How people of different ages use and enjoy social media

Young adults to silver surfers and what they choose to interact with socially:

We are often hear from small to medium local business owners, that social media doesn’t work for them. They say it’s not where their clients spend time and they ask us why we encourage them to take it seriously . This has prompted us to find out the very latest stats about social. Do people across all consumer  age groups ( 18- 65+) use it,  and if they do how small businesses should alter their company marketing to reach these audience effectively! The data is very clear.  

 

silversurfer2ITS ALL CHANGING ON SOCIAL

 
Social media is constantly changing and evolving space and every generation uses and engages with it in their own unique way. Facebook is more likely to be a platform for parents and grandparents these days, Instagram is eclipsing Pinterest  and Snapchat is a preference many teens & tweens prefer—YES the youngest are still the most ‘ connected ‘ to social, but some platforms are losing some demographic age groups whilst growing fans and followers in others.

Is gender a  factor? Actually now women and men use social media at similar rates – Women were more likely than men to use social networking sites for a number of years, although since 2014 these differences have been modest. Today, 68% of all women use social media, compared with 62% of all men.
How about income? Those with higher education levels and household income lead the way – Over the past decade, it has consistently been the case that those in higher-income households were more likely to use social media. More than half (56%) of those living in the lowest-income households now use social media, though growth has leveled off in the past few years. Turning to educational attainment, a similar pattern is observed. Those with at least some college experience have been consistently more likely than those with a high school degree or less to use social media over the past decade. 2013 was the first year that more than half of those with a high school diploma or less used social media.

 

A recent study by the Pew Research Center recorded the behaviors of different age groups across social media for 2013 and 2014.

Below we expose the trends across the main platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Ages 18 – 29
young adultsSocial media usage in this age bracket is most prominent. They come in first place for highest usage rate on 4 of the 5 main platforms, with LinkedIn being the only exception. On Facebook, 87% of this age group is present, which grew by a modest 3% from 2013. When it comes time to tweet and #hashtageverything, 37% are present on Twitter, which increased by 6% from 2013. Instagram trends are interesting as usage increased significantly over the past year and is especially popular with this group who has a 53% usage rate from 37% in 2013. Pinterest comes in at 34% of the group on the platform, which increased by 7%. Lastly, LinkedIn usage was at 23%, increasing by 8%.

Usage is increasing across the board for this group, but Instagram is by far experiencing the most growth. Facebook is most widely used, but not growing much anymore, and Twitter and Pinterest growth is somewhere in the middle of the two. LinkedIn popularity grew at a notable rate, suggesting business networking is also becoming of importance to this group.

Ages 30 – 49

This age group also uses social media at high rates as well, coming in second behind the 18-29 age groups in all areas except LinkedIn. They are the leader on LinkedIn at 31%, up 4% from 2013. When it comes to Facebook, this group is actually dropping off the platform, as their rate dropped 6% from 2013 to 2014 landing at 73% usage. Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest all grew modestly ending with 25% on Twitter, 25% on Instagram and 28% on Pinterest.

This group is losing interest in Facebook, and becoming more engaged with other platforms. The most notable is LinkedIn, where they connect for business purposes.

Ages 50 – 64
retiredThe age group of 50 to 64 year olds are coming around to social media and technology, with some platforms reflecting this more quickly than others. For example, they only make up 12% of Twitter users, and 12% of Instagram users however, 63% are active on Facebook. This explains why your grandma might be liking all your photos. Additionally, this group holds their own on LinkedIn at 30% usage, showing they are interested in business connections. It is interesting also that this age group is showing a large interest in Pinterest, with an 11% growth rate year over year landing at 27% usage.

Ages 65+

Similar to the other age groups, those 65 and older are participating most often on Facebook with a 56% usage rate. What is different is they had the largest increase in Facebook usage at 11%. While the lower aged groups have slowed or dropped off Facebook, this group is growing in usage.

When it comes to Twitter, a mere 10% of this group is tweeting, but has grown 5% since 2013. Instagram is at 6%, up from 1% the year before. Pinterest on the other hand had a notable 8% lift from 2013 to 2014, resulting in 17% using the platform. Lastly, LinkedIn showed a substantial lift in this group’s usage from 13% to 21% showing they are also interested in business.
So what does this all mean to small / medium local businesses? Very simply, social media is for all ages now. Facebook still has the most users, but is trending towards the older crowds, while Instagram has experienced notable growth by all groups – and LinkedIn is not JUST Business to Business marketing!

In addition, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest are growing modestly and across all age groups. While usage is most heavy as age decreases, the oldest groups are on the track to catch up with the biggest increases in usage year over year. Following this pattern, we can expect the rising ‘Generation Z’ to live lives even more saturated by social- so if you’re not taking social media seriously yet..it’s time to WAKE UP!!! 
social media mangement

Contact Trusted Marketing Services today if you want to chat about what we can do to keep you AHEAD of your competition. 

Sara Wheelwright 

Owner – Trusted Marketing Services 

 

 

source info : Incite Group , Pew Research Centre

Share

Leave a Reply