Baby boomers to take social networks from kids

AARP-ers love web2.0

[Tastatura]

Move over, kids, your grandparents may be taking up more of your computer time. According to a recent report from USC's Annenberg School for Communication and the AARP American consumers over the age of 50 are turning to social networks and other Web 2.0 platforms in huge numbers.

[bizreport.com...]

[rogerd]

70% of Boomers are logging on to social networks; many of these consumers say social nets are "very" or "extremely" important for them.

That's a surprising number. From my own communities, I can confirm that boomer-age adults can be great forum participants. I don't see them posting their favorite tunes on MySpace, though.

[pageoneresults]

I can confirm that boomer-age adults can be great forum participants.

Oh, I can too! I administer a closed forum and the Baby Boomers abound! They are chock full of quality information, humor, and lots of wisdom to share. The Baby Boomers are where its at. We rule!

[jimbeetle]

The Baby Boomers are where its at. We rule!

Got that right. I run a very small private blog-type thingy set up for a bunch of old -- really old -- high school buddies. Everybody visits multiple times per day. Everybody regularly posts new topics (The latest: "How do you know when a good baccala’s gone bad?"), or comments. There's almost always a shoutbox conversation going on.

Even for such a small group the breadth of experience and interests is remarkable. That's probably what makes it easy to get conversations going on diverse topics -- everybody has an opinion or experience to share.

Boomers: We've been there, done that. Now we get to talk about it. And discover new things at the same time.