There’s a myth held by certain business personnel that social media is used mostly by kids and teens and that it has little potential as a platform for promotion for business. This cannot be farther from the truth because statistics speak otherwise. Below are four of the most popular social networking sites on the World Wide Web. Knowing the age groups that tend towards each social network is crucial to your social marketing strategy. And just looking at some of the numbers below will let you know that you do need a social marketing strategy. The statistics mentioned below are subjected to change.
The mere fact that Facebook’s current worth is approximately $7 billion proves that it is no child’s play. In fact, it is home to more than 900 million active users (as of April, 2012). Surveys show that approximately 52% of the site’s users fall into the age group of 18-25. 20% of users are between 26 and 34. And those between the ages 35 and 65 comprise of 33% of the user pool. Interesting, only 15% of the users are between the ages 13 and 17.
Twitter is the second most popular social networking site. Given its simple interface, the communication of its users is succinct and effective at the same time. Users from the age brackets 25-44 and 45-54 account for more than 25% and 20% of Twitter’s user pool respectively. And only 20% Twitter users are under the age of 24.
LinkedIn is the third most widely used social networking site on the web. Given the purpose it is used for i.e. professional networking, it is obvious that it is not for kids. The average age of its users is 44 and this makes it count among social networking websites with the oldest populations. 30% of LinkedIn’s users fall under the age bracket of 35 to 44. 20% of them are between 45 to 54 years old and 15% are between the ages of 55 and 54.
Bebo
Bebo undoubtedly is for younger people. In fact, the average age of Bebo’s users is the youngest when compared to the same of other social networks. However, in spite of having the youngest average age, 60% of Bebo’s users are over the age of 17. 35 to 64 year old account to 30% of Bebo’s user population.
Average Age of Users of the most Popular Social Networking Sites
Following are the average ages of the users of the most popular social networking sites. They have been arranged in an increasing order of the average age of their users.
Bebo : 28 | MySpace : 31 | Xanga : 32 | Hi5 : 33 | Friendster : 33 | Tagged : 34 | Last.fm : 35 | LiveJournal : 35 | Reddit : 37 | Ning : 37 | StumbleUpon : 38 | Digg : 38 | Facebook : 38 | FriendFeed : 38 | Twitter : 39 | Slashdot : 40 | Delicious : 41 | Classmates.com : 44 | LinkedIn : 44
These statistics have been considered by businesses to make sure that the market they are targeting on different social networking sites are actually there. The return on their investments has proved that not only are users of these present on the sites, they are responsive too.
Thank you for debunking the myth “Facebook is for kids”. Numerous companies use Facebook to promote their business and also to attract potential clients. Moreover, it is an excellent medium for bloggers to increase their traffic.
“social media ” we all are aware of it.. various social websites like facebook twiter. its not just for kids.. it become the buisness.. we must clear our all the myth regarding this social media.. thank you for posting…
There isn’t any doubt regarding the fact that teenagers are probably the best at networking and making new friends instantly. They aren’t afraid to explore unknown dimensions. So no, in no way should they be taken for granted. Many businesses log on to Facebook just to promote their business to the youth (the target audience). It is quite an interesting niche. But this obviously doesn’t mean that social networking is only for the youth. A lot of adults have hopped on the bandwagon as well and many marketers have made immense profits, marketing via social media itself!
Really Nice Article along with a impressive title.
There is no doubt that social media can help you in promoting your business very much and can take it to great heights.
That’s what I’ve been saying for years
There are many companies which doubled their income by using FB alone!
Many industries launched their customer service on FB!
Its not a child`s game.
Social Media is good for business owners to promote their business and to build a brand their. Good for youngsters so that they can connect with new people. But its not good for kids.
Social Networking sites provide the best traffic for your new Blog,it lets the other people to know about your latest updates and promotions.:)
For certain businesses Facebook is without doubt the best way to connect to your customers, Its a fairly simple way to market yourself
Yesterday its been declared that Facebook is launching a new kind of services for all major banks in North America, where banks would be using facebook’s platform to interact with their customers. It would be a great news for whole social media world.
I think social sites are great ways to increase connections and promote our works.
Yes i think this is the right platform for all even for teenager as well because when teenager will learn about social media sites benefits then no doubt in that they will use them when they will run their business of they will working in company.
No doubt in it, that Social Media is just for kids, there are many people who used to promote their business through Social Media, I think it has acquired the last part of Internet Technology