Are you too old to ‘get’ social media?

Those who fear that they are too old to understand the new technologies that are sweeping the marketing world may perhaps be sobered to hear of María Amelia López, the “world’s oldest blogger” who died at the age of 97. She took up blogging on her 95th birthday. She presumably got many of the same benefits from it as younger bloggers do: companionship, support, and new horizons – all of which are that much more valuable, one can only assume, to the elderly.

For business people, there are two lessons here. Number one: you are never too old to get a grip on social media. Number two, López could be said to epitomize the marketing concept of the ‘silver surfer’ demographic. If your business caters in any way to an older market sector, the internet is your ideal forum.

As social media becomes more established, and as the current younger generation inevitably age, my belief is that 97-year-old bloggers will become a norm, not an exception. Now might be the time to make sure you’re up to speed before you experience the intense embarrassment of realizing there are folks in the old people’s home who know more about Facebook and Twitter than you do!