I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m still a little amazed when I see the elderly chatting away on cell phones. It’s somewhat of a stark contrast for me because I remember seeing my grandmother’s rotary phone as a child and now I see her answering calls on her cell phone instead. And no, I’m not that old but I do remember the rotary phones (before Urban Outfitters made the designs a hip thing) while touch tones were also an option for making calls.
I definitely don’t underestimate the older demographics. I’m getting used to commenting on my cousin’s status on Facebook, then seeing my uncle’s comment under mine a few hours later. I’m getting used to seeing my best friend and her mom’s conversation on my homepage. I’m getting to the shrug-off point.
I know and I certainly see the older demographics not only adopting and adjusting, but integrating all this technology and weaving it into their daily lives... so what does surprise me is a recently released study conducted by The Barna Group that explored how technology is shaping different experiences and expectations among generations. Although the study does point out that "many of the bloggers, music downloaders and users of social networking websites are from the Boomer and Buster cohorts" because "Boomers and Busters represent about two-thirds of the adult population", the study seems to undermine their technical savvy. AdAge.com also recently pointed out this generation’s dominance on the big two, "As of January, more than 50% of Facebook users and 44% of MySpace users in the U.S. were over 35 years old, according to ComScore estimates."
The study breaks users down into four generations – Mosaics (18 - 24), Busters (25 - 43), Boomers (44 - 62) and Elders (63+) then categorizes each generation’s use of technology into Mainstream (technologies used by at least one out of every two computers users (50%+)), Emerging (Those used by at least one out of five but less than hald computer users (20%-49%)) and Limited (Technologies used by fewer than one-fifth of computer users (19% or less)).
So, what sticks out from this chart that doesn’t fit right with my personal observations as well as other recently released research surveys? These are the points that I question:
- Busters, Boomers and Elders fall into the "Limited" category for both having "posted a comment on another blog" and "maintain personal blog".
- Busters are only in the "Emerging" category for "watched a video online".
These are surprising to me because Forrester Research just released a report that show more than 60% of those in the Baby Boomers generational group actively consume socially created content like blogs, videos, podcasts and forums. It's true that they might not be heavily involved with content creation but as far as commenting and watching videos go, Baby Boomers are there and on the rise, "In 2007, the percentage of Boomers consuming social media was 46% for younger Boomers (ages 43 to 52) and 39% for older Boomers (ages 53 to 63). By 2008, those number increased to 67% and 62%, respectively."
In short, there is no doubt that the 35+ demographics makes up for many of the profiles and accounts created on social media sites but credit must be also given to them on their ability and usage of the functionalities of the sites.
