Who Is Using Social Media and How Do They Use It?

I was surprised by a few statistics quoted in the recent DMNews article, Boomer women get social. According to Facebook, since September 2008, the fastest-growing age group on the site is women over 55. And according to Forrester Research, more than 60% of boomers—both men and women—are regular consumers of social media.

This data motivated me to investigate Facebook demographic trends over the past few years. According to iStrategyLabs’ 2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report, in the past year there has been a 276% growth in 35-54 year old users and 194% growth in the 55+ group.

This means that the percentage of Facebook users who are 18-24 years old is rapidly declining:

• In 2007, 62% of Facebook users were 18-24
• In 2008, 54% of Facebook users were 18-24
• In 2009, 41% of Facebook users are 18-24

So what does this trend mean for marketers? In this article, you’ll gain many interesting insights from Carol Orsborn and Mary Brown, the co-authors of the book Boom: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer – the Baby-Boomer Woman. Some of the key points are:

• “Boomers interact differently online than younger generations.”
• “Content is key to drawing this audience into social networking conversations.”
• “Boomers take more time making connections, with longer emails or texts.”
• “Content is king—it leads to social networking, not the other way around.”
• “Boomers are outspending younger consumers two to one.”

The bottom line is that our social media marketing strategies today need to target all age groups, and organizations targeting women over 35 years old should consider social media as a viable vehicle.