Boomers and Social Media is a summary of research from eMarketer.com that discusses facts from May, 2009. That information found that 47% of all baby boomers who make use of the Internet keep up a profile on at least one social networking internet site. That’s an expansion of 15% from 2008. Facebook is the social media site preferred by baby boomers as well as the WWII generation. (via New Report Shows Boomers, Seniors Like Social Media.)
I have passionately fostered seniors on computers and the Internet as a means of preserving a special quality of life for our aging friends, particularly in the field of memory improvement. I, myself, possess a Facebook account and a number of other social media accounts, as well. I review my Facebook page almost every day because it helps me maintain contact with persons I know all over the world. Actually, I have never met some of them face-to-face, and others I may not have seen for fifty years or more!
On Facebook you will find many Activities for Senior Citizens, as well as special groups about almost everything you can think of. It is possible that you will find alumni groups for your high school, people who grew up in your home town, or even your family! If not, you can begin a senior community of your own, or any other kind of group you like! Seniors on Facebook have a number of groups, and I belong to a few of them myself.
If you are browsing this it is likely that you are a computer user. As such, you will already be familiar with the advantages to be gained by owning and making us of a personal computer. However, you probably also know that many aging individuals are uninformed of the things they can do with a computer, or are patently put off by the notion of using computers. This is a dilemma for both them and for us, because we want the associations we might have with them. In fact, if you are the child or grandchild of a senior who doesn’t use a computer or the Internet, you will almost undoubtedly profit from providing that person a hard copy of this article!
Here are some of the capabilities of Facebook that make it so great for seniors:
The Wall is a place on every member’s profile page that permits friends to post messages for the user to see.
Photos, where Facebook members can upload albums and photos. Privacy settings can be specified for individual albums, which determine the users that can check out an album. For example, the privacy of an album can be set so that only the user’s friends can see the album, while the privacy of another album can be set so that all Facebook users can see it. Another feature of the Photos application is the ability to “tag”, or label users in a photo. For instance, if a picture contains a user’s friend, then the user can tag the friend in the photo. This sends a notification to the friend that they have been tagged, and provides them a link to see the photograph.
Status, which allows user’s to apprise their friends of their location and actions. Depending on privacy settings, anyone who can see a user’s profile can also view that user’s Wall. Facebook also allows users to post attachments to the Wall.
News Feed, that shows up on every member’s homepage and declares information including profile changes, forthcoming events, and birthdays of the user’s friends, if users decide to allow this.
Facebook Notes, a blogging feature that allows tags and embeddable images.
Gifts , which allows users to send virtual gifts and cards to their friends
Marketplace, which lets users post free classified ads.
Facebook is rather easy to subscribe to, and the levels of privacy you can get will make most seniors comfortable. Why not give it a shot!
For more information on aging with grace and seniors on computers click on the links to visit these great websites!