When it comes to using social media, we boomers suck!
Less than one-quarter of US Internet users ages 40 and over use social networking Web sites, so says a JWT BOOM/ThirdAge study conducted last month called "Boomers, Healthcare and Interactive Media."
This, at the same time a study by Interpublic's Universal McCann unit indicated "text messaging, blogging and social networking have reached critical mass with more than half of adults now relying on at least one of these Web 2.0 platforms for communicating with friends, family, or colleagues on a regular basis."
Why the disparity? Oldsters indicate privacy issues, lack of time and just not seeing the point as contributing factors.
The UM study did conclude "age is the driving force behind usage patterns of these technologies."
So, what are we to make of social networks like Eons, Boomj or AARP's new online community? Will they positively influence social media adoption among boomers? I think so.
And what are marketers to do with the generation who has more available disposable income than any other? Is social media lost on them? I don't think so.
As with most new things, it's just a matter of time.
"We're definitely seeing continual shifts," says Graeme Hutton, senior vice president-director of consumer insights at UM, and the chief curator of the agency's highly regarded Media in Mind research. "The great unwashed - those people who have never sent a text message - is getting smaller all the time."
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My $0.02: Early 40-somethings, born in the 1964-1969 timeframe, are more the flex point between the Baby Boom and Gen-X than anything else. We have no real memories of the major events of the 60s, which is IMO a key point in defining Baby Boomer status, and most of us hit the workforce just as computers were starting to occupy more than a passing role in the business world.
Which side of the digital divide we fall on varies widely, depending on our career path and interests.
Posted by:Rachel Luxemburg | June 22, 2008 at 03:15 PM