Wealthy Individuals Use Social Media More Than Most Americans

A new Quick Poll from SEI

today showed that 70 percent of high-net-worth individuals surveyed are users of Facebook and other social media sites. That's considerably more than the number of daily social media users among the general populace. According to an August 2010 report from the Pew Research Center, titled Older Adults and Social Media, 61 percent of Americans ages 18 and over have used a social networking site. However, the Quick Poll results make it clear that wealthy individuals have a hard time squeezing in their social media time -- just 17.4 percent of respondents said they use social media on a daily basis. While 38 percent of those surveyed by Pew had used a social networking site in the previous 24 hours. SEI surveyed 46 wealthy individuals with more than $5 million in investible assets. Of those surveyed that use social media, 50 percent said they use Facebook. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they visit YouTube, while just under 35 percent use LinkedIn. "Wealthy individuals are engaged with social media even more than the rest of the American public," said David McLaughlin, Senior Managing Director for the SEI Wealth Network®. "As a company that prides itself on innovation, we're pleased to see this constituency adapting to and even embracing changing cultural trends." For the most part, high-net-worth individuals see social media as a personal activity rather than a business tool. More than half (51 percent) of the Facebook users surveyed say their account is for personal use. Not everybody is on board with the social media revolution -- 31.8 percent of the respondents said they have no time for it.