Facebook, Twitter and YouTube: Audience is getting older

August 2, 2010 By 6 Comments
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube: Audience is getting older

There is no denying how popular social networking has become, and has seemed to gain momentum from the start of this year. This was evident when Twitter doubled its amount of tweets in just over five months, which we recently mentioned.

There are three main contenders in the world of social networking, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – there are others, but they have a long hill to climb to catch up to the big three. New research by Nielsen has been looking into this phenomenon and some of the results are interesting.

If the figures are to be believed, then Americans spend around 25 percent of their time on the Internet on social networking sites, and it seems that the audience is getting older- just make certain that you do not allow your parents to become a friend on Facebook.

Jon Swartz, from USA Today has been looking at the research and it seems that the amount of adults over 50 have doubled compared to those under 18. This shows that the older generation has started to embrace social networking – although it took them time to come round.

Most of the seems to be down to one thing, Farmville, and I would have to agree with that assumption. I have a number of family members who only joined Facebook to play Farmville and the number of other games available via the website. Do you agree with those figures?

Are you over 50, have you embraced social networking?

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  • http://www.facebook.com/PyroTails Jonathan Cordes

    I like the title, Audience is getting older. Well, the audience isn't going to get any younger either :)

    Next you'll be telling us that humans use Social Networking services!

  • http://www.facebook.com/rocpic Ronald Robert Morales

    You people are too funny, yeah I'm over 50 and embracing social networking … I saw my first computer 40 years ago, by time I was 18 I was in the US Navy as a Cryptologic Tech Operator … I passed on FB when it came around as it was marketed as focused on college students … Sick of Mafia Wars on MySpace, I turned to FB thinking it was a more mature audience … NOT. Anyway, you kids need to get over yourself, I've been using computers and telecommunications since before Al Gore invented the Internet, OK?

  • Karen H

    Another over-50 oldie here. I was on the internet back in the DOS (no Windows!) days. Back then, I joined a number of "bulletin boards" which was basically social networking–Usenet, groups, and so on. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc., etc. I'm on all of them.

    This current generation didn't invent social networking on line. :-D

  • http://www.socialmarketingdynamics.com/ Social Tool

    Those number are pretty staggering! I know a few people from my family, like my aunt has recently acquired a Facebook account, thank goodness my dad will probably never get one, since he is forever technologically challenged.

  • Barbara Rae Robinson

    Well, I worked on my first computer in 1960 and fell in love. Bought my first in 1983 and have been online since 1994, when I finally got access without paying long distance fees. Now I'm waiting for high speed internet to come my way. We live in a little valley in the country and use dial up for internet. So it's exceedingly slow. Takes forever for pictures to load on Facebook. I do have an account but don't access it very much because of the slow speed. Living on retirement income, I can't afford the rates for satellite internet. Someday, maybe I'll be able to. If prices every come down.

  • Carol

    LOL (and yes, I understand what that means). I, too, have been using computers since "back in the day" when you had to log on **by typing code** with a 1200 bps dial-up modem. And that was fast! The local library could only send data at 300 bps–oh, the wait was horrifying. But I could check out books without the drive into town, so I was hooked. Most of the social networking I do is currently just keeping tabs on my grown kids.