There is an urban myth out there that social media is the province of the very young. However the data shows that that is not true. The average twitter user is aged 40. On Facebook which started out in the student market the biggest cohort is between 25-34. In other words the original audience is simply growing up and they remain active social networkers. Facebooks’s largest growing group is the over 40’s. LinkedIn, of course remains the province of professionals and is growing very comfortably. They recently crossed the 40-million mark.

Another group who are getting in on the act are the silver surfers on the web. Apparently the largest % increase in internet use since 2005 has been in the 70-75 age group. The Pew Internet and American Life Project established that 45% of this group is now on line compared to 25% in 2005. Senior carers have noticed the trend and have started providing training and support.

There is a lovely article in the Dallas morning News this week gives accounts of 83 year old Virgil Heidbrink who maintains a website and blogs daily. The internet has become a central part of his life enabling him to keep up with family and the outside world. Senior care workers have picked up on this trend and are now providing support and training to seniors like Virgil.

I blogged a few days back on the fact that the data shows that women increasingly avid users of social media. This clearly has lots of implications for online retailers since woman are known to be the main decision makers when it comes to domestic purchases.

At SociaLNK we are very careful about the assumptions we make about online communities. Many different types of people are involved in social media and it is very likely that they are your customers. Ensuring that you have a social media presence means that your company is engaging in their world. This can only beneficial for you both.