Blogs

Barraclough on marketing and creativity

Comments: 2
Rating:
Add your comment
 
Forget Facebook, Twitter is already middle aged!   

A couple of weeks back, our work expereince student wrote about how younger people were beginning to shun Facebook because their parents were now on it. Well, it would appear from some of the latest research from Comscore Media Matrix (link below) is that a similar thing is happening to Twitter with 45-54 year olds the highest indexing group, Not only is Stephen Fry one of the most popular twitterers, but it would appear he is one of the more typical users.

This could well be down to the fact Twitter is so simple. And it may also be due to younger people, as with Facebook, not actually wanting loads of people (especially parents) to know what they are doing. Besides, they already have their own, well established and more secure lines of communcation - via MSN and text.

Of course many of those in agencies - especially digital ones - won't get this because they understand neither teenagers nor anyone over 45. Agency staff are predominantly in their late twenties or early thirties, without any older children to use as a research base and scant understanding of how people slightly older than themselves behave. Teenagers are more traditional than they think and older people more different.

How much advertising is targeted at people over 45? Very little, How many brands are actually bought by people over 45? Most of them. Hopefully, when everything's settled down and the internet gurus have grown up a bit, we can all start using some of these new media outlets in an intelligent, effective way.

http://www.comscore.com/blog/2009/04/twitter_traffic_explodes.html

Published Apr 22 2009, 01:42 PM by CHRIS BARRACLOUGH
Filed under: , , ,

All Comments

Mark Tomkins, TDA
  April 23, 2009

Hi Chris

Good points - especially about teenagers being more traditional than they think and older people being more different.

I referenced your original article in my own blog the other week (9/4/09)...

Silly Old Twit-ter

Did you read Chris Barraclough’s recent blog? He handed over the temporary reigns to Casey Bird – a young student of advertising. Casey’s big gripe was that Facebook is being taken over by seriously uncool oldies… like her dad. Well, guess what, it’s happening to Twitter too. According to ComScore and Reuters reporter Alexei Oreskovic, Twitter’s massive traffic explosion is mainly down to 25-54 year olds or, more specifically, it’s 45-54 year olds who are 36% more likely to visit and 25-34 year olds who are 30% more likely. In fact, 18-24 year olds (the traditional social media early adopters) are actually 12 percent less likely than average to visit Twitter.

Sounds surprising? Maybe not. As the company rightly infers, we may need to drop the traditional ‘young early adopter model’ – as the first generation of internet users grows up and businesses make even greater inroads into social media. Should the kids just get a life? Or should the older folk get out of the playground? Perhaps one can argue that we’re all retreating into a cosy world of ‘kidulthood’ rather than face the global economic meltdown? It’s all around us. Just look at the way that Innocent’s infantilism of ingredient lists has spread to virtually every product on the supermarket shelves. No ‘nasties’, indeed!

CF
  April 23, 2009

Really interesting article. I often think about the same gulf in understanding when I hear companies talk about file sharing and when I hear a teenage acquaintance talk about the same. I absolutely don't condone the practice, but what he wants from a file sharing service and what companies currently offer are worlds apart - with the companies often a few years behind.

To comment on this post you have to be logged in

Jobs

Search More Jobs
 

Directory
ADVERTISEMENT