New numbers from an online marketing firm iStrategy Labs indicate that more middle-aged and older people now make up the biggest group using the social networking giant Facebook.

The study found that people with the ages between 35 and 54 years old are now the biggest age group on the popular Web site, accounting for 28.2 per cent of all users in the United States as of July. According to a Washington-based social marketing agency, the number of users with the ages of 55 years and older, grew 514 per cent, to 5.8 million, in the last six months alone, while those between 35 and 54 years edged up 190 per cent, to 20.2 million, in the same period of time. "Facebook has reached such a mass prominence that, having heard it 10,000 times on CNN during the election and in other places, older people say, 'Well, let me check this out,' " said Peter Corbett, Chief Executive Officer of iStrategy Labs.

Following close behind is group of users between 24 and 34 years, who represent 25.2 per cent of all Facebook users. By comparison, younger generation between 18 and 24 years, which accounted for 40.8 per cent of Facebook users in January, is now down to 25.1 per cent, according to the analysis of metrics that Facebook provides for advertisers. The experts say that at least some of the sluggishness can be attributed to the fact that so many young individuals have already become the members of Facebook. Some may be switching to other popular sites, such as Twitter, the San Francisco microblogging service, but their numbers are believed to be limited so far.

iStrategy Labs also found a drop between 16 to 22 per cent in the number of members associated with a high school or college network, which the agency says could mean that fewer people are registering with their schools, or younger users have quit the site. Teenagers 17 years old and under made up 9.8 per cent of the Web site's users, which is down from 13.5 per cent.

It is not necessarily good to use and share the same social network site with your parents and grandparents, Corbett said, because you cannot really be the way you want to be in the place you thought belongs to you and your friends. He added: "My feeling is that they will stay in Facebook; they are just going to tone it down. There is probably nothing wrong with that - it will probably help them get jobs in the future."

The interesting finding is that the percentage of the Web site users by geographical location is the lowest in San Francisco among the ten big metro areas studied, with less than one per cent of users. New York is on the top of the list, accounting for 5.2 per cent of users. The biggest growth rate among Facebook users was seen in Atlanta, up 142.4 per cent.

The firm mainly focused their analysis on the users in the U.S., but the experts say the age contours are likely similar for Canada, even if the overall numbers are smaller.

Tags: Internet Psychology, Society

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