MUST READ: Congress demands answers from Google over Glass privacy concerns

Topic: Apps

Google+ searchers are younger, richer than Facebook searchers

Summary: Searcher demographics for Google+ and Facebook vary quite a bit, but should anyone really be surprised?

Emil Protalinski

By for Friending Facebook |

There is a noticeable difference between searcher demographics looking for Google+ compared to those looking for Facebook. The July 2011 data, which showed striking differences in the Age and Income level categories, comes from a recent study released by comScore.

34.2 percent of Google+ searchers skew towards 18-34 year olds, compared to 24.0 percent for Facebook, showing that the relatively new social network is popular with a younger demographic. Since Facebook is a much more mature social network brand, the company's search audience falls closely in line with the search population at large.

The income skews are even more distinct; more than 32.1 percent of Google+ searchers have a household income of $100K or greater, compared to 22.8 percent of Facebook searchers. This may make Google+ more attractive to advertisers, assuming rich individuals are willing to buy what they see marketed on a social network. This is also interesting given that earlier this month we learned the rich generally choose Facebook over Twitter.

"Each example analyzes the demographics of searchers that used the branded terms for the month of July, and are based on head of household," a comScore spokesperson said in a statement. "The index baselines are the searcher demographics for the entire US search population. Available measures are Age, Income, Location (home/work), Region of the US, Household Size, and Presence of Children in the Household."

This data should not surprise anyone: the main thing to take away is that early adopters of social networks are likely to be young and rich, which isn't that much of a shocker. At the start of this month, Google+ passed 25 million users. At the beginning of last month, Facebook passed 750 million users.

See also:

Topics: Apps, Google, Social Enterprise

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Talkback

6 comments
Log in or register to join the discussion

  • I question those numbers.

    I'm surprised, I've built and build databases for survey companies and even they have stated they question some of the income amounts of the people who were in the age demographic of 18 to 34 most them always put down they made $100,000.00 or more, when people who are older for some odd reason tend to be more honest as to what they make for a living. Very few people who are between the ages of 18 to 25 make over a $100,000.00 a year. I know several young people who are on Google+ who work for me and they don't make $100,000.00 a year, and I have a few friends who use Google+ and they don't make anywhere near that amount for a living either. I'm more inclined to believe the companies I've built databases. Although I doubt if the companies would say openly that they question some of the surveyed participates actual incomes, when a person claims their occupation as a recruiter, nurse or even in IT etc. and claim they make $100,000.00 or more is questionable. Most people in established jobs who have worked for a company 10+ years make $100,000.00, in 2009 the average U.S. household income was between $51,726 to $50,221 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau of those individuals with income who were older than 25 years of age, over 42% had incomes below $25,000 while the top 10% had incomes exceeding $82,500 a year.

    The distribution of income among individuals differs substantially from household incomes as 42% of all households had two or more income earners. As a result 20.5% of households have six figure incomes, even though only 6.24% of Americans had incomes exceeding $100,000 according to the U.S. Censes Bureau.
    nacourtney
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Google searchers are younger, richer than Facebook searchers

    YAWN.... I make 125,000 a year (household) and I already canceled my 'fake' Google+ page...
    Hasam1991
    Reply Vote

  • Great

    Now we can look forward to another bogus study that Chrome users are smarter than Internet Explorer users. Yes, a population of close to a billion (Facebook) is going to be more statistically diverse than a population of ~25 million.

    I can do a study too. More Google+ users play lots of FPS and role playing, love comic books, and still live with their parents in the basement.
    Your Non Advocate
    Reply Vote

  • Sounds like Google will say anything (even lie)

    to get attention
    iPad-awan
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google searchers are younger, richer than Facebook searchers

      @iPad-awan I doubt that they lied. The sample size is too small to make any significant statistical claims. comScore is merely sharing their data.
      Your Non Advocate
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Google searchers are younger, richer than Facebook searchers

    Given that Google+ is STILL in beat and by invite only and the majority of the users are tech gurus and celebs I can fully understand these numbers... open Google+ to the world at large like Facebook is then the numbers will fall more in line with the general population.
    athynz
    Reply Vote
CNET Join | Log In | Privacy | Cookies Close