While it’s still the age group with the lowest concentration of social network users, the senior citizen crowd is starting to realize how fun Facebook is.
Teenage sons and grandchildren be wary because you may start getting friend requests from people you’d rather not share your wall posts with. Yes, almost one out of every two people over the age of 50 now has a social network account.
That’s up from 22% just one year ago, according to the latest study from the Pew Internet research group.
As more and more people from the older side of the spectrum start signing up, it seems to be creating a whirlwind effect. Older users are finally starting to see the value in being able to connect with friends. For them, it’s even more valuable as a way to get back in touch with long-lost buddies and colleagues.
61% of those between the age of 30 and 49 now have a social network account, and a blistering 86% of 18- to 29-year-olds are connected to Facebook or Twitter, or some other social network site – they do exist.
Regardless of how much value so many people see in Facebook, there surely is bound to be a constituency of people who will share the feelings of Betty White during her virally-viewed Saturday Night Live monologue: Before, “I didn’t even know what Facebook was. Now that I do, I think it’s a huge waste of time.”
