Social Network Use Hits New High, Boomers Up 60%

65% of adult internet users are participating in a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, up from 61% a year ago. This is also the first Pew Internet survey to show that 50% of all U.S. adults use social networking sites. The growth came mostly from older users. Boomers, ages 50-64, saw social networking usage on a typical day grow a whopping 60% (from 20% to 32%).

Social networking site usage among young adult internet users under age 30 was stable over the last year – 61% of online Americans in that age now use social networking sites on a typical day, compared with 60% one year ago.

"The graying of social networking sites continues, but the oldest users are still far less likely to be making regular use of these tools,” said Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and co-author of the report. “While seniors are testing the waters, many Baby Boomers are beginning to make a trip to the social media pool part of their daily routine.”

When social networking users were asked for one word to describe their experiences using social networking sites, “good” was the most common response.  Overall, positive responses far outweighed the negative and neutral words with more than half of the respondents using positive terms. Users repeatedly described their experiences as “fun,” “great,” “interesting” and “convenient.”