Over 80% of Americans Use Social Media Monthly

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 by Jordan McCollum

Over 80% of Americans Use Social Media Monthly

A new report from Forrester Research, “The Broad Reach of Social Technologies,” takes a look at the growth of social over the last three years. And guess what? It’s growing!

The demographic data follows the trend we see overall—younger people are more heavily involved, but over-35s and over-55s are becoming more and more active in social networking. While 10% or less of online adults aged 18-34 are “socially inactive,” the older age ranges are showing high growth. Among adults 35-54, participation grew 60% over last year:

[N]ow more than half of adults ages 35 to 44 are in social networks. Adults ages 45 to 54 grew their Joiner behavior nearly as much, but still lag behind the 35- to 44-year-olds; 38% of those ages 45 to 54 use social network sites regularly. These consumers also increased their Creator activities to the point where one in five produce social content. With this age group including nearly 70% Spectators, marketers can now safely create social media marketing for people ages 35 and older.

And in the 55+ category, 70% of online adults use social tools monthly, while 26% use social networks.

Forrester breaks down their information based on behavioral profiles (also explained in this presentation):

forrestersocial
Interestingly, most individual behaviors show little growth over the last three years. Only the Joiner activities (visiting social networks and maintaining a profile there) and online video showed significant growth. So while there are more people online, the overall activity profile hasn’t changed a whole lot.

What do you think? Do you see the “graying” of America in social media? Have you seen a change in social media consumption, creation or interaction over the last three years?

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8 comments on “Over 80% of Americans Use Social Media Monthly”

Joel Gross Says:

August 25th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

Quite frankly I thought the numbers would be a bit higher, although 80% is still high. I think a majority of folks that are active online definitely use social media tools in some manner. Let’s be honest, it’s kind of impossible to browse the web without stumbling upon something social media or UGC related. I think the other 20% are simply just very inactive online and uneducated on social media. I am slightly confused with the stagnant theme however. Maybe many people have not discovered the usefulness of social media (i.e. its marketing abilities and source for real time news). What’s your take on these numbers Jordan? A bit surprising to you as well?
Joel Gross´s last blog ..The Power of Outsourcing
CompeerRochester’s Blog Says:

August 26th, 2009 at 1:14 pm

[...] By compeerrochester Over 80% of Americans Using Social Media Monthly. Fastest Growing Demographic Being the 35+ Crowd. More Stats on Social Media Use…http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/08/over-80-of-americans-use-s ocial-media-monthly.html [...]
New Comm Biz » What comes next? Part 1: Are you ready? Says:

August 27th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

[...] Over 80% of Americans Use Social Media Monthly (marketingpilgrim.com) [...]
Costruzione skatepark Says:

August 27th, 2009 at 6:50 pm

“And in the 55+ category, 70% of online adults use social tools monthly, while 26% use social networks.”
i’m italian an i think the situation in italy is different.
Only the adolescent use the social network, the our italians so too old……
Are Teens on Twitter? And A Bunch of Other Related Data | .eduGuru Says:

August 28th, 2009 at 8:03 am

[...] they’re not the only audience on this network. Even a recent Forrester Report says that 80% of Americans are on Social Media Monthly. Just yesterday, Rachel gave us a great example of how we can use Facebook status updates to [...]
Mahmudur Rahman Says:

August 29th, 2009 at 5:08 am

The percentage is growing i think.
Today on Friday Traffic Report Radio Says:

August 31st, 2009 at 9:40 am

[...] Study on Social Media Usage [...]
Today on Friday Traffic Report Radio | Automate Your Business Says:

September 1st, 2009 at 5:02 am

[...] Study on Social Media Usage [...]

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