Older Adults + Social Networking
Mary Madden
Project GOAL Panel
National Press Club
October 18, 2011

About Pew Internet
• Part of the Pew Research Center,
a non-partisan “fact tank” in
Washington, DC
• Studies how people use digital
technologies
• Does not promote specific
technologies or make policy
recommendations
• Research is primarily based on
nationally representative
telephone surveys of adults

State of the Internet 2011
• 74% of adults are online.
• 56% use the internet on a typical day.
• Broadband adoption has slowed – 6 in 10 adults have
broadband at home.
• Most who don’t have broadband at home don’t use the
internet at all.

Home broadband adoption stable since 2009
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
June April March March April March March March April April May Sept. Nov. Jan. May
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011
Broadband Dial-up

Cell phone usage by different ages
Based on adult cell owners
18-29 30-49 50-64 65+
(n=321) (n=535) (n=572) (n=430)
Send or receive text messages 95% 85% 58% 24%
Take a picture 91 81 60 37
Access the internet 64 54 26 10
Send a photo or video to someone 72 65 40 16
Send or receive email 51 46 26 10
Download an app 49 37 17 7
Play a game 53 44 18 7
Play music 58 39 16 4
Record a video 53 42 19 3
Access a social networking site 50 36 13 2
Watch a video 44 32 10 3
Post a photo or video online 37 26 9 5
Check your bank balance or do any
29 22 10 6
online banking
Participate in a video call or video
14 5 2 2
chat

Smartphone ownership is an inflection point
• 35% of US adults own a
smartphone
• One in four smartphone
owners say they mostly go
online using their phone.

Social networking site use by age group, 2005-2011
100%
86%
83%
80% 76%
70%
67%
61%
60%
51% 18-29
49% 48% 47%
30-49
50-64
40% 65+
33%
25% 25% 26%
20%9% 13%
11%
8%
7%
7%
6% 4%
0%
1%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

SNS use on a typical day by age group, 2005-2011
100%
80%
60% 61%
60%
51% 18-29
46% 30-49
38% 39% 50-64
40%
65+
31% 32%
28%
20%
20% 15%
13%
9% 10%
2% 4% 4%
2%
1% 2% 1%
1%
0%
0%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Twitter use by age
% of internet users within each group
100%
13% of all online
adults use Twitter
80%
Half of Twitter users
access the service on
60%
a cell phone
40%
19%
20% 16% 18% 14%
9% 8% 7% 9% 8%
4% 4% 6%
0%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Nov 2010 May 2011

Motivations for social networking use
• For adults ages 50+ staying
in touch with family is the
#1 reason they use SNS
• For adults under age
50, staying in touch with
friends is more important

Barriers to social networking use
• Privacy management can be
confusing (for everyone)
• Security is still an issue and
social media sites have
unique vulnerabilities
• Perception that social
networking sites are
primarily spaces for college
kids and teens

Some Implications:
 Relevance needs to outweigh risk
 Relationships – particularly family
connections – are key
 Mobile connectivity changes people’s
understanding of the internet as a “just-in-
time” information resource

Thank you!
Mary Madden
Phone: 202-419-4515
Email: mmadden@pewinternet.org
Twitter: @mary_madden
Website: www.pewinternet.org