FACEBOOK, MYSPACE Become Mainstream Marketing Vehicles

(From Advertising Age -- By Michael Learmonth)

Sometime in 2007, the recent grads that made up the core of FACEBOOK came to a doleful realization -- yup, mom and all her friends are on Facebook.

The following year it got worse.

The once-exclusive club of the young was completely infiltrated by colleagues, bosses, neighbors and others who might not be amused when little Johnny gets tagged in a photo getting totally ripped with his pals.

Social networking is no longer a youth phenomenon.

As Facebook marches toward 52 million U.S. users (170 million worldwide), the site is beginning to look like, well, America.

Which is to say, it looks a lot older.

As of January, more than 50% of FACEBOOK users and 44% of MYSPACE users in the U.S. were over 35 years old, according to COMSCORE estimates.

The single biggest age demographic in the U.S. on both Facebook and MySpace is now between 35 and 44.

Indeed, Facebook says its fastest-growing demo is 55-plus.

Facebook, MySpace Become Mainstream Marketing Vehicles