Facebook is continuing to catch on with people who aren’t currently taking classes. Data provided by the social network indicates huge growth in the 55+ age group, and users between the ages of 35 and 54 now outnumber the 18- to 24- and 25- to 34-year-old sets.
Between January 4th and the 4th of July, there was an increase of 513.7 percent in the number of Facebook users older than 55. This means that about 5.9 million people who admitted to nearly or already being senior citizens can be found on the site.
At the same time, the number of self-identified 35- to 54-year-olds increased from roughly 7.0 million to 20.3 million. Facebook is only supposed to have 18.0 million and 18.1 million 18- to 24-year-olds and 25- to 34-year-olds, respectively, so a sort of milestone’s been reached.
You can see all of this data and more in the table below that iStrategyLabs put together. Just note that the “Unknown” age category really exploded, which could mean about anything with regards to these other stats. And remember that there’s a bigger gap between 35 and 54 (19 years) than even 18 and 34 (16 years), so this is a bit like comparing a bagful of apples to a single orange.
Also, it’s important to keep in mind while viewing the very last section that all growth according to age was positive. So it’s not likely that currently enrolled students are abandoning Facebook; instead, they’ve probably just stopped mentioning their school affiliations.
