According to survey from The NPD Group, social networking sites used by teenagers and young adults are increasingly being adopted by baby boomers. The study, Entertainment Trends in America, found 41 percent of baby boomers have visited social networks such as MySpace or Facebook, and 61 percent have been to sites with streaming or downloadable video such as YouTube.
The study, which surveyed 11,600 consumers online, found that over 57 percent of web users overall have stopped at social networking sites in the past three months. Baby boomers stopped an average of eight times in that period.
"Overall, these sites offer a great opportunity to marketers at many age levels, but the boomer visits are really a surprise," Russ Crupnick, NPD's entertainment industry analyst told Adweek. "These things may be targeted to a younger audience, but as we are seeing, there are more older people who enjoy these services."
Nonetheless, the older generation is using social networking sites differently than younger generations. A Forrester study conducted earlier this year found that 41 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds leave comments or create content on social networking sites; only 14 percent of those 55 and over use the sites for the same purpose.
"It tells me that younger consumers want to engage, while older [consumers] are there for information. Which is a good place for any marketer to be," said Jeremiah Owyang, senior analyst at Forrester Research.
BMW, whose average customer is in their mid-forties, earlier this year used Facebook as a medium to promote its new 1-Series. But the Adweek article asserted that most brands had done a poor job of making themselves known to older consumers on social websites.
"What we've found is that technology, media and consumer goods are doing a good job of marketing, overall, in social networks," said Mr. Owyang. "Everyone else is failing."
Discussion Questions: What's the likelihood that traditionally youth-oriented sites such as MySpace and Facebook will become major avenues to reach Baby Boomers? How are Baby Boomers using social networking websites differently than younger generations? What challenges will that present in reaching them?