Research from comScore shows
that older internet users are quickly catching on to the social
networking phenomenon, with two thirds of over 55s having visited sites
like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter during May.
Despite the
significant increase in older users, social networking remains popular
amongst youth consumers with 89 per cent of 25 to 34 year-olds and 86
per cent of 15 to 24 year-olds visiting social networks.
The
study shows that younger internet users spend significantly more time
on sites such as Facebook, with those aged between 15 and 34 averaging
5.4 hours per month, compared with 3.7 hours for consumers aged 55 and
over.
Overall, social networking remains one of the most popular
online activities, with 80 per cent of the total UK online population
visiting at least one social networking site during May, averaging 4.6
hours per visitor during the month.
"There continues to be a misconception that social networking is the preserve of the young. While those under 35 years old are certainly the more prevalent users, there is both a sizeable and heavily engaged audience of those 35 and older as well," says Mike Read, SVP and managing director, comScore Europe.
In fact, advertising on social networking sites has a better chance of reaching these older demographics than site categories such as business and finance, which is a critical insight that might be lost for those trying to optimise their campaign against target audience segments."