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Recent findings from Forrester Research shows has revealed that 70% of online adults over 55 use social networking and whilst being over 34 doesn’t lead to you being a silver surfer those over this age are now make up the majority of Facebook, Twitter and other social media users.
The research was undertaken by Forrester analyst Sean Corcoran and is based on a survey of 4,455 people aged between 18 and 88 in the USA.
Corcoran says that, “Much of the growth in social networks today comes from people older than 34. Compared with last year, adults over the age of 34 increased their participation in social networks by more than 60 percent. Now more than half of adults aged 35 to 44 are in social networks.”
There is a gap for those in their 40s and 50s but there has still been an increase and the study found that 70% of online adults ages 55 and older use social tools at least once a month; 26% use social networks and 12% create social content.
“As a result, social applications geared toward older adults will now reach a healthy chunk of their audience,” Corcoran adds.
According to Corcoran ‘creators’ are thoe who use social networks and/or who write blogs and upload audio and video and/or post stories on social networks. Those who take part in online discussions are ‘critics’; those who organise online content by using RSS feeds and sites like ‘Digg’ to rate content are ‘collectors’; those who actually subscribe to social networks are ‘joiners’ and those who tend to only view user-generated content online are categorised as ’spectators’.
People in the 35-54 age group are increasingly joiners and creators, where as adults over 55 tend to be spectators. Only 18 per cent of all respondents did not currently use social networks, compared to 25 per cent in 2008 and 44 per cent in 2007.
With this increased amount of adults participating in social networks, there is a clear opportunity for companies to create media and advertising targeted to them in addition to the ones that target younger people, although as yet there is no evidence that the advertising on these sites works. Following my blog about YouTube though it is clear that opportunities in this arena do exist, that they are cost effective, and need creative thought and new ideas to make them work. Testing, amending and continual developement within this arena will no doubt deliver, but whereas in the past a campaign could be created and run unchanged for a substantial length of time this form of advertising will need to be more dynamic, flexible and viral.
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