The general perception of Social Networking sites is something like this: MySpace is for teens, Facebook for college students and LinkedIn is for business professionals. With the exception of LinkedIn, no one thinks about adults on the other social networking sites. However, that is changing rapidly. A recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that now 35% of online adults have at least one profile on a social networking site. That is compared to 75% of those 17 and younger according to this report in Ars Technica. While the teenagers still far outnumber the adults, don’t forget that the adults tend to have larger incomes!
The most interesting part of the Pew report, however is the number of minorities that participate in social networking sites. According to the report, 48% of African-American adults and 43% of non-white Hispanic adults have online profiles. This compares to only 31% of white adults. While 31% of whites are a larger actual number, it still makes an important point: social networking sites can be a valuable means of marketing to minorities. According to a BIGresearch study minorities tend to be higher users of new media so don’t forget to add social networking sites into your media mix!
Modern Media and Marketing 