Social media eh? Preserve of young, digerati, metropolitan types with too much time on their hands and not enough enthusiasm for real work? Maybe not.
A study released in the UK this week illustrates just how far the tentacles of social media are reaching across ages and areas of the country, as well as showing what users are doing.
Produced by social media agency Umpf by way of a study of almost 2,500 adults across the UK, apparently more than half of UK pensioners (over-65s) have a Facebook profile.
While the figure is significantly less than the 95% with profiles for those between 18 and 25 years old, marketing and the potential to engage with those with arguably a higher disposable income should be a wake-up call to travel brands across the spectrum.
Overall, three quarters of the adult population in the UK have a Facebook profile, while a third claim to use Twitter regularly.
What other nuggets have emerged from the study?
- Location-based platforms such as FourSquare are used by 15% of UK adults.
- Around 15% also have Linkedin and Flickr accounts.
- Twice as many men than women have an active LinkedIn profile.
- Almost a third of men check their LinkedIn profile at least once a day, as opposed to 14% of women.
- Four in five woman have a Facebook profile compared to 72% of men.
- Two-thirds of over-65s regularly view YouTube videos.
- South West of England (mostly rural and small towns, only major cities Bristol and Bath) has highest percentage of Facebook and Twitter users.
- Northern Ireland has the highest percentage of YouTube viewers.
Here are results in full: