Contrary to
popular believes, ‘Digital
Immigrants’ generation of internet users in Nigeria are becoming more active than the netizens, according to the latest Twinpine
Research made available to ITRealms.
Digital
immigrants, ITRealms reports are
known as individuals
who were born before the existence of digital technology and adopted it to some
extent later in life. The opposite is the ‘digital natives’ who are persons born during or after the
general introduction of digital technologies and through interacting with
digital technology from an early age, and purported to have a greater
understanding of its concepts, according to Wikipedia.
The study, ITRealms gathered is a comparative taken
from about 22,000 respondents which showed that internet users between the ages
of 33 and 53 years known as Generation X; were more active on the internet when
matched against their counterparts aged 19 and 32 years of age otherwise known
as Generation Y.
Speaking on
the findings, Research Lead at Twinpine, Ms. Eniola Moronfolu said this paints
a different picture from the generally accepted idea that the internet is the
medium of the younger generation.
“This knowledge is an eye opener and shows how
trends in internet usage are taking shape among consumers. This also means that
marketing efforts can be more effectively targeted to reach the right
demographics,” she said.
She pointed
out that the activities which topped the list in terms of frequency of use for
Generation X, were the use of search engines for research; News on current
affairs, lifestyle, entertainment and sports; and online shopping.
Citing an instance
with the research findings which she said showed that 50 per cent more people
between the ages of 33-53, regularly purchased goods and services online and 6
per cent more of this demographic were more likely to share information on
social media or lodge a complaint about a product or service via social media.
She
emphasised that the probable factors for the increased usage by this age
bracket include higher spending power not only in purchasing advanced mobile
devices, but also to purchase bigger data bundles as well as goods and services
online.
Noting that
though the gap was still not very wide, the figures predict a trend of growth
which would affect the way both advertisers and digital marketers approach
targeting and segmentation of consumers based on the type of media they
consume.
ITRealms recalls that Twinpine Networks
runs a major mobile advertising network across Africa and carries out periodic
research on internet usage across multiple platforms through the support of
partners within and outside Nigeria.
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