Living in a digital world

Silver Surfing Social Networkers

Source: E-Consultancy

As the graph shows, the 55+ market has been responsible for an increasing share of website visits over the past 3 years. They are forecast to have the biggest growth in internet use in the next 6 years.

By 2012 nearly 70% of all 55-64 year olds and around 1/3 of people aged 65+, will use the internet at least once a week.
(nVision Research. 2006-based projection)

But, how they are using the internet offers much more insight. An Axa survey of over-65s in 11 countries has found that internet use has overtaken traditional pastimes of DIY and gardening. It reported that:

* 40% of retired people are regular e-shoppers
* Travel tickets are the most popular item, with 45% regularly booking online
* 84% use the internet for keeping in touch with friends and relatives via email
* The next most popular online activity was ‘looking for information’, selected by 83%
* 35% go online for banking activities

(Source: All from Internet Statistics Compendium E-consultancy 11th July, 2007)

Social networking sites are popping up specifically for this age group, which mirror the functions of the younger Facebook. One example, of many, is the 50+ site Eons where members can build a profile, upload photos, chat with others their age, book travel, date online etc. The site claims to have 1 million clicks a month.

However there is speculation that the market is saturated with these targeted sites and infact, the over 50’s would rather be part of the younger sites like Facebook. Users over 35 now account for the majority of Facebook members

Perhaps the true value for this online market is not through dedicated social networking sites to their demographic. Rather sites that link relevant content for them to social networking facilities relating to that content.

A great example of this is Waitrose.com. It has linked its e-commerce facility with discussion forums and recipe scrapbooks that members can build up. It even has a canapé calculator to work out how many you need for your party.

As this market continues to grow as a viable online target, more research will be done into further segmenting the over 50’s age demographic rather than treating them as one homogenous market. What are the different needs of a 55 year old, 65 and 75 year old surfer and what will they be in the future?

October 29, 2007 - Posted by robertjenkins | Uncategorized