A new report from Nielsen provides insights into the use of social media platforms and the technology adults use to access them, perhaps offering food for thought on communicating with staff members and prospective residents and their families.

By age group, the heaviest users of social media are members of Generation X, aged 35 to 49, according to the report. They spend 6.58 hours per week on social media. Millennials, by contrast, spend 6:19 hours per week. Those aged 50 or more years spend 4:09 hours per week on social media.

Other highlights of the report:

  • Across all age groups, reach on social media is greatest on mobile devices compared with personal computers or tablet devices. By age group, however, reach via smartphone is highest among those aged 35 to 49 and lowest among those aged 50 or more.
  • When it comes to social media use on computers, the age group with the highest use is the 50+ group, members of which spend 25% of their social media time on computers compared with 18% for those aged 35 to 49 and 12% for those 18 to 34.
  • Regarding social media use on tablet devices, the age group with the highest use was the 35-to-49-year-olds, who spend 13% of their social media time on tablets compared with 12% for those aged 50 or more and 10% for those aged 18 to 34.
  • Overall, Facebook by far is the most popular type of social media accessed on smartphones and PCs. Instagram places second on smartphones, and Twitter comes in second on PCs.
  • On average, Sunday was the biggest day for Facebook and Twitter use.
  • Thirty-nine percent of heavy social media users (three or more hours per day) believe that finding out about products and services is an important reason to use a social network — the highest-rated activity of five included on the survey. This compares with 36% of both light (one hour) and medium (one to two hours) users.

Data are from the third quarter of 2016. Download the full report here.