2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report: 276% Growth in 35-54 Year Old Users
By Peter Corbett on January 5th, 2009
Posted in
Buzz Monitoring, Digital Word of Mouth, Interactive Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Social Network Analysis
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In October 2007, I wrote about “Facebook Demographics Direct From Their System” that gave an account of Facebook’s demographic composition using a few statistics that might be interesting to marketers. Ten months later, we followed up with “Facebook Demographics 2008 Update – It’s Getting Older In There” which showed that the fastest growing group, the 35-54 year old segment, grew at a rate of 172.9% in that period.
Below is our third granular examination of Facebook’s demographics and statistics directly from their Social Ads platform. The biggest surprise (perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising) was that Facebook’s 35-54 year old demographic segment not only continued to grow the fastest, but it accelerated to a 276.4% growth rate over the past 6 months. That demo is DOUBLING roughly every two months. Here’s the full breakdown:
Download 2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics as an Excel spreadsheet
Top Insights:
1) The 35-54 year old demo is growing fastest, with a 276.4% growth rate in over the approximate 6 months since we last produced this report
2) The 55+ demo is not far behind with a 194.3% growth rate
3) The 25-34 year population on Facebook is doubling every 6 months
4) For those interested in advertising alcohol on Facebook, there are 27,912,480 users 21+, representing 66.3% of all users
5) Miami is the fastest growing metropolitan area (88.5%) and Atlanta (6.4%) is the slowest
6) There are more females (55.7%) than males (42.2%) on Facebook – 2.2% are of unknown gender.
7) The largest demographic concentration remains the college crowd of 18-24 year olds (40.8%) which is down from (53.8%) six months ago.
Take away? Parents and professionals are rapidly adopting Facebook. Should a marketer be concerned about this shift if they’re focused on youth marketing?
No. Facebook’s ad targeting enables zero waste from an age targeting perspective. Additionally, Facebook Pages now have an age restriction feature. What I think we’ll see in 2009 is a flurry of alcohol marketing as Facebook approaches a critical 70% concentration of legal drinking aged users. The 21+ demo should reach that 70% mark at the end of Q1. The alcohol category does pretty well in recessionary times after all!
Justin Thorp
January 5th, 2009 at 10:51 am
What would you say is the #1 example of someone that used FB to reach new audiences and extend their brand?
Marcel
January 5th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Yes, I’d be interested to hear some success stories. Seems like a lot of businesses use it to cross-pollinate their news/developments/deals etc.
doug
January 5th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Peter – Thanks for sharing. This confirms what I have been thinking over the last several months. I am in the 35-54 age group and my college and high school classmates are joining in droves…
Martin
January 15th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Great stuff as usual. Youth Marketing Connection’s blog links to some good resources too: http://www.youthmarketing.com/its-facebooks-world-we-just-live-in-it/
Kathy O'Reilly
January 29th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Due to the nature of my work, I’ve been active on Facebook for quite some time. However, many of my friends have joined for the sole purpose of connecting with high school friends to spread the word of significant upcoming High School Reunions. It makes sense that anyone who graduated High School in the mid to late 70s and early to mid 80s, will be celebrating major reunion milestones (20, 25, 30 and 35-year High School Reunions); the same folks in your 35-54 demo surge. Many of this same age group are also recent victims of the economic recession and are now turning to Facebook for the first time in search of jobs; hoping to get the word out to all their Facebook friends.
admin
January 29th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
@Kathy thank you for your insightful comment. It’s very interesting on many fronts!
-Peter
Andy
January 29th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Anybody have any idea on the average network size, or size trends?
Nicholas Tolson
January 29th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I’d ask the same question as Justin above, but add a B2B qualifier to it:
What would you say is the #1 example of someone that used FB to reach new audiences and extend their B2B brand?
corbett3000
January 29th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
@nicholas @justin I think Hubspot has probably done the best job on the B2B side. On the B2C side…Victoria’s Secret Pink is probably tops…
StupidGenius
January 29th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
“That demo is DOUBLING roughly ever two months”
Wouldn’t that mean a 700% increase in 6 months, not 276%. Or is there something wrong with my math?
corbett3000
January 29th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
@stupidgenius
Month 1: 200 users
Month 4: 400 users
Month 6 800 users
Total growth from month 1 to 6: 600
600/200+ 300%
That was my math….
Nicholas Tolson
January 29th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Thanks, Peter. Would love to hear what they’ve done that makes them stand out.
When you look at these demographics you can start to see why some people think B2B social network marketing spending is set to double in 2009. ( http://www.emarketer.com/Reports/All/Emarketer_2000516.aspx ) Who are the peeps in senior positions at companies? 35-54 year-olds, of course.
Lisa
January 29th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
oddly, i can’t share this article on facebook using the SHARE button.
Chris
January 29th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
I was just thinking the same thing Lisa. I would love to share this with my Facebook friends.
Doug in Texas
January 29th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I call this the Thanksgiving phenomenon…at least in my little world. I’m one of those in later part of that demographic. This past Thanksgiving, with all the nieces and nephews around the table as FB friends, I knew things about their lives that even their parents didn’t know. My siblings wondered how I knew so much that even they didn’t know about their kids. That did it for all of my siblings (all within the mentioned demographic). Within weeks most of them were on Facebook.
corbett3000
January 29th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
@Lisa @chris i just added that functionality
I need to revamp this whole site!
Spudmonkey
January 29th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Nice article but I have a pedantic nit to pick.
Accelerated means increasing speed over time.
excelerated means???
admin
January 29th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
@spudmonky yeah…i have no idea. but i just fixed all the typos. thanks for pointing that out.
MarkS
January 30th, 2009 at 2:17 am
Also good to see that people joining facebook for drugs has a much lower growth rate than those joining for sex or rock and roll…
I’m in the 55+ group, and joined recently to lightly keep in touch with what my kids, teens and married 20’s are talking about…now I find it a great way to keep lightly in touch with my own friends and extended family.
Peter Ramsey
January 30th, 2009 at 11:17 am
It totally makes sense. I am 53, don’t socialize much anymore, and find Facebook convenient to keep in touch with family and friends. It is like having a TV Guide to your social life. Do you want to go to the BBQ, dad? No thanks!
How about Wendy’s bridal shower? Oh sure, I love watching those 30 somethings squeal like pigs, etc. On second thought, the BBQ sounds like fun, count me in. Must buy beer.
Ferrari Guy
January 31st, 2009 at 10:55 am
i think alot of it is just old folks wanting to spy on their kids
John
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 am
I am interested in knowing some other demographics, for instance the number of people who identify themselves with a disability on Facebook. I dont know if these statistics would be available but would be very helpful in my work.
rojo
February 5th, 2009 at 3:47 am
i just think that the percentage of 35-54 year olds on Facebook increased that much because this group now away from social school life and friends and FB is a good way to get in touch again and talk about the feeling of nostagia we all have (i believe). this is great! but we might get bored after a certain time though
Carousel30 Interactive Media
February 9th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Great report, and this definitely is in line with the general consensus floating around out there, but it’s good to see it in writing. I think you’re right about there being no need for concern about those interested in targeting the younger demographic. If anything, it’s great for those of us that have various clients targeting different age groups!
TeasasTips
February 10th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Very informative and invaluable marketing information for those seeking an understanding on monetizing facebook. I wrote an article with a link back to this original post. Thank you very much for sharing. Here is the link:
http://www.webmoneysuccess.com/2009/02/facebook-is-growing-up.html
Web 1 Marketing
February 16th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Some great info here. When I received a friend invite from my mom, who is nearing 65, I realized something was up. The numbers are useful, especially for those of us who are being asked by clients whether they should consider advertising on Facebook. Speaking of, it would be great to see some numbers on the effectiveness of just that…are advertisers getting good results? Obviously it’s going to depend on a lot of factors, but it would be interesting nonetheless.
Peter Corbett
February 24th, 2009 at 9:10 am
@web 1 Marketing regarding you question of weather or not people are getting good returns from their Facebook Social Ads campaigns, here are my thoughts:
1) at iStrategyLabs we’ve run Fbook Social Ads campaigns in the Finance, Travel (airlines), Automotive and Dating sectors. Using board geographic targeting and board messaging, the results were dismal as expected. Using highly geo-targeted ad serving, as well as geo-specific copy/creative our results we’re “pretty good’ and out performed the general targeting method 6x-8x over.
2) We used Facebook Social Ads to laser target the technology developer community for our Apps for Democracy campaign, and experience insanely high click through and conversion rates. Here’s the case study on that: http://www.istrategylabs.com/government-20-the-rise-of-citizen-innovation-through-open-data/
hope that helps
Peter
April Lynch
February 26th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Looks to me as though Houston was the largest growth area…not Miami. Did I read the chart wrong?
Blog Sejarah
March 25th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
a very informative article
eve
April 7th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I’m curious as to why there are so many christian-based adverts on the site?
Chris
April 12th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Peter thanks for this information – very useful. Where did you gather this data from? Although it totally makes sense, I’m just curious how concrete the information is.
thank you for sharing
David
April 15th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
It’s sunny outside. Go out and enjoy it. Or do anything except sit at the computer all day.
Hans
April 16th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Quite honestly, I find it somewhat troubling to see that out lives are so readily and easily “reduced” to data and statistics essentially for the purpose of making money. More and more, it just seems like EVERYTHING in American society is ALL about money and making money, and “business” it’s almost like an illness! Just MY view.. I mean.. obviously some good things arise out of business here and there as well, and some information actually is entertaining, or enlightening, and indeed, useful. But it just seems like everything (people, fish, animals and non-renewable resources included) are so quickly reduced to figures and spreadsheets and whehter or not they’re seen as being somehow profitable.
I do know that I resent being categorized and this whole thing where people are labeled (gen X. “baby boomers” etc) comes largely out of advertising and demographers with a desire to make MONEY. We’re herded off into our respective categories and I really think it serves to just further separate us all form on another.. Now young people seldom associate with, OR talk to, “older” people -in fact we’re ALL sort of divided from one another and I really don’t like it or think it’;s good for us. And yes , I think it arises form stuff just like this, and advertising and marketing. I just don’;t know how healthy it is for society and the planet in the long run and the bigger picture. I’m worried.
Another concern is how anything seems to be “okay” as long as it’s called “business” “Well, it’s just business” “We;ll, that’s business” etc etc. You hear it all the time. Well, we’;re bulldozing your neighborhood and foreclosing on your home and ruining the planet, and overfishing the seas, but it’s OKAY, because that’s “business”. As long as it’s business or it’s something seen as profitable, it’s given a pass and is unassailable and people can do pretty much whatever they want with impunity and no real consequences. I think there’s going to be high price to pay for that whole mentality – and we’re already seeing the signs of social erosion and environmental collapse. I hope people wake up and change… perhaps Facebook will help.
Peter Corbett
April 17th, 2009 at 12:12 am
@hans point well taken. Data however is objective regardless of whether or not you may feel ‘de-humanized’ by it. The information presented above is certainly useful for brands that want to sell products, but you should also know that it’s very useful for other groups like non-profits that need to reach the right people to things like…oh feed hungry children by garnering donations and volunteers.
@david I enjoyed a beautiful day outside in DC today!
nadia
June 4th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
It’s actually a phone book without having to go through each local phone book all around the world……people move all over yet remember and miss eaach other….no need for an ever changing personal wall, just occasional posts about where eaach other lives… small yearly fee… good for business and for happiness…cool.
tom
October 8th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Excellent and informative article thank, Facebook is huge now.
Regards
http://www.facebookloginhut.com
salina
October 13th, 2009 at 5:53 am
i’m doing a research regarding the effects of social network site to a group of students in Malaysia and apparently it leads me to this wonderful statistics. any suggestion on what should i look into of this research?
Paul
October 19th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Great article, will be using it for a report im currently writting, in regards to some succes stories with marketing with facebook and socialnetworks. The company i currently work for is recrutiment site mypeoplebiz.com, companies pay us to ’seed’ the social networks for candiates, and give referal bonuses to people theri refer friends to roles in their social networks.
it going pretty well so far, and have managed to get some high profile companies involved!
kim f
January 15th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
interested how usage frequency correlates to these demographics. i suspect that 35+ do not use facebook except for approx. once a month. thoughts? additional insight on this?
Sharon Swendner
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:40 am
Peter,
Do you have any data on ethnicity of Facebook and other social media site users?
LeRoy VanHee
February 9th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
More women than men are registered in FB, do you have any statistics on what percentage of the comments (posts) are from women vs. men?
Peter Corbett
February 9th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
% of comments on what? A Facebook Page?
LeRoy VanHee
February 9th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
% comments in the News Feed. It seems to me that much greater percentage of comments are made by women. I’m not sure what that means (if true), perhaps they are more sociable(?)
Peter Corbett
February 9th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Your intuition is correct. We manage Facebook Pages with roughly 1,000,000+ combined fans – across those wee see 55-60% of all interactions (likes, comments, wall posts) coming from women.
Eduardo
March 2nd, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Hello, wonder if someone has a figure that shows how many fb users in the US are parents with kids younger than 18?