Research from comScore shows that older internet users are quickly catching on to the social networking phenomenon, with two thirds of over 55s having visited sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter during May.
Despite the significant increase in older users, social networking remains popular amongst youth consumers with 89 per cent of 25 to 34 year-olds and 86 per cent of 15 to 24 year-olds visiting social networks.
The study shows that younger internet users spend significantly more time on sites such as Facebook, with those aged between 15 and 34 averaging 5.4 hours per month, compared with 3.7 hours for consumers aged 55 and over.
Overall, social networking remains one of the most popular online activities, with 80 per cent of the total UK online population visiting at least one social networking site during May, averaging 4.6 hours per visitor during the month.
"There continues to be a misconception that social networking is the preserve of the young. While those under 35 years old are certainly the more prevalent users, there is both a sizeable and heavily engaged audience of those 35 and older as well," says Mike Read, SVP and managing director, comScore Europe.
In fact, advertising on social networking sites has a better chance of reaching these older demographics than site categories such as business and finance, which is a critical insight that might be lost for those trying to optimise their campaign against target audience segments."
Source: revolutionmagazine.com