IN JUST a year, baby boomers and Gen X-eron the Internet.
But the behaviour of these older Internet users on such sites is quite different from that of their younger counterparts, said media analyst Debbi
s have accounted for the biggest increase - all 24.1 million of them - in the number of Facebook users.
This was an example cited by research company Nielsen, which conducted a recent study that found that older people are increasingly visiting social-networking sites
e Swee from IT research firm IDC.
Ms Swee said: "Older users tend not to log in as often, compared to younger ones. They use fewer applications, have less substantial profiles and have fewer online friends.
"Their life doesn't revolve as much as younger people's do around social-networking sites."
However, my paper found that some older Facebook users, aged 35 and above, are as active as younger users ? they log in daily, upload media, play Facebook games and post regularly on their friends' walls.
Reflecting theirmature interests and spending power, others join fan groups of luxury brands and post recipes and pictures of their children. Some even create accounts for their newborn babies.
Keeping in touch with old friends and professional networking are the main motivations for using social-networking sites, they said.
Facebook user and academic associate Andy Low, 39, said:
"At this point in my life, it's important to catch up with old friends who I have lost touch with."
Mr Chan Bin Kan, 36, a project manager and freelance photographer, said: "I post my pictures on Facebook as a way to raise my own profile and to network with like-minded people."
But some others are content to be "basic users" and stick mainly to communicating via messages and wall posts.
Mr Kevin Tai, 38, a sales manager, said: "The younger generation post more photos and more about their thoughts and emotions more indiscriminately. We tend to be more conservative."
Other Findings
Between December 2007 and December last year, there were twice as many people aged 50 to 64 visiting Facebook than those below 18.
Facebook has replaced MySpace as the world's most popular social network with 108.3 million visitors last December, compared to MySpace's 81 million. Worldwide, it is now visited by three in every 10 Internet users.
Social-networking sites and blogs are visited by over two thirds of the
world's Internet population, which now rank ahead of personal e-mail when it comes to Internet usage.
Internet users worldwide spent nearly six times as much time on Facebook last year as they did in 2007 - a total of 20.5 billion minutes.
