Advertising is missing a trick in ignoring rise of the silver surfer

MOST social networks are generally thought of as the preserve of the Facebook Generation – young, web-savvy consumers who were born in the 1980s.

MOST social networks are generally thought of as the preserve of the Facebook Generation – young, web-savvy consumers who were born in the 1980s. And although a third of all Facebook’s users are aged between 35 and 54 – with 41% of MySpace’s audience falling in the same bracket – few websites are aimed at consumers over that.

But by ignoring older web users, many companies are missing a trick. In Britain, 50% of the over-50s have access to the internet, with one in five of these “silver surfers” saying they regularly use email, instant messaging and social networks to keep in touch with friends and family. The lack of interest in this demographic is not unique to the net; although the over-50s spend £205bn ($429bn, E292bn) a year, less than 5% of the total British marketing spend targets them.

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