Baby Boomers and Seniors Are Flocking to Facebook

May 16, 2010 | By Rick More

A eMarketer report shows that the number of Baby Boomers embracing social media, especially Facebook, jumped drastically between 2008 and 2009.

In its Boomers and Social Media report, eMarketer takes a look at social media adoption among different generations. Results showed that while the percentage of Millennials maintaining a social networking site profile was fairly consistent from 2007 through 2009, the same cannot be said of Baby Boomers’ social media usage.

According to Deloitte data, 2009 was the year that social media bloomed for Baby Boomers, with nearly 47% of them actively maintaining a profile on the social web, which is up 15% from 2008. Further driving home that 2009 was the year of the social BB is the fact that from 2007 to 2008 there was barely a measurable change — just 1% — in that demographic’s adoption of social media.

Boomers also love Facebook far more than other social media sites, with 73% of the group claiming to maintain a Facebook profile, while only 13% have taken a liking to Twitter. We also find it somewhat shocking that only 13% identify themselves as active LinkedIn users. One would think that given their place in the professional world, Boomers would we more active on the professional site.

For another quirky finding, take a look at the percentage of “Matures” — individuals between the ages of 63 and 75 — who use Twitter regularly. Seventeen percent is actually quite high when you compare it with the percentages of the other demographic groups. Also of note is that nearly all the Senior social media users (90%) have picked up Facebook as a new hobby.

It should come as no surprise that the digitally connected youth are the most socially active, with data showing that 77% of Millennials and 61% of Generation Xers maintaining social media profiles. Social media profile maintenance may not be on the rise for these groups, but that’s likely because they’ve been familiar with the web as a social platform for several years now.

You can take a look at two of the telling charts referenced in the report below: