Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

I have been doing some work for Smub, a productivity tool for those of us who like to share links with others… and in doing so, have been researching the demographics of Twitter and Facebook. I have been astounded as to how quickly the demographics of both are changing, and depending on where you sit, they’re probably becoming more valuable for your business.

Twitter Demographics:

According to HitWise in August of 2008, men made up 63% of Twitterers, and in January 2009, according to QuantCast, they make up 47% of Twitterers. Hitwise said Twitter’s largest age demographic in August of 2008 was 35-to-44-year-olds; who made up 25.9% of its users. Today, (again, according to QuantCast) 18-34 year olds make up 49% of its users, the largest age demographic, but the 35-44 year olds now make up 30% of its users, so their age group is still growing.

Facebook Demographics:

Here’s where it’s really changing. I found a series of studies by iStrategyLabs where they analyzed Facebook’s database, and there have been profound changes in older people joining Facebook.

Some highlights from this month’s study:

• The 35-54 year old demo is growing fastest, with a 276.4% growth rate in over the approximate 6 months since they last produced their report
• The 55+ demo is not far behind with a 194.3% growth rate
• The 25-34 year population on Facebook is doubling every 6 months
• There are more females (55.7%) than males (42.2%) on Facebook - 2.2% are of unknown gender
• The largest demographic concentration remains the college crowd of 18-24 year olds (40.8%) which is down from (53.8%) six months ago

So for those who think these social media outlets are only for the young, statistics will tell you differently. The demographics of being ’social’ online are changing quickly.