The Zoomer Report: Older Women and Facebook

Zoomer | May 1st, 2009

Are you on Facebook yet? While online social networks like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are known hang-outs for younger adults and teenagers, industry reports say that in recent months, older generations have been taking to the medium at a faster rate than any other age group.

Many of these folks use social networks to keep tabs on younger family members and they often find fruitful connections with their peers after they’ve friended all of their kids and grandkids. The trend is still relatively new. Only about 7 per cent of people older than 65 have online social-networking profiles. But Inside Facebook, which tracks Facebook’s growth, says the site’s popularity is growing most quickly among women older than 55. There are now about 1.5 million female users older than 55 on the site — roughly a 550 per cent increase over six months ago. By comparison, membership among people younger than 25 grew by less than 20 per cent over the same period.

Parents who are interested in their kids’ online activities are a big part of the sharp increase in older users on Facebook. And the feeling is, it has now reached a critical mass where there’s been enough talk about Facebook and people have received so many invitations from their friends, that they’re thinking they’ve got to get onboard or they’re going to be left in the dust.

Facebook now says it has 200 million users, 70 per cent of them living outside the U.S.