The changing adoption of social media across the generations (charts) – 2012 update

My last refresh of this data was almost a year ago (see: “…The changing penetration of social media across the generations (graphs) – 2011 Update | Ted Eytan, MD) when I was getting ready to talk about social media at the Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Center (@KPGarfield). I’m going back next week…so, data refresh time.

Note that I’ve adjusted these numbers (see the images below) because in health care (and in health), we don’t just take care of internet users, which is how the percentages are reported. If you adjust for the general population, the adoption rate will be lower, and that’s okay. Remember (or commit to memory) that 22% of Americans do not use the Internet, and this number has stayed stable over time.

I suppose the big news from 2011 to 2012 is the percentage of baby boomers who now use the internet – it’s crossed 53 %. In terms of usage of social networks, this hasn’t changed a whole lot, except for a bump in twitter use among younger people, and even this is controversial. I’ll be posting some information I’m finding about the generation beyond Gen Y,  teens, which shows that as much as they are integrating this technology into their lives, there’s still a strong desire for in person interaction.

Using technology tools effectively means knowing their limitations, it’s the optimist-realist thing. And, prevention is the new health information technology. Enjoy.

Click to enlarge and go through visually.