02 Feb When granny is asking to be your Facebook friend things have changed
Do you recall when only the kids were into Facebook?
It wasn’t really that long ago or at least it doesn’t seem so, well, to those of us a little more worldly wise anyway.
According to recent reports, Facebook is losing its ‘cool factor’ and this is demonstrated by a 25.3% decline in teenagers, aged 13-17, using the world’s most popular social media platform – survey by digital agency ISL 2014.
But whilst the kids are all into Snapchat and Instagram, by contrast the over 55s Facebook market has exploded by 80.4% according to that same survey.
So the age demographic has changed, but don’t take that as a sign of dwindling influence. Facebook now has more users than there are people in China, and it’s certainly a social media machine, which dwarfs all the others by some way.
The use of Facebook is changing too. It is becoming more of a publishing platform, and whilst the photos of cute cats and ‘today’s divine dinner’ annoyingly are still there, it is now a hugely important platform for news.
It is somewhat different to the likes of Twitter, Linked In and Instagram, which are absorbing functionality to keep their audiences onside.
They seem to know what they are. For instance, you can now blog on Linked In, and Twitter has embraced video content, all with the purpose of keeping their customers onside.
It’s all part of a merging online world, where the solid fences of marketing, entertainment and education are moulding into one.
It means if you want to get to those you wish to influence you have to adapt accordingly – imagination is key!
The pace of change and trying to keep up with trends in Public Relations and social media remains relentless for us in the profession, but it is safe to say with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube now so established – the new kids on the block are going to have to do something spectacular to change this.
It is probably for this reason that the over 55s have grown so much as a demographic on Facebook. After all, it has now been around long enough for those not to be impressed by fads to take note.
However, these main players will continue adapting, swallowing up new apps and diversifying to keep ahead of the game.
The mainstream social media is established and when your mother-in-law is sending you a friend request you know this is certainty!
