Old People Swarm Facebook, Overtake College Students

Perhaps to the dismay of college students across the nation, 40 percent of Facebook's audience, following the lifting of membership restrictions in September, is now over the age of 34. It's not like we didn't see this coming since day one. What was once an exclusive social network for 18-22 year olds (or anyone with a .edu address) is now home to the masses. The much older masses according to new figures from comScore.

Since September, membership has jumped 89 percent from 14 million to 26.6 million as of May. Fully 10.4 million members are 35 or older. Though that's a significant shift, the biggest growth came from the 25-34 set which jumped 181 percent and the 12-17 set which jumped 149 percent.

So, what's a poor college student to do now since their younger siblings, parents and grandparents can snoop on their previously semi-private online lifestyle? Is there no privacy for the poor college student? Hmm. There used to be this thing called the offline world. We're not too familiar with it but we hear it was this place where only the people you actually stood in front of and talked to could hear what you said. But that's just stupid. We can't quite wrap out head around that weirdness. After all, isn't everyone in the world supposed to know which song you just listened to, when you last Twittered, the contents of the Note you just posted, which friends you just added and see the new picture of you in your just-purchased bikini? Just how the hell did those offline people live back then?

Written by Steve Hall    Comments (5)     File: Research, Trends and Culture     Jul- 6-07