One-Fifth of Grandparents Use Social Networks [STUDY]

Twenty-two percent of all grandparents are using a social network, a new study by the website MyVoucherCodes suggests.

The study, which collected results from 1,341 grandparents from the UK, showed that 71% of grandparents who use a social network use Facebook, 34% are on Twitter and 9% use the business social network LinkedIn.

A number of these users are quite active, too: 51% say they log in once a week or more, and 35% log in a few times every month.

Sixty-eight percent of those asked said they had joined their chosen social network in the past year. A quarter of participants said they had joined a social network to find old friends, one-fifth said they did it to keep in touch with friends and family, and half were encouraged to do so by younger people in their families.

This latest study, although limited to UK citizens, is in line with other similar recent studies. A Pew report from 2010 indicated that the number of seniors who are using social networking is growing rapidly, while another report from that year showed that baby boomers are increasingly joining Facebook.