Facebook’s Aging Trend
Admin July 8th, 2009
A new spate of numbers has come out from Facebook-tracking labs, giving number-lovers some new factoids to ogle over. Among the most fascinating trend is a spike in the number of users over fifty-five years old.
The Baby Boomer Facebook boom is not the only interesting fact. Add to that the significant decline (16.5%) in high schoolers, plus the 21.7% slide in collegians, and you have a puzzle worth mulling over. Are young people leaving Facebook?
Why?
Some conjecture that the “social-networking giant has morphed into a virtual parlor for the middle-aged.” After all, the 35-50s demographic represents more than a quarter of all Facebook users-a sizeable slice by anyone’s terms. Perhaps it’s because Facebook is now a place for job seekers and entrepreneurs rather than teens looking to connect.
But others dismiss the numbers with a wave of their hand. Sure the percentage figures mark a slide in “high school” and “college” attendees, but what does that say? According to one Facebook philosopher, “The data is based on which Facebook users choose to identify the school they attend on their profile pages.” With graduation just a month or so behind us, “millions of young peopledrop[ped] online affiliations with their alma maters.”
The data farm itself, istrategylabs, calls it “the most troubling statitics [sic]” and points to “rumors that these younger user groups are being aliented [sic] by their parents joining the service.”
Privacy concerns, parental fleeing, or just a graying Facebook population, the statistics do give users something to think about. Maybe you should post it on your status.
