Facebook! Boomers Keep Coming!

Thanks to Richard Leider of the Inventure Group and Harry Moody of AARP for forwarding this to my attention..a great article from Business week and oh so true!

"Researcher iStrategyLabs just released new numbers on Facebook user demographics, and one figure stands out: the number of members who are 55 and older grew 25% in the last month alone. The segment more than tripled the overall rate of growth for U.S. users on the site in the month ending August 4, which was 8%.

Much has been made of the aging of Facebook, but the sustained rate at which baby boomers and seniors are joining the site is surprising. It seems that we're past the point where you could call this a fad – older folks are continuing to join the site because they're seeing their friends and family members living their lives on the site and don't want to be left out.

What does this mean for Facebook? It's a valuable opportunity for advertisers on the site, who would like to reach older Americans with more buying power. But the company will have to also think about how the site should evolve to accommodate the increasing diversity of its members. For example, baby boomers appear more interested in intimate communication with their family, and some of them feel like they can't get that on Facebook.

iStrategyLabs gets its numbers from Facebook's Social Ads system, so they're reliable. But it's important to note that this information is not obtained through surveys – it's pulled from user profiles. That means that whatever personal details users leave out of their profiles – such as school affiliations, home towns, and even ages – won't show up here."

This information is thanks to Douglas MacMillan (Business Week, Tech Beat) Check out the cool chart in the article!

Well I'm here at a fabulous hotel the Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City-part of the Fabulous Kimpton Hotel boutique chain! Love love love this hotel chain…will be writing more about this and why so many women and the men who love them…have such a strong loyalty factor to the Kimpton hotel and how they are using social media to its benefit! See you all next week!

Elizabeth