Social Media Usage Increases Dramatically Among Older Adults

facebook website screenshot
Creative Commons License photo credit: Spencer E Holtaway

Did you catch this article, “Social Media and Older Adults“, that was included in the weekly email from the National Association of REALTORS® last week? The article referenced was actually posted on the Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) website and included some interesting statistics, such as:

  • Social media usage by those over 50 has almost doubled over the past year, from 22% to 42%.
  • Almost half of Internet users ages 50-65 use social media sites. About one quarter of the Internet users over 65 have used social media.
  • Usage by both of these age groups increased dramatically from 2009 to 2010, ranging between 88 and 100%.

While the majority of social media users do tend to be younger, you can see that times are changing.  The article goes on to document  the growth of Facebook and Twitter usage for the older crowd, as well as providing stats for email usage and online news gathering.  And while email is still used extensively by older adults, the trend towards social media is notable, and not to be ignored.

You can read the full article here: “Social Media and Older Adults“

Tags: ,