Younger users drop out of social networking sites

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 06-Aug-09, 09:15

LONDON - The proportion of young adults with a social network profile has fallen while more people from older age groups are joining, according to research published by Ofcom.

There are signs that the use of social networking sites may already have peaked among younger adults, with the proportion of those aged 15 to 24 who have a social network profile falling from 55% in the first quarter of 2008 to 50% in the first quarter of 2009.

Conversely, the proportion of British 25- to 34-year-olds claiming to have a social networking profile grew by six percentage points to 46%, and the proportion of 35- to 54-year-olds by eight percentage points to 35%, according to Ofcom's Communications Market report.

However, Ofcom's data does not include children aged under 15, who make up a substantial proportion of users.

Nielsen Online figures quoted by Ofcom seem to back up this data. Social networking site Bebo, which is most popular among younger users, experienced a 17% fall in unique users from June 2008 to May 2009.

However, LinkedIn, a site primarily used for business networking, saw its UK audience rise by 63%.

This latest research comes as publishing group DC Thomson revealed today that it has agreed to buy ITV's Friends Reunited social network for £25m.

The Beano owner, one of Scotland's largest newspaper and magazine publishers, said Friends Reunited will sit within its Brightsolid subsidiary, which operates genealogy website FindMyPast.com.

DC Thomson plans to combine FindMyPast.com with Genes Reunited, a Friends Reunited subsidiary, which will create the biggest genealogy business in the UK.

This merger again indicates the growing interest of older internet users in social networking sites as family history is of most importance to older age groups.

Younger users drop out of social networking sites