Older Americans joining Facebook

WASHINGTON, April 13 (UPI) -- The online social networking site Facebook is growing in popularity among older Americans, a U.S. researcher says.

In recent months older Americans have been joining Facebook and other networking sites that have long been popular with younger generations, CNN reported Monday.

Industry leaders say seniors account for the fastest growing age group on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. CNN said many users 55 and older first signed up for the sites to keep tabs on younger family members.

Facebook's popularity is growing most quickly among women over 55, says Inside Facebook, which tracks Facebook's growth.

There are about 1.5 million female users older than 55 on the Web site, a 550 percent increase over six months ago. By comparison, membership among people younger than 25 grew by less than 20 percent during the same period, the site says.

"We've reached critical mass where there's been enough talk about Facebook and people have gotten so many invitations from their friends, they're going, 'OK, what is this Facebook thing? I've got to get onboard or I'm going to be left in the dust,'" said Stanford University Professor BJ Fogg.