Baby Boomers and Social Media and Usability

Okay ... 

My hat is off to Jeremiah Owyang for using statistics in the report "How Baby Boomers Use Social Media" to say what I've been saying for years -- that "apparently Baby Boomers aren't exactly the technology Luddites that people think they are."

I can't tell you how frustrating it is to sit through meeting after meeting with people saying you have to be under 30 to "get" social media as if that is an excuse for not trying it if you're over 30.

But I have to say that I don't think lack of adoption of social media by baby boomers is primarily an age-related issue. I believe it is a usability issue.

As social media has developed over the years, some standards have started to emerge, including:

• many of the services are free (so people don't have to worry about online credit card use)
• many of the tools have similar elements - status updates, profile pictures, short bios
• tools are easy to adopt because they've become their interfaces have become somewhat standardized and easier to understand 

As more and more people adopt social media, tools developers have access to more feedback in terms of usability and features that people would like to have. The more feedback you get and respond to from your users, the better you are able to improve your usability.

So, is it a question of age or usability?

What do you think?

Comments

[David Brooker]

This report is from 2007 and is not relevant today..leave it to Forrester to publish outdated information

[Laura Lee Dooley]

Interesting - I hadn't noticed that. What I have noticed is an obvious uptake on over-30s adopting facebook and twitter ... and becoming active users. Would be interesting to take a more current snapshot and to find out why they are adopting (because their kids are using, because they need it for their work, because they feel pressured into jumping on the bandwagon ...?)

[Laura Rossman]

Of course boomers are using social media. Like almost every other technology, there may not be huge numbers of early adopters, but give it time and the boomers become a core group of users -- how could it be any different with a demographic of 78 million people. A few weeks ago Facebook stats showed women 55+ the fastest growing demographic. Watch boomer women, who are shouldering more responsibility with aging parents, adult children returning home and increased financial pressures, look for more ways of sharing stories, information and resources, use social media in greater numbers. Marketers should take note.
Boomers online is main topic of upcoming conference www.boomersummit.com

[Laura Norvig]

I like the way you frame this question. Usability could be an issue because perhaps some boomers don't have patience for an overly complicated interface but really, does anybody?

I think one of the deterrents to full social media participation can be the jargon that springs up around it. Sometimes you feel out of it if you don't know what FAIL, FTW, or RT means.

There still is a gap, I think, between so-called "digital natives" who think of the internet as just another ubiquitous tool that is part of their life, and boomers, who may or may not be totally comfortable online, but with greater usability will come greater adoption for sure.