NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - March 8, 2011) - According to a new WealthSurvey from the Luxury Institute, 64% of U.S. residents earning at least $150,000 per year are currently on Facebook, while another 4% will join soon. Wealthy members, on average, have 145 "friends" with 18% reporting 250 or more Facebook friends.

Age is a big factor in adoption: 72% of wealthy 21-34 year-olds are now on Facebook vs. only 56% of those 65 and older. Millionaires are less likely (60% vs. 69%) than modestly wealthy Web users to have a Facebook account; men are less likely than women (69% vs. 58%) to join.

Almost half (48%) report joining Facebook even though they want to restrict access to personal information on their profiles, and 44% fear that information could be vulnerable and lead to identity theft.

Wealthy Web users cite maintaining existing personal relationships (49%) and locating and reacquainting with old friends (46%) as the top two reasons for taking the Facebook plunge. One in three joins Facebook to be able to view photos and read what others have to say. 

Nearly one-third (29%) of wealthy users access Facebook via mobile devices, mostly smartphones, but 10% use tablets like Apple's iPad. One in five use location services to find Groupon-style local deals.

"For luxury firms who advertise with Facebook or simply post news and offers on their Facebook profile, there is clearly rich potential for creating closer relationships with customers," says Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. "Closer relationships lead inevitably to higher sales."

About the Luxury Institute (www.LuxuryInstitute.com)
The Luxury Institute is the objective and independent global voice of the high net-worth consumer. The Institute conducts extensive and actionable research with wealthy consumers about their behaviors and attitudes on customer experience best practices. In addition, we work closely with top-tier luxury brands to successfully transform their organizational cultures into more profitable customer-centric enterprises. Our Luxury CRM Culture consulting process leverages our fact-based research and enables luxury brands to dramatically Outbehave as well as Outperform their competition. The Luxury Institute also operates LuxuryBoard.com, a membership-based online research portal, and the Luxury CRM Association, a membership organization dedicated to building customer-centric luxury enterprises.

Contact Information:

For Further Information Contact:
The Luxury Institute, LLC
Martin Swanson
Vice President
(914) 909-6350
mswanson@luxuryinstitute.com