Rising Tide of Online Boomers
posted by Karen DavisTuesday, March 31st, 2009
Last week I received a Facebook friend request from one of my mother’s best friends. That same week, another friend called me to say that her father had just created a profile and was spending significant hours networking on the site. What do they have in common? Both are over the age of 50. It’s no secret that online activity by those over the age of 50 continues to grow at a rapid pace. Consider that 16.5 million adults ages 55 and older engage in social networking, according to comScore. In fact, the fastest growing market segment on Facebook is now women over 55, which experienced more than 175% growth and totals nearly 7 million. But it’s not just Facebook. Baby boomers are actively engaged in news sites, updating their LinkedIn profiles (just ask my mother, 69!), banking, shopping and even job hunting.
So imagine my surprise when a major business news outlet last week categorized online activity by various age groups and made a blanket statement that people in their 50’s and 60’s go online to check the weather. What?! This shocked me – and my 50+-something [Facebook] friends. This kind of generalization doesn’t reflect what’s really going on. A new report by the Pew Research Center paints a very different picture. According to the study, 69% of baby boomers ages 55-63 are now getting their news online. Seventy percent are buying a product online. Nearly 50% are online banking, and forty-eight percent are conducting job-related research. Media – and marketers – who buy into the notion that Baby Boomers haven’t embraced the Internet for more than just the weather need to wake up – or risk missing out on opportunities to target this very powerful demographic.
April 1st, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Great blog. My dad is on FB and according to my mom is wasting a lot of time on there. The man is 60. Who knew!
April 6th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Seniors using the internet to check the weather? When I heard that comment by a tv financial news reporter I flung my bunny slippers at the screen! I had just finished booking airline and hotel reservations online. Earlier I had bought a wedding gift from an online registry (having done research on the coffee maker/grinder on a consumer opinion website). I had checked out venues and menus for a charity luncheon which I’m chairing in the summer. I found a recipe (on a food site) for coeur a la creme; and I must admit that I watched (online) a missed episode of my favorite soap opera! This afternoon I plan to send out emails to my family and friends (reminding them about how many shopping days until my upcoming 70th birthday). Did I check the weather? No need to: I live in Tucson and the weather is almost always perfect!
April 12th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
i’m 55, and i’ve used the internet for banking, hotel and airline reservations, shopping (accounts at macy’s, banana republic, enterprise rent-a-car, west elm, etc.), facebook, linkedin, meetupc.om, the list goes on. and i’ve been doing it since 1997. those commentators are out of touch completely. not to mention the dating websites. heck, these days i even access my sites from my phone and have become a text addict. whoever thinks baby boomers are out of touch doesn’t know enough of us.