Social Networking Demographics: Boomers Jump In, Gen Y Plateaus
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2009/03/social-networking-demographics.html

For many years, the Baby Boomer generation has failed, and almost feared, to embrace the numerous advances in technology and the internet. My immediate family, with the exception of my sister, have just now begun to send text messages and emails. Others in the generation however, are jumping on the band wagon of even newer, more complex technology.

The statistics listed in this article are quite astounding. The idea that the younger generations are the sole users of the internet and its features can now be put to rest. There are many more Baby Boomers joining social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, reading and creating blogs, as well as watching and posting videos to websites like YouTube.

While the same number of Generation Y'ers are using Facebook, YouTube, and the like, the increase has slowed tremendously. There are only so many people in their teens, twenties, and thirties but the total number of Generation Y users probably crushes the number of Baby Boomers on the web. However, Boomers are constantly picking up the technology and adding more and more users each day.

I have noticed just in the past four months that the average age of my friends list on Facebook (almost to 800 friends) keeps increasing. Aunts, uncles, old grade school teachers, and even some of my friends' parents send me a friend request every other day. Facebook also has a new application that will list the ages of all your friends (if they choose to post it) and find the average age and most common age on your friends list.

Only now can we hope this trend continues and our elders will quit calling and pestering us with questions about "this damn computer/internet." If Baby Boomers are able to get involved in social networking and even creating blogs, their PC literacy will continue to increase and evolve. This in turn will speed up the already lightening fast progression of technology and cause even more objects and instruments to become obsolete.




Bring on the boomers