The number of seniors actively using the Internet has increased by 55 percent to 17.5 million over the last five years, according to a new report from Nielsen.
Among people 65+, the growth of women in the last five years has outpaced the growth of men by 6 percent.
More seniors are also spending more time online. Time spent on the Internet by seniors increased 11 percent in the last five years, from 52 hours per month in November 2004 to just over 58 hours in 2009.
“The over 65 crowd represents about 13% of the total population and with this increase in online usage, they are beginning to catch up with their offline numbers,” said Chuck Schilling, research director, agency & media, Nielsen’s online division.
“Looking at what they’re doing online, it makes sense 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 – and it’s worth noting that a good percentage of them are spending time with age-appropriate pursuits such as leisure travel, personal health care and financial concerns.”
Online seniors participate in a variety of activities, from email to bill paying. Checking personal email was the top online activity for the majority (88.6%) of seniors in the last 30 days. Viewing or printing online maps and checking the weather were the second and third most popular activities, with 68.6 and 60.1 percent, respectively.
The most popular online destination for people over 65 in November 2009 was Google Search, with 10.3 million unique visitors. Windows Media Player and Facebook ranked in the second and third position with 8.2 million and 7.9 million visitors, respectively.
Overall, the number of unique visitors who are 65 or older on social networking and blogs has jumped 53 percent in the last two years. 8.2% of all social network and blog visitors are over 65, just 0.1 percentage points less than the number of teenagers who visit these sites.
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