The graying of the Facebook population seems to have continued according to new stats released today by iStrategyLabs. And while one might expect more of the site’s now nearly 10 million users over the age of 55 to be Neil Young fans, his “Rock N’ Roll Will Never Die” refrain seems to be falling through. The listing of the term “rock and roll” as an interest is down over 60% among Facebook users in the past year.
The statistics released today pertain to the 100 million U.S.-based Facebook users, which comprise nearly one-third of the site’s entire user base. They seem to support a continuing trend for Facebook – the slow growth of young and marketable users joining the site compared with their elders. We took a look at the numbers six months ago and most of the indicators seem to be only growing stronger.
Now, a big number to look at before anything else is Facebook’s nearly 145% growth in the past year, going from 40 million to over 100 million users since January last year. But where is this growth coming from?
When we last wrote about the graying Facebook population in July, users in the 55-plus demographic had skyrocketed from 1 million to nearly 6 million. This same population has now grown to nearly 10 million, a growth of 922% over the past year. This makes this age group now account for one of every 35 Facebook users. Is the boom in Baby Boomers a problem for Facebook or does it just open up new markets?
It seems that the numbers for users identifying as high school or college students have returned to positive growth, and the overall demographics of the site have remained steady. Despite the explosion of senior netizens on the site, the 55-plus group still make up only 9% of the site’s entire user population, just 1% more than the last time we looked.
While the over-55 group has strong numbers, the other demographic groups are still primarily responsible for the site’s exponential growth, each increasing by nearly 10 million users over the past six months.
Instead of seeing this as a problem for Facebook, maybe it’s just a sign that the site is no longer popular just among teenyboppers and cool college kids. And maybe, just maybe – if we can all figure out the privacy settings – we can all coexist without our parents and grandparents ruining the party.
