intensely personal yet common experience that relatively few Americans relate to to. We're giving them a place where for the first time they can exchange information and ideas. And it transcends age. It's very exciting.

[Ray Nichols]

Yeah you right Walter!

It is exciting. I'm 63 and am very excited about SXSW Interactive.

Ramon
Codger