iEntry 10th Anniversary
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Facebook is growing exponentially and it shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, recently wrote a post on the Facebook blog announcing that Facebook has grown to 250 million users. If that isn’t impressive in itself, 50 million of those users have joined the social network in the last three months!
Although those numbers are extremely impressive, Zuckerberg said, “it isn’t just an impressive number; it is a mark of how many personal connections all of you have made.” What began as a network of only Harvard students has become a way for people everywhere to reconnect with old friends, classmates, colleagues, and family.
With Facebook member numbers growing so quickly, who exactly is joining? A recent study done by iStrategy shows that there has been a 513% growth with users 55 years and older. That same study also showed that the use of college-aged students has dropped 21.7%. So it seems that what once was a networking haven for a very youthful group of college students is turning into an aging social network.
WebProNews spoke with several long-time members of Facebook, from its days as a college student-only site, to see if their user behavior has changed with the growing popularity among older members including parents, grandparents, former teachers, family friends, etc. Results show that most younger members seem to be on the fence about the issue. Kyle Kendall, a graduate student at the University of Kentucky, said he is “50/50 on the issue.” Alex Breslin, a University of Kentucky graduate, said she does not like sharing the site with an older crowd and has blocked her photos from everyone she is friends with over the age of 30.
There is no debate that Facebook has been a fantastic way for people of all age groups to connect regardless of whether you were a college student when you joined or a grandparent of five. It will be interesting to see where Facebook will go from here and what, or more importantly who, it will connect us to in the future.
(8 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
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Ohhhh!!! 50 million of those users have joined the social network in the last three months!
Regardless of ages, facebook is the number one and fantastic social network in the world. The growth of 50 million users in just three months is impressive. I don’t notice any problem with the new age thing.
I do not see any problem with this new age thing.
Facebook has got to be the best social networking website out there. Great name, great idea just fascinating to see it evolve.
Now that’s a use of Social Media that I can see great benefit in. Older people need to stay as connected also and may have a harder time doing it. Also shut ins. By the way, younger people should watch what they are putting out there anyway – it will come back to haunt them sometime. Good manners and morals!
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Well, I was looking at some comments and some of the comments in the video as well. Let me say something from experience to the person who mentioned that if you have integrity you don’t have to censor yourself, and then in response as well to the person who stated that she had to be careful what she said because her minister wanted to be her friend on Facebook.
I am a minister of a small conservative congregation, and I heavily use the Internet where many of them just know how to use email and that’s about it. I’m one of only two families that have High Speed Internet. I try to pull the rest of the congregation forward into the 21st Century but it isn’t always easy.
At any rate, I took a trivia quiz on Facebook and it tossed one out at me for which I was not prepared. The quiz had a somewhat questionable title. When it was over it published my score on my profile, which in turn got a little announcement of my score and the quiz title sent to all my friends. One of the friends has a mother – acquainted with ladies at my church – who saw it and had a royal fit, which got the rest of the congregation riled up at me before they even heard from me what had happened or even bothered to ask me what it was. The quiz itself was a 2 minute, 10 question quiz which I let run off me like water off a duck’s back and never even though about again until two angry sisters showed up at my door. By then it had already spread to the rest of the church – all before anyone asked me about it, mind you.
The point being, if you think you have to be “so careful” because your minister might see what YOU say, how do you think he feels about having to be extra-careful himself, because people have such unreasonable expectations of the preacher and are constantly ready to believe the worst? And secondly, even if you have “integrity”, people can AND WILL misinterpret what you have posted, so I agree 100% to keeping your profile secret, but go an extra mile beyond that because sometimes even your friends on Facebook can cause you trouble.
[...] for a very youthful group of college students is turning into an aging social network. According to WebProNews: Facebook has grown to 250 million users. If that isn’t impressive in itself, 50 million of those [...]
If a person is acting with integrity in their life, there would be no reason to censor their words, actions or thoughts. This may be the biggest problem with people of all ages – the lack of integrity.
it would be interesting to see that.
The simple fact that younger users feel that they have to sensor themselves is a good thing, the last thing they want is a potential employer down the road see things on their profile that could disqualify them for a job.
Statistics show that employers do check Facebook and that 33% of them found things that actually led them to disqualify a candidate.
Social networks are very public places and it’s amazing what anybody can pull googling somebody. Usually social network profiles come at the top of searches (search engines love social networks) and employers are shifting more of their recruiting efforts towards social networks versus job boards and other more traditional recruiting techniques.
Carefully considering what is on their profile is probably not what high school or college students or even the more mature crowd think about when they post, but what you don’t know can cost you dearly down the road.
Nothing disappears on the internet so, don’t post things you might regret when they come up, when you least expect it.
it would be interesting to somehow find out the different levels of engagement between each age group e.g wall posting vs the use of applications – this would certainly be useful info to marketers!