Facebook use among the 55+ set increased 25% from July 4 to August 4, after growing an astounding 532% in the previous six months, reports Peter Corbett, CEO of iStrategy Labs. Although leveling off, that rate of growth outpaces any other age segment's, says Corbett.
The face of Facebook has significantly changed in other ways since the beginning of this year:
Key takeaways:
- The number of people in the US using Facebook grew 8% in one month (July 4 to August 4).
- As of August 4, fully 40.2% of Facebook users were 35 or older.
- Among big cities, Washington, DC underwent the strongest growth in the number of Facebook users.
The apparent negative growth (-38%) in Facebook's original target market, college students, is belied by the growth in the number of college-age users (12% for those in the 18-24 age group), Corbett says.
He attributes the discrepancy to Facebook users' removing their school affiliations during the summer, after graduation, and Facebook's de-emphasis on having users join specific networks.
Facebook Usage at 4-yr. and 2-yr. Colleges
Examining Facebook usage at the 150 universities and 50 community colleges with the highest enrollments in the US, Corbett and his colleagues found a striking difference:
The top 10 campuses in each category with the highest levels of Facebook adoption:
Key takeaways:
- There are only 19 schools where more than 50% of the students use Facebook.
- Even the school with the highest level of Facebook adoption—James Madison University—still came in under 70%.
Caveat: Because college students using Facebook don't necessarily use their .edu email address to register and because Facebook has de-emphasized having users join networks, this analysis is likely underreporting students at both types of institutions.
About the data: iStrategy Labs derived the data presented here from Facebook's Social Ads Platform and other sources as cited in the text.
