After “The Social Network” film was released, the Facebook startup story became common knowledge. The film highlighted Mark Zuckerberg, Harvard roommates, California, legal disputes, billionaires and can be summarized as the success story of a college social media site, or something along those lines.

But what started as a way for college students to connect online has quickly morphed into a regular medium of communication for all age groups. Although the network is still number one among teens, adults now make up a major portion of the accessible demographic. In this article we’ve collected some of the most important recent statistics about adult’s usage of “the social network” into one place for easy reference.

Adults in general

64% of American adults use Facebook. (source)
The 45-54 age group on Facebook has grown by 46% since the end of 2012. (source)
30% of American adults use Facebook to get the latest news. (source)
Half of all adult Facebook users have more than 200 friends in their network. (source)
48% of 18-34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up, with 28% checking the site before getting out of bed. (source)
59% of all adult Facebook users access Facebook primarily through a desktop or laptop, as opposed to a mobile device or tablet. Of these users, 37% spend at least an hour on the site each day. (source)

Marketing Application: Adults are still joining Facebook and show no signs of reaching saturation. Don’t be afraid to engage earlier in the morning. Keep the mix fresh to draw in recent joiners and entertain your existing audience.

Parents

45% of mothers visit Facebook more than twice a day. (source)
Over 50% of mothers like a brand page for the purpose of receiving offers and coupons. (source)
Most parents (both male and female) will share a post to enter a promotion. (source)
73% of parents say children under 13 should not be allowed to have a Facebook profile. (source)
Over 35% of millennial parents say they have posted on Facebook in the last day. (source)
“Millennial Moms are most likely to use Facebook to share, while Boomer Moms are most likely to use email to share. GenerationX Moms are split; the youngest subgroup (30-34) use Facebook more, while 35-44 use email most to share.” (source)

Marketing application: Draw in new page likes from parents by advertising promotional offers, especially for products and services oriented towards parents of younger children.

Gender-specific

Facebook is split 58/42 women to men. (source)
72% of all women online and 62% of all men online have Facebook accounts. (source)
Women are more likely than men to enjoy seeing photos and videos on their feeds (54% vs 39%). (source)
50% of 18-24 year-old women are wary of sharing private information with Facebook. (source)
Women are twice as likely as men to frequently share purchasing activities on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. (source)

Marketing application: Women are more likely to engage across the board, but men are not a demographic to be ignored, and will perhaps engage on a deeper level with a fewer number of brands. Integrate social sharing options into the checkout process to reach out to buyers’ connections.