How is reading blogs different from reading e-mail and using search engines?
Most peers at my age — I’m a later era baby boomer, now called Generation Jones — are comfortable receiving e-mail and using search engines. This population hasn’t yet fully embraced social technologies such as blogs. This is changing slowly. Jeremiah Ohyang, in “How Baby Boomers Use Social Media“, describes that:
- 71% of younger boomers (age 43 to 52) in 2008 were active with social technologies, as compared to 52% in 2007, and
- 65% of older boomers (age 53 to 63) in 2008 were active with social technologies, as compared to 45% in 2007.
A further breakdown of the social technographic of boomers shows a bimodal (i.e. two-bump) distribution.
- The largest bump of boomers (67% and 62%) is readers as “spectators” of blogs and forums — probably arriving at the web site via a bookmark or a search engine.
- Of boomers reading blogs, fewer are “joiners” who maintain a profile on the web, or “collectors” who are receive updates as feeds.
- Contributing content, boomers show a smaller bump as 35% and 34% as “critics” who leave comments on blogs and forums.
- Less than half that number are “creators” who upload and publish primary content, which means bloggers under age 43 outnumber bloggers over age 43 in a ratio of 6-to-1.
What are boomers missing? They may not want to become authors (i.e. “creators” or “critics”).… Read more (in a new tab)
How is reading blogs different from reading e-mail and using search engines?
Most peers at my age — I’m a later era baby boomer, now called Generation Jones — are comfortable receiving e-mail and using search engines. This population hasn’t yet fully embraced social technologies such as blogs. This is changing slowly. Jeremiah Ohyang, in “How Baby Boomers Use Social Media“, describes that:
- 71% of younger boomers (age 43 to 52) in 2008 were active with social technologies, as compared to 52% in 2007, and
- 65% of older boomers (age 53 to 63) in 2008 were active with social technologies, as compared to 45% in 2007.
A further breakdown of the social technographic of boomers shows a bimodal (i.e. two-bump) distribution.
- The largest bump of boomers (67% and 62%) is readers as “spectators” of blogs and forums — probably arriving at the web site via a bookmark or a search engine.
- Of boomers reading blogs, fewer are “joiners” who maintain a profile on the web, or “collectors” who are receive updates as feeds.
- Contributing content, boomers show a smaller bump as 35% and 34% as “critics” who leave comments on blogs and forums.
- Less than half that number are “creators” who upload and publish primary content, which means bloggers under age 43 outnumber bloggers over age 43 in a ratio of 6-to-1.
What are boomers missing? They may not want to become authors (i.e. “creators” or “critics”).… Read more (in a new tab)
