Commentary
Percent of Blogging Seniors Only 1/10 of a Point Behind Teens
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 15, 2009
Not only are more people 65 and older heading online, but they are also spending more time on the Web. Time spent on the Internet by seniors increased 11% in the last five years, from approximately 52 hours per month in November 2004 to just over 58 hours in 2009.
Chuck Schilling, research director, agency & media, Nielsen's online division, notes that "The over 65 crowd represents about 13% of the total population and... they're engaged in many of the same activities that dominate other age segments - e-mail, sharing photos, social networking, checking out the latest news and weather... (in addition) a good percentage of them are spending time with age-appropriate pursuits such as leisure travel, personal health care and financial concerns."
88.6% of seniors, check personal e-mail as the No. 1 online activity performed in the last 30 days. Viewing or printing online maps and checking the weather online were the second and third most popular online activities.
Top 10 Online Activities of People 65+ (U.S., Performed in the Last 30 Days) | ||
Rank | Online Activity | Audience Composition (%) |
1 | Personal E-mail | 88.6% |
2 | Viewed or Printed Maps Online | 68.6 |
3 | Checked Weather Online | 60.1 |
4 | Paid/Viewed Bills Online | 51.2 |
5 | View/Posted Photos Online | 50.1 |
6 | Read General/Political News | 49.2 |
7 | Checked Personal Health Care Info | 47.3 |
8 | Planned Leisure Travel Trip Online | 39 |
9 | Searched Recipes/Meal Planning Suggestions | 38.4 |
10 | Read Business/Finance News | 37.8 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, December 2009 | ||
The No. 1 online destination for people over 65 in November 2009 was Google Search, with 10.3 million unique visitors. Windows Media Player and Facebook were No. 2 and No. 3. Interestingly, Facebook, which came in at No. 3, ranked No. 45 just a year ago among sites visited by senior citizens.
Overall, the number of unique visitors who are 65 or older on social networking and blog sites has increased 53% in the last two years alone. 8.2% of all social network and blog visitors are over 65, just 0.1 percentage points less than the number of teenagers who frequent these sites.
Top 10 Online Destinations Visited by People 65+ in November 2009 (U.S., Home and Work) | |||
Rank | Site | Unique Audience (000) | Unique Audience Composition (%) |
1 | Google Search | 10,253 | 7.7% |
2 | Windows Media Player | 8,241 | 10.9 |
3 | 7,946 | 7.2 | |
4 | YouTube | 7,668 | 8.4 |
5 | Amazon | 5,679 | 9.3 |
6 | Yahoo! Mail | 5,638 | 7.8 |
7 | Yahoo! Search | 5,583 | 8.7 |
8 | Yahoo! Homepage | 5,383 | 6.8 |
9 | Bing Web | 4,510 | 10.1 |
10 | Google Maps | 4,397 | 8.4 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, December 2009 | |||
For additional information from Nielsen, pleas visit them here.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.
Well, of course. Teens have not entered the workforce and seniors have exited - all this equals time on their hands. The rest of us have these things called "jobs"...