Facebook is undoubtedly the largest social media site, but is Facebook now becoming the social media website for old people and will this rise of parents and seniors on Facebook push the youngsters elsewhere?
Having Facebook for seven years now, I have seen the slow rise of parents, aunts and uncles, and even grandparents beginning to use Facebook. Back in the day, it was a glorious feeling to be able to get on Facebook and not worry about your parents finding out about anything that happened over the social media site. However, those days are long over.
Over the past two years alone, Facebook users ages 45-55 has increased by astonishing 45% and now Facebook users ages 35+ make up over 50% of Facebook.
Facebook is still the primary social media platform for youngsters though with over 80% of internet users under 30 using Facebook, but the surprising number of the elder generation is pushing the young ones out and they seem to move primarily towards Twitter.
Twitter, once deemed the old person social media site, is now the young people’s network. Ages 0-25 make up 29% of twitter users as opposed to Facebook’s 24%. Additionally, 76.5% of Tweeters are below the age of 45 whereas roughly 40% of Facebook users are over 45 years of age.
Other less popular social media platforms such as Instagram, and Pintrest have emerged and serve a younger demographic. But these social media platforms have a long way to go to be able to compete with Twitter and Facebook.
The young people can hope to hold on to Twitter for as long as possible, until all of our parents begin to use twitter and we are forced to move elsewhere. With new social media sites such as Google+ becoming widely used (and mostly by people under 35), there will always be a safe haven for young adults and teens somewhere on the internet.
Michael Butler: Thoughts and Questions 