Posted on September 2, 2010 by timethief
Every generation make its mark by adopting different preferences and standards in language, clothes, music, etc. from the generations that have gone before. Generational determined lifestyles and values have as much influence on buying and purchasing as more common demographic factors such as income, education and gender do. Most of today’s consumers belong to one of three primary generations that typically fall into the following categories: Baby Boomers -born between 1943 and 1964, Generation X- born between 1965 and 1980, Generation Y- born between 1981 and 2000.
Bloggers: Demographic breakdown
June 2010 - With blogs becoming an increasingly popular way for Internet users to get information, it is interesting to see where this content is coming from and who’s writing it. We analyzed more than 100 million blog posts that provided information about their age, gender and location information. — Inside Blog Demographics
* Bloggers in the 21-to-35 year-old demographic group account for 53.3% of the total blogging population.
* People 20-years-old or under are 20.2%
* 36-to-50 year-olds are 19.4%
* 51-years-old and older account for 7.1%.
Online advertising: Generation gap
August 23, 2010 – Only 17 percent of Internet users find online advertising to be appealing and most people considered it to be “intrusive, repetitive, unappealing and cheap,” a study conducted by Connect Insight revealed, NewMediaAge reported. The agency explained that the differences in opinion among age groups are related to the early Internet experiences that older users had. Then advertising was used in an intrusive way, now the younger generation directly interacts with brands and companies through social media.
* 24 percent of the 16-to 34-year-olds do think this type of advertising is appealing
* 50 percent of those over 55 years old said they avoid websites where ads would pop up and “interrupt their online activities.” — Study: Internet users dislike online ads
Baby Boomers
Baby Boomers are the the result of an “explosion” of births occured after soldiers returned home from World War II. The sociologists define those born between (and including) 1946 and 1964 as “baby boomers.” When we think of the baby boomer generation, we often think of the 60s; the decade that seems to have defined the boomers. Since baby boomers make up such a sizable portion of the consuming public, their spending habits and lifestyles have a powerful influence on the economy.
Silver Surfers
Silver Surfers are older adults, generally 50 years of age or older, who frequently surfs the Web and spends time online (“silver” refers to the color of their hair). Unlike neophytes, silver surfers are considered netizens, experienced users of the Net. The phrase silver surfer is commonly heard in the U.K., but applies to midlife adults (generally those in their 40s, 50s and 60s), and seniors (age 70 and over) everywhere.
* Account for 70 percent of the U.S. net worth, controlling $9 trillion;
* Inherit over $12 trillion from their parents — the largest wealth transfer in histor;
* Control 80 percent of the personal financial assets
* Represent 50 percent of U.S. discretionary spending
* Own about 50 percent of all credit cards.
Emerging trends in social networking
August 27, 2010 – According to the studies and surveys conducted by The Pew Research Center and American Life Project social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled — from 22% to 42% over the past year;
(47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one-in-four (26%) users ages 65 and older now use social networking sites;
Between April 2009 and May 2010, internet users ages 50-64 who said they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn grew 88% and those ages 65 and older grew 100% in their adoption of the sites, compared with a growth rate of 13% for those ages 18-29.
The news that older adults from the baby boomer generation and seniors are entering the online environment in significant numbers is important factor to bloggers, who wish to expand their readership by attracting members of those demographic groups.
Attracting Baby Boomers and Silver Surfers
My blog is focused those who are learning to blog and who want to improve their blogging skills and you can see the current demographic data for it in Silver Surfers: The New Social Networking Wave. As there is a dramatic increase in baby boomers becoming silver surfers and taking up blogging, I’m hoping to increase my readership among older internet users. Do you?
* My blog is not in the Legal Adult Content Blogs niche.
* I do not rely on controversy to attract traffic and comments.
* I do maintain a safe environment for commenters, and the language I use is not a barrier to older people online, including baby boomers and silver surfers.
* I choose to use a clean and minimalist theme and the sidear is free of distracting clutter that increases page loading time.
* The only advertising seen on this blog is initated by WordPress.com and I receive no income from it.
No comments:
Post a Comment