Web-adept Baby Boomers Almost 40 Million Strong

Investors often have their 'duh!' moments, and many didn't see, until recently, the one relatively untapped pool of internet users: baby boomers. The post-war generation is quite comfortable using the internet. In fact, 38.2 million (of a total 78 million) logged on in 2006. Doing the math, we come up with a stat that may shock a few young'ns: A smidgen under 50% of baby boomers are regular netophiles.

Given that there are three times more baby boomers than teens, you see why the investors are clamoring for sites that target this little-tapped demographic. The new rage is MySpaces for the 'matured' (Let's face it: Most boomers don't listen to the same music, watch the same wacky YouTube videos, or would be at all categorized as "emo"). Says Robin Wolaner, founder of the boomer social networking site TeeBeeDee, "There's a recognition that this generation now uses the Internet just like younger people," she said. "The one thing this generation hasn't done yet is network online."

Internet Cafe image by Marc Shandro