Men Spending Less time With Buds as They Age

A new survey by Budweiser has revealed that men as they get older, see less and less of their friends. The beer company, for International Friendship day, announced the results of their new Inaugural Budweiser Friendship Study. 

The survey interviewed 1,000 Canadian men about friendship. Some 80 per cent indicated that they had what they would consider close friends, but 70 per cent agreed they see their friends less and less as they get older.

Distance, work obligations and prioritising family life were the biggest barriers to men meeting up with their friends. All quite natural and understandable stuff. The big shame is that meeting up with friends was described by 75 per cent of interviewees as an activity that improved their general well-being. For those men who have retired, it must be painful to have been too busy to have maintained relationships while working or dedicating time to family, to now have more time in their old age, but no longer have those friendships. 

Budweiser is running a new ThatsWhatBudsDo campaign in Canada to try and encourage men to follow through on meeting up with friends, rather than the empty platitude of: ‘let’s grab a drink sometime’, that is never followed up. It’s giving away over 20,000 restaurant vouchers in a campaign to turn that situation around. 

The data is very revealing and shows that older men should be a major audience for social discovery apps. Those in later life are much more likely to have grown estranged or moved away from friends. Apps and platforms that could help them find new friends in the local area could be extremely beneficial. There is a need for social discovery in that demographic, the big question is how does a social discovery platform effectively reach that audience? 

It is noticeable that social discovery apps aimed at women specifically far outweigh those aimed at the male audience. Perhaps there is a stigma still around asking for help or asking for friends in the world of men. The sooner that is nipped in the “bud” the better.