A recent study conducted by AARP and the Center for the Digital Future boasts that online community involvement by users aged 50+ “even mirrors teenage use.” Overall, it seems both the quantity and quality of Internet experience has matured among senior adults.
According to the report, 58% of AARP’s 38 million members “log in to an online community daily or several times a day.” And this interest in online communities from seniors is not going unnoticed. Do a search for “online communities for seniors” and you’ll find a slew of sites under construction. With baby boomer annual spending power at $2.3 trillion, smart marketers are already on this like a rat on a doughnut. And smart advertisers – like MasterCard with the Mr. Bill campaign – also know how to appeal to the power of the purse, which is lined with our aging seniors’ vast discretionary income.
“Older boomers are the focus of market opportunity in the next decade,” says Brad Edmondson, former editor-in-chief of American Demographics magazine, in Turning Silver into Gold. “The smart business is going to define a specific consumer target and aim for it with the best marketing information available. The key concepts for reaching boomers around the globe are preservation and quality of life.”
Other AARP report findings – for the 50+ demographic – included:
- 42% get daily news online
- 68% browse brick-and-mortar stores and then buy online
- 46% said Internet was “important for maintaining their social relationships”
- 70% reported their online community was very important or extremely important to them
Not mentioned in the report’s announcement was the power of the Internet to close geographical gaps – an important benefit for any senior user who may have moved to a retirement community out of state or has friends and family spread throughout the country or has a grandson/granddaughter serving in the military.
For the senior adult community, the Internet is no longer just for sending humor emails.
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