The number of US women over age 55 using Facebook has grown 175.3% since September 2008, making mature females one of the fastest growing demographic groups on the social network, according to independent blog Inside Facebook.
The number of men over age 55 also grew dramatically during the same four-month period (up 137.8%), but women over 55 still outnumber men in this age group by almost two-to-one.
Inside Facebook found that, as of February 1, there are 45.3 million active US Facebook users, with the number of users growing in every age/gender demographic.
Facebook’s US audience has continued to grow in recent months, fuelled primarily by those ages 26+, said Inside Facebook. In particular, the network has rapidly gained popularity in the US with people 45+, growing by more than 165% among both men and women in the past four months.
Overall, women (56.2%) on Facebook in the US outnumber men in every age group, while, 45% of Facebook’s 45.3 million active users in the US are now age 26 or older, and nearly a quarter are over age 35.
Teens now make up about 12% of the overall Facebook audience, according to Inside Facebook. Facebook does not publish data on users under 13, because the terms of service require all users be at least 13 years old to join.
The IPA’s second future of advertising report, published in January, said that advertisers need to get to grips with social media over the coming years (see IPA: Social Networking Revolution).
The report looked at social media and its likely impact on the ad industry, which it claimed could face just 1.2% growth per year by 2016 if agencies and clients fail to understand social networking and the ways in which it empowers the consumer.
In December, mobile network Orange reported that the number of people using their mobiles to access social networking sites had rocketed in the previous 12 months (see Mobile social networking rockets).
The study found that the combination of cheap or unlimited internet access tariffs and advanced handsets, which make it easier for people to log on to their favourite sites, had created a boom in social networking.
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