With all the frenzy over learning, using and managing social media, I’ve found it challenging to find reliable demographic statistics on WHO exactly is using social media. And it’s easy to be lulled into thinking “everyone” is involved with social media, be it for personal or professional reasons (like marketing), because we judge a lot based on our own peer groups.

AdWeek and Harris Poll recently teamed up and provided some statistics on how Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have penetrated various age groups, from 18+. No surprise, Generation X and Baby Boomers are still catching up to Generation Y but they are closing the gap.

The poll was conducted at the end of March and beginning of April, so it’s pretty current although Twitter may be a little underreported since Oprah announced April 17th that she would begin tweeting that day. FYI Oprah has 980,957 followers at the time of this writing, not bad for 3.5 weeks!

Here’s a snapshot of what Harris Poll found…

Percent of each age group who have a Facebook or MySpace Account
Gen Y 18-34 years 74%
Gen X 35-44 years 47%
Late Baby Boomer (Gen Jones) 45-54 years 41%
Early Baby Boomer 55 years+ 24%

Percent of each age group who use Twitter
Gen Y 18-34 years 8%
Gen X 35-44 years 7%
Late Baby Boomer (Gen Jones) 45-54 years 4%
Early Baby Boomers 55 years+ 1%

The continued uptrend in social media usage further reinforces what Seth Godin has been saying all along about the fundamental changes happening in the marketing profession, we have great opportunities if we move away from “interruption” marketing to more permission-based, “interaction” marketing.

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