Do Kids or Adults Use Facebook More? – A Look at Facebook Age Demographics
Although we hear often about the prevalence of social networking among teens, Facebook usage and age demographic data suggest that the vast majority of Facebook users are adults.
The following graph shows a country-by-country breakdown of the percentage of Facebook users below the age of 18, and dispels the myth that most Facebook users are teens.
According to data obtained from Facebook’s demographic reporting program, the mean percentage of Facebook users below the age of eighteen is 12.6%. The United States, currently the largest segment of Facebook’s nearly 175 million users, shows very similar usage, with 12.3% of Facebook users in the United States under the age of 18. The United Kingdom, the 2nd most popular country for Facebook, shows approximately 10.8% of users below 18. Among Canadian Facebook users, 14% are below 18.
Indeed, unlike gender or penetration statistics, when it comes to age, there appears to be little connection between the percentage of under-18 Facebook users and their countries, languages or regions. Countries with the largest number of Facebook users tend to have the largest numbers of teens, but in terms of percentages, there are no clear trends to be found from a first-glance at the data.
All of this seems to jibe with prevailing market research which suggests that Facebook’s fastest growing demographic is, in fact, adults. The Pew Internet and American Life Project has shown that during Q4 of 2008, one of Facebook’s fastest growing demographics was females aged 55 and over. They also show research from December, 2008 that shows that social networking use has quadrupled in the last three years among adults, and that roughly 35% of adults now have profiles on social networks.
What does this all mean in terms of social network advertising? In a nutshell, it means that different age groups may have very different browsing habits, which can have a big impact on how they use social networks – which, of course, can have a big impact on how you advertise to them through those social networks.
6. March 2009 at 08:45
[...] Facebook Age DistributionI’m hungry for any statistics that help focus my understanding of the emergent culture. It’s funny that Baby Boomer, who practically invented youth culture, are having such a hard time being on the other end of it. Social Networking tools are already the preferred method of communication in the under 30 set. [...]
10. March 2009 at 15:41
Well, I’m a mom over 50, and I got a facebook account just so I can keep track of my daughter. I imagine there are lots of others like me. But once I had an account, I started to use it to keep up with my other friends, younger and my generation, that I found on facebook.
11. March 2009 at 12:29
We live in the Hurricane Katrina zone. I know many adults who are on the site to reconnect with friends who disbursed after the storm.
There also are several groups started to keep in touch with classmates, etc., as well as the usual business and social networking.
I think there generally is a younger crowd on MySpace than Facebook.