If you haven't already had to grapple with whether or not you should friend your Mom, you may well be facing that conundrum soon.
Women over 55 are the fastest-growing demographic on the social network, their ranks swelling a jaw-dropping 175.3 percent since late September, according to InsideFacebook.
Overall, users over 26 comprise the fastest-growing segment on the social network -- originally geared at college students, remember? Forty-five percent of Facebook's 45.3 million active US users are 26 years old or older.
Teens, meanwhile, comprise less than 12 percent of registered users.
While registration rates continue to rise in all demographics, there are almost double the number of 55+ women on Facebook than their male counterparts.
This should have interesting implications for marketing and advertising on Facebook in particular, and social media in general, going forward. Socially, women tend to be viewed more as "connectors" than do men, a truism or stereotype (take your pick) that seems to be reflected in these numbers.
Traditionally, of course, women control the overwhelming majority of the billions in household-related spending. It's going to be interested to watch which advertisers jump on Facebook to take advantage of reaching the older women jumped on campaigns such as Dove's Real Beauty and spread them virally.
Learn more...
For background on online PR and social media more generally, It's worth reading our (free to registered users) Social Media Trends Briefing (June 2009). Econsultancy has also published Social Media and Online PR Template Files, which you can adapt and use for your own projects. For innovation in this space, download our Innovation Report.
Rebecca Lieb oversees Econsultancy's North American operations.
Posted 03 February 2009 16:39pm by Rebecca Lieb with 1 comment
Tags: Facebook, demographics, older women, growth
Topics: Social Networks & Online Communities
Sectors: Publishing, Media & Entertainment
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Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
6:55PM on 5th February 2009
I have recently been looking into the changing demographic of Facebook, although more the change in age of the users, rather than sex. I was wondering if teens will jump ship with the rapid influx of adults and wrote a blog post about it at http://connectwithyourteens.blogspot.com/2009/02/facebook-will-teens-jump-ship-with.html. The comments I received varied so that it is very hard to say what the future will hold.