Here’s the latest research from Pew Internet Research, looking at Why Americans use social media.

So, why are you addicted?

It all boils down to friends and family. Two-thirds of Pew’s respondents say staying in touch with family and current friends is their ‘major reason’ for using social sites. 50% say ‘reconnecting with old friends you’ve lost touch with’ is a major reason.

After friends and family, a huge drop. Only 14% say connecting with others with shared interests or hobbies is a major reason (35% say ‘minor reason’). And 5% say ‘reading comments by celebrities, athletes or politicians’ is a major reason.

One interesting twist …

Older adults (50-64 years old) — i.e., donors — are the most likely to use social media to engage with others around interests and hobbies. That probably includes interaction around causes and politics.

But more fascinating is this survey research from Ipsos Mendelsohn on the social networking of Affluent Americans (household income $100,000 or more).

Affluent Millennials (18-28 years old) use Facebook 7.5 hours per week and Twitter for 8.3 hours. By comparison, Affluent Boomers (45-64) use Facebook 3.5 hours/wk and Twitter 2.8 hours, while Seniors (65+) drop to 2.3 hours and 1.3 hours respectively.

Here’s what got me … Among Affluents, 32% agree “I usually check e-mail or Facebook within 30 minutes of waking up in the morning”—a figure that rises to 50% among Affluent Millennials.

I’ll be that percentage rises to 90% amongst Agitator readers … affluent or otherwise!

Tom

Today we have even more social net data from Nielsen.

Like Pew, Nielsen notes some especially strong growth amongst older demographics, in this case pointing out that internet users over age 55 are driving the growth of social networking through mobile devices. 40% of all social media users access these nets via their mobile phone (37%) or IPad (3%) .

Nielsen reports that social nets and blogs now account for 23% of the time Americans spend online. The core demographic — female, age 18-49, educated.

While the research didn’t ask specifically about charitable giving, the report does note that 70% of active online adult social networkers shop online, 12 percent more likely than the average adult Internet user.

I would hypothesize a similar ‘consumer’ pattern with respect to online giving. Evidence: Social netters are 26% more likely to give their opinion on politics and current events. And without giving stat details, Nielsen says that offline, active adult social networkers are more likely than the average adult Internet user to be found at political rallies … tweeting, no doubt!

Finally, 53% follow a brand on a social net … it could be yours!

Tom

P.S. The report indicates usage of all the major social net sites, and includes some limited international data as well.

Says Pew in its latest study:

“Fully 65% of adult internet users now say they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, up from 61% one year ago. This marks the first time in Pew Internet surveys that 50% of all adults use social networking sites.”

And regarding Boomers, our largest giving cohort:

“… among the Boomer-aged segment of internet users ages 50-64, social networking site usage on a typical day grew a significant 60% (from 20% to 32%). ‘The graying of social networking sites continues, but the oldest users are still far less likely to be making regular use of these tools,’ said Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and co-author of the report. ‘While seniors are testing the waters, many Baby Boomers are beginning to make a trip to the social media pool part of their daily routine.’”

So, Boomers are climbing aboard the social sites in appreciable numbers … 51% have now “ever” used a social site. Beginning to hold fundraising interest for me.

Tom

In Blame The Boomers (Again) on the blog Engage:Boomers he takes on those who say the Boomers are to blame for America’s decline — e.g., the theory of NY Times columnist Tom Friedman.

Since we’ll all be trying to raise money from Boomers for the next few decades (the youngest Boomer is 47 years old), it’s useful to compare theories on what these rascals are all about.

Says Thornhill:

“… more than any other generation today, Boomers are waging an economic revolution that will slowly but steadily shift societal views of economic success from what’s happening on Wall Street back to what’s happening on our streets.

Signs of this change are already showing up in the personal finances of Boomers and how they are consuming goods and services.

For example, Boomers are now hoarding their nuts rather than displaying them for all to see. How? The old-fashioned way, by prioritizing their needs over their wants and living on a budget.”

He continues:

“We know it’s easy to blame Boomers for, well, everything. But maybe it’s the Boomer generation’s ultimate legacy to shape a new ethos for our society — responsible consumerism.

It seems the message of Depression-Era parents has finally taken root in the Boomer brain: save money and live within your means. Boomers account for only one in four Americans, but they are responsible for over two-thirds of consumer spending. If they consume in a more responsible manner, so too will others.”

If Thornhill is right, where does charitable giving fit into the Boomer mindset of ‘responsible consumerism’?

Less impulse giving? More demand for evidence of results and performance? More loyalty once they’ve found a charity that ‘works’?

What do you think?

Tom

He notes that there are more Americans age 51 than any other age, and that the average age of Boomers is 54.

Argues Reilly: “Anyone reviewing sales data has to recognize that a giant number of customers (in almost any conceivable category) are in their 50s and 60s. Not just some of them, but most of them … In 2011, that undeniable fact is: most sales are going to consumers in midlife and older. And those consumers require a different marketing approach, demand different qualities in the products they buy, and value relationships with brands differently than their younger counterparts. They also have more money.”

In the face of this “undeniable” purchasing power, Reilly says marketers are finally waking up to the necessity of positioning their brands against the requirements of a more mature consumer.

This theme is pushed further in this NY Times article … In Shift, Ads Try to Entice Over-55 Set.

Hmmm. It seems to me that fundraisers — certainly direct response fundraisers — have always recognized that their appeals were most welcomed by older donors … folks older than Boomers. Boomers are simply now joining the ‘matures’ party and swelling its numbers.

So this should be nothing but good news for fundraisers … unless for some reason Boomers are carrying with them some attitudes or expectations that make them harder to ‘sell’ to. Here at The Agitator, we’ve tended to argue that Boomers are more demanding of demonstrated performance … Who gets results? And more of them?

By now, your nonprofit should have plenty of Boomer donors in your file. What’s your take on them … any different than the ‘Seniors’ who preceded them?

Tom

We all know the growth is strong — 43% over the past decade. America’s 50.5 million Hispanics now account for 16.3% of the US population.

Five states — New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona and Nevada — have populations that exceed one-in-four Hispanic. And nine states account for 76% of the total Hispanic population — Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

However, what I find most striking is the ‘diffusion’ of the Hispanic population throughout the country. 81% of Hispanics lived in those nine states in 2000, and 86% in 1990.

Moreover, the states with the largest percent growth in their Hispanic populations include nine where the Latino population more than doubled, including a swath in the southeast United States — Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina. The Hispanic population also more than doubled in Maryland and South Dakota.

Do you think of any of those states when you think “Hispanic”?!

Bottomline … are you communicating with this population?

For nonprofits who have not traditionally addressed the Hispanic community, you have two alternatives:

Focus on making your existing program relevant to the Hispanic audience, and communicate that relevance in culturally appropriate manner. That is, address Hispanics as “Americans” with the same underlying hopes, fears and aspirations as any other Americans.

Or, identify areas/issues of unique interest and priority to Hispanics — but within your general sphere of concern and competence — and develop new programs addressing those areas. That is address Hispanics as having special concerns that your organization might not have focused on in the past.

For your organization, is it a communications challenge or a programmatic one? Or both?

Tom

I’m intrigued by Villa’s prediction of a Hispanic baby boom: “With close to 20 million Hispanics at or entering child-bearing age over the next 10 years, the potential for a new baby boom is real. The resulting demographic shifts could reverberate across U.S. culture and commerce for the next 50 years.”

The new 2010 US census data might find Hispanics hitting the 50 million mark … or certainly pretty damn close. WOW! Do Hispanics fit into your fundraising planning yet?

Tom

Given the usual focus on studying Boomers, we were surprised read on Social Citizens blog about this 2010 study of Millennial Donors conducted by fundraising agencies Achieve and JGL. A fresh study will be released in April.

The basic message of the Millennials survey is ‘get personal.’ For all their touted use of online/mobile media, Millennials really like direct interaction … events, interaction with organization leaders, volunteering. I was struck by this observation …

“The good news is that, once engaged, these donors seem more than willing to bring others onboard. Roughly seven out of 10 of the respondents said they would communicate with friends and family about ways to get involved in the organization, and about the same number said they would be willing to ask others to volunteer. The willingness fell off slightly when it came to asking for donations, however, with 51.6% of respondents saying they would be willing to ask family and friends for financial gifts.”

The second phone/online survey was conducted post-2010 congressional elections by direct response fundraising agency OMP. It queried a sample of progressive advocacy donors and activists selected from a range of groups including ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Oxfam America, NRDC, Common Cause and others.

This survey focused more on the political and issue mindset of cause supporters following the election.

The message here is one of disillusionment (amongst online activists especially) … “donors and activists look at 2011 as a year in which not much good can happen … They operate from a position of deep disgust with a corrupt political system, one that seriously limits their interest in emotionally investing in Beltway-based progress.”

Based on such low expectations, the report warns that “donors and activists can easily lapse into the belief that action on their part won’t have any positive consequences and inaction won’t do much harm.”

The survey makes no pretense of representing all charitable donors. That said, Frank O’Brien and his team at OMP have been successful political and cause fundraisers for decades … I’d take their analysis of the fundraising context pretty seriously if my nonprofit was working the center-left side of the political aisle.

Keeping in mind that OMP looked at two different segments, actual donors and online activists (who were not donors to the providing organization), it is nonetheless noteworthy that 54% the donor segment contribute to 10 or more organizations, while 75% of activists contribute to less than ten groups (46% to less than five).

OMP notes an overall downward trend in the number of organizations direct response donors typically support, and worries that groups might find it harder and harder to convert online activists into donors … a proven strategy in recent years.

Here is the OMP study.

Tom

P.S. Interesting factoid. Who remains the champ as primary news source for OMP’s progressive donors and activists? NPR … even amongst the generally younger online activists.

Here’s their latest report, Generations Online 2010, comparing the online behavior and internet use of Americans across generations.

In what they term the “biggest online trend” Pew reports that certain key internet activities — including donating — are becoming more uniformly popular across all age groups …

• Email
• Search engine use
• Seeking health information
• Getting news
• Buying products
• Making travel reservations or purchases
• Doing online banking
• Looking for religious information
• Rating products, services, or people
• Making online charitable donations (Pew reports that 22% of adult Americans make online donations)
  
• Downloading podcasts

You can download the full report here.

Tom

Is it just a speed bump?

Or is it the beginning of the end for this historic cadre that has driven the planet’s cultural, social and consumer trends since we climbed off our tricycles?

The Boomer Project’s keen analyst of all things Boomer, Matt Thornhill, offered some observations on the milestone. He notes that two recent major studies — one by the Pew Research Center, the other by AARP — arrive at opposite conclusions.

Pew telegraphs its findings in the headline of its report: “Boomers Approach 65 … Glumly.” As the study says: “Perched on the front stoop of old age, Baby Boomers are more downbeat than other age groups about the trajectory of their own lives and about the direction of the nation as a whole.” And: “Fully 80% say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country today” … well beyond the dissatisfaction expressed by other generations. Here’s the Pew study.

Fundraisers, I leave it to you … good news or bad?! Donors want to change things, right?

[Parenthetically, this recent Harris Interactive survey reports that all Americans are gloomy ... at least over the economy and their personal financial situations.]

AARP on the other hand only surveyed individuals who will turn age 65 during 2011. AARP finds this group generally satisfied and optimistic. Seventy-eight percent say they are satisfied with the way things are going in their lives today. And 7 in 10 say they have achieved all or most of what they wanted out of life. Here’s the AARP report.

What does Thornhill make of the contradiction?

“…with a generation some 76 million large, there are countless variations. You can’t sum up generational attitudes in a word or a phrase. There are tens of millions of very happy and satisfied Boomers of all ages, and there are some soon-to-be-65 Boomers who are depressed and, well, glum. The only thing we can tell you with certainty is that Boomers are not old. Follow the logic: the median age is 56 and, according to Pew, the typical Boomer feels nine years younger (so age 47) and thinks “old age” starts at age 72 — some 25 years in the future!”

Methinks Boomer glumness will only get worse, unless they all read Erik Erikson on aging! Because Boomers are yet to begin processing psychologically that — despite the hype that 70 is the new 50 — certain things, not all good, are inevitable!

Fundraisers: Given contradictory survey data, to be on the safe side, you better raise that Boomer money while you can!

Tom