A recent study released by Pew shows that while the Millenial generation (ages 18-33) is still in the lead in most categories of online participation, older generations are making rapid gains – and even coming out ahead in certain areas. As reported by The New York Times, internet users from all age groups increased participation in social networking sites from December 2008 to May 2010:
- Milliennials rose from 67% to 83%
- Every generation 45 and older more than doubled participation
- Adults 74 and older quadrupled their participation (from 4% to 16%)
While the rate of blogging among all online adults rose slightly (from 10% to 14%), it was one of the few online activities to decrease in any age group: the number of online teens with their own blog went down by half, and the number of Millennials blogging also decreased (though not as dramatically). Pew speculates that this is due to the rise of social networking sites, which provide ‘blog-like’ activities (posting status reports, observations, links, etc) and micro-blogging sites (ex. Twitter).
See the Pew Internet ‘Generations 2010’ report for more information.
