Gone are the days when cool new stuff is limited to the younger generations.  Senior citizens are also getting their hands on all the fun gadgets, such as computers and their apps, to take part in one of the biggest contemporary obsessions on the internet: social media. And speaking of social media, the first thing that comes into our mind is Facebook, being the most ginormous of all social media websites existing today.

According to this chart, the number of US seniors using Facebook is growing fast. In 2008, there were only 1.2% of seniors using Facebook. It increased to 2.3% the following year. This year, it upsurged to 11%, with 14,775,620 seniors in total.

There are hundreds of classes training senior citizens how to use Facebook each year. Each class has an average of 80 students. Out of 5 seniors, 1 of them logs in to Facebook for at least an hour on any given day, 63% of which are female and 37% are male.

There are 4 main reasons why senior citizens access Facebook. Topping at 40% is to connect with family and old friends. Next, at 30%, is photosharing, then followed by social gaming, and for contests or promos at 20% and 10% respectively.

At the moment, the oldest person on Facebook is Anne D. Krum. Remember her?  She is 105 years young!

[infographic via]