Users Over 50 Double Social Networking Use in a Year

U.S. Internet users aged 50 and over have dramatically increased their use of social networking services over the past year, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

A research report titled "Older Adults and Social Media," based on telephone interviews with over 2,250 respondents in April and May this year, found that 42 percent of users in that age group claimed to make use of services such as Facebook and Twitter, compared with 22 percent that claimed to do so in April 2009. Among that group, users aged 65 and over demonstrated the most significant growth, with twice as many using social networks in 2010 than in 2009.

In addition, older users appear to be making more regular use of such services, with 20 percent of adults aged 50 to 64 claiming to use social networking sites on a typical day, up from just 10 percent the previous year.