More Adults Flocking To Social Networking Sites
New research from the media regulator Ofcom said the growing proliferation of parents and teachers now using Facebook and MySpace is causing younger people to shy away from the social networking sites, The Guardian UK reported.
The sites, which have long been dominated by 15- to 24-year-olds, have now been overrun by 25- to 34-year-olds whose presence is driving their younger peers away.
Statistics show that the percentage of 15- to 24-year-olds who have a profile on a social networking site has dropped for the first time ““ from 55 percent at the start of last year to 50 percent, currently.
Meanwhile, 46 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds are now regularly checking up on sites such as Facebook, compared with 40 percent in 2008.
When Ofcom first did the research in 2007, 21 percent of British adults had a social networking profile, but now that percentage has climbed to 30.
Facebook profiles are now a part of half the UK’s online population, which spends an average of nearly six hours a month on the site, compared with four hours in May 2008.
Peter Phillips, the regulator’s head of strategy, said there is nothing to suggest overall usage of the Internet among 15-to 24-year-olds is going down.
"But data suggests they are spending less time on social networking sites," he explained.
While older people seemed to be embracing social networking sites, Facebook and MySpace remained immensely popular with children under 16, according to James Thickett, director of market research at Ofcom.
"Clearly take-up among under 16-year-olds is very high “¦ so we cannot say for certain whether this is people in a certain age group who are not setting up social networking profiles or whether it’s a population shift which is reflecting people getting older and having a social networking profile that they set up two years ago," he said.
Thickett said the main point is that the profile of social networking users is getting older.
The research also showed that the arrival of the 25- to 34-year-old age group appears to be behind the explosion in usage of the popular micro-blogging service Twitter.
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