Pew Internet & American Life Project Gives Us More Insight Into Social Media Users

Pew Internet reports, “The number using social networking sites has nearly doubled since 2008 and the population of SNS users has gotten older.”

The breakdown looks like this:

• The average age of SNS users has shifted from 33 in 2008 to 38 in 2010.
• Over half of all SNS users are over the age of 35.
• 56% of SNS users are female.

The report is filled with interesting nuggets, such as:

• Facebook users are more likely to trust in others and are more politically engaged,
• MySpace users are more open to opposing viewpoints, and
• LinkedIn users have more diverse social networks than users of other sites.

While fascinating to read and identify with the above findings, marketers should truly pay attention to these stats:

• Nearly twice as many men (63%) as women (37%) use LinkedIn.
• The average adult MySpace user is younger (32 y.o.), and the average adult LinkedIn user older (40 y.o.), than the average Facebook user (38 y.o.), and Twitter user (33 y.o.).
• MySpace and Twitter users are the most racially diverse mainstream social network platforms. However, a large proportion of users of “other” social network services are racial minorities.
• MySpace users tend to have fewer years of formal education than users of other social network services, whereas most LinkedIn users have at least one university degree.

These demographics may surprise you, or they may validate your own assumptions about which social media sites are best to engage in a dialogue with your customers. In either case, the differences between the social media options are becoming clearer as the popularity of social media increases.

Make sure to gut-check your social media strategy with the tidbits in this new report. You can download your copy at Pew Internet.