Why Facebook and Twitter are aging gratefully
Facebook and Twitter users have wrinkles, torn hamstrings, and many, many fillings. And increasingly, they're beginning to complain about chillblains, varicose veins, and the Social Security system. — In just the last two months, the number of Facebook members over 35 has doubled.
Context & Ripple Effects
The demographic shift extends the web’s broader aging pattern identified in 2007. Facebook’s over-35 cohort had already nearly doubled in 60 days by late March, while the service had reached 200 million users and reported five consecutive profitable quarters.
The change also arrives after complaints of Facebook fatigue, making age diversification significant: growth is no longer solely a matter of adding more of the network’s original audience. Twitter’s broad cultural adoption places it in the same push toward a less youth-defined social Web.
First-order effects
- Facebook’s user base becomes more representative of older adults, broadening the social ties and interests represented in its network.
- Facebook’s commercial pitch gains a more credible basis for reaching audiences beyond younger social-network users.
Second-order effects
- Facebook must accommodate a wider range of social norms and usage patterns while addressing the fatigue concerns already voiced about social networking.
- Twitter’s expanding cultural reach faces a comparable incentive to serve an audience that is broader in age as well as in volume.
Third-order effects
- If older adoption persists, social networks shift from youth-oriented destinations toward general-purpose communications infrastructure spanning families and age groups.
- A more age-diverse membership makes retention and relevance across life stages, rather than novelty among early adopters, a central competitive test for Facebook and Twitter.
The trend: Social networking is broadening from a youth-led activity into a mainstream communications layer whose value depends on participation across generations.