Loading...Gaming grannies the forgotten women?
The world of ‘apps’ is not just the domain of young geeky males. A survey just out conducted by YouGov and Lady Geek reveals that technology and software are no longer just the preserve of geeks, with women over 55 feeling liberated by their smart-phones. The report highlighted that 39% of female smart-phone owners aged 55+ have downloaded one or more app to their smart-phone and that surprisingly, gaming was the second most popular category for the same group with nearly 1 in 5 female smart-phone owners stating a gaming app is their favourite compared to only 1 in 15 of men in a similar age band
The number 1 app for females over 55 is -you guessed it- Facebook, with 18% of survey participants in this group saying that a social networking app is their favourite. Nearly a quarter of them find out about their favourite apps by recommendations from a friend compared to around 13% of men within the same age group.
In the US, the number of women over 55 on Facebook is almost double the number of men in the same age group (Source: Inside Facebook, Feb 2009). Yet despite this growth, companies tend to ignore this ‘invisible and forgotten’ generation and pay little or no heed to what they want or need.
“We set out on a mission to understand how older women use technology and raise the agenda of these ‘forgotten’ women. We are so obsessed with youth and yummy mummies in this country we forget that a third of our population is over 50. The women we spoke to loved what ‘apps’ could do for them whether it be ‘snacking’ on a 10 min Bejeweled game or updating their Facebook page with new photos. A revolution is going on within this older group but no-one seems to notice or pay any attention to these women. These women represent a significant financial opportunity as they have high amounts of disposable cash” says Belinda Parmar, founder of Lady Geek, an independent company which helps technology companies understand women.
Tags: facebook, gaming, iphone app, ladygeek, Surveys, yougov
April 21st, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Dear Nikki (Girl Geek)
I so agree with your article that women over 55 do seem to be forgotten with regards to promoting any technology for this age group. I feel sure that most women over 55 do shop online much more than men. They probably do all the bookings, trains, planes and holidays as well as looking for any form of information such as delays on the tube etc. Most women of this age group also have more time to just enjoy facebook as you mention in your article just to keep in touch with family and friends, again more so than men of a similar age. The more involement we have the better.