The data may not be particularly surprising, but it sure is impressive: fully 91% of online U.S. adults access social media in a typical month, according to a new study by Experian Simmons. That's 129 million people, or 41.37% of the total U.S. population of 311.8 million; the figure doesn't include millions of people under the age of 18 who use social media. As one might expect, among adults ages 18-24, the proportion using social media in a given month is 98% (which has me wondering about the elusive 2%).
It's not news that young adults are fairly enthralled by social media. The really interesting trend is the rapid increase in usage among older adults: 82% of online adults ages 55-64 use social media in a typical month, according to Experian Simmons, and roughly three quarters of online adults ages 65+.
So what are Americans using social media for? 46% of all online adults say they use social media to communicate with their friends, up from 32% in 2009. Among online adults who have a brother or sister, 27% say they use social media to stay in touch with their siblings, up from 15% in 2009. Online adults also use it to stay in touch with their children: here the proportion increased from 6% of online adults with children in 2009 to 18% today. 14% of adult children say they use social media to communicate with their parents, up from 5% in 2009.
The Experian Simmons data also included some interesting findings on ethnic groups using social media, with possible implications for marketing and advertising. For example, 30% of Hispanic consumers who use social media say they follow their favorite brands and companies on social media sites, compared to 18% of non-Hispanic social media users. Meanwhile 19% of Hispanic adults who use social media say they're more likely to buy products advertised there, compared with 8% of non-Hispanic social media users.
COMMENTARY: Check out my blog post dated September 30, 2011 titled, "A Manifesto On Neuromarketing, Or How To Get Inside The Mind of Today's Consumers And Win Them Over" for some valuable observations, theories and strategies for getting inside the head of today's Millennial or Generation-Y's.
Courtesy of an article dated October 7, 2011 appearing in MediaPost Publications The Social Graf
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