Boomers close social media gap

One of the key points from the (UK) Ofcom Communications Market Report was, unsurprisingly, the extent to which the media habits of 18-24 year olds differed from other age groups.   However, the stats also showed that 55-64 year olds were becoming much more willing to embrace new media, with the new generational divide occurring at 65 or so.   That’s now backed up by a Pew Report from the US about older adults and social media.


In summary Pew Research says that almost half (47%) of 50-64 year olds use social networks use social networks, while a quarter (26%) of the over 65s do so – this compares to 86% of the under 30s.    In other words the social media age barrier has steadily been moving from people in their 30s two years ago, to people in their 40s in 2008/9, to Web users in their 50s now.

When it comes to daily social network use, 20% of 50-64 year olds do so, along with 13% of the over 65%.

Pew says that older Internet surfers are still more comfortable with what you might call traditional past times such as emailing or reading the news.   And 20% of 50-64 year olds who use social media every day is still very much a minority.  But – it’s worth noting that a year ago, that figure was only 10%, so the number of habitual 50 something social media users has doubled in the twelve months.

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