Who’s right, Betty White or the newest AARP Social Media Survey for the 50+ Crowd? AARP’s study prompted the group to redesign its website to increase its focus on social networking and refine its look and feel (good excuse). The survey shows that social networking is becoming more and more of everyday life of Americans 50+ and specifically the Boomer demographic.
- Two out of five (40%) adults age 50 and over consider themselves extremely (17%) or very (23%) comfortable using the Internet.
- The majority of those 50+ who access the Internet do so from a desktop computer (57%). One-quarter use a laptop (26%), 4 percent use smartphones/blackberries, 4 percent use mobile phones, and one-quarter (27%) do not access the Internet.
- Approximately one-quarter of all those 50+ use social media websites (27%) with Facebook being by far the most popular (23%).
Granted Betty White is 88+ (not even closer to being a boomer) and says:
“… I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time. I would never say the people on it are losers, but that’s only because I’m polite. People say ‘But Betty, Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends.’ Well at my age, if I wanna connect with old friends, I need a Ouija Board. Needless to say, we didn’t have Facebook when I was growing up. We had phonebook, but you wouldn’t waste an afternoon with it.”
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For more information on survey results, visit http://www.aarp.org/technology/social-media/info-06-2010/socmedia.html.
