Photo credit: well.ca

There’s a pervasive myth that social media is only for young people — the “college kids in the basement” stereotype. Not true.

Ongoing surveys by Zinc Research (ZincResearch.com) and partner Dufferin Research show nearly 80 per cent of Canadians are on some social network and more than two-thirds of Canadians are on Facebook.

“Over the past year, there has been a surge in Canadians joining Facebook. And most of the growth has come from adults 35 years or older. In fact, almost 7 in 10 (68%) online Canadians are now on Facebook.”

“Online Canadians are gravitating to social media in droves,” says Brian F. Singh, Managing Director of ZINC Research. “Almost 4 in 5 are members of a social networking site, with Facebook being the pre-eminent site. In a matter of 3 years, there are now over 13 million subscribers. Since last spring, Facebook added almost four (4) million subscribers, and has dominated competitors within this market.”

From grey hairs to blue hairs, the signups continue. Often to see pictures of the grandkids, pursue a hobby, or research their stock portfolio, but more and more for business.   From a business standpoint, getting the oldsters enthused about social media can be tricky. It feels to them like an invasion of privacy, an endless stream of the mundane, another chore to fit into a ridiculously busy day.

I had one fellow tell me he intended to outsource his social media efforts to India. Off-shoring your relationships doesn’t sound very social to me. “Want to go for a beer Doug?” “Ask Sandeep, I’ve outsourced friend management.”

I find the boomer plus crowd comes along a lot more willingly if you give them familiar touch points. Like calling Twitter a newswire, Facebook a bulletin board, or a blog an online magazine. It warms them up. Ditto for the tools used to access these platforms. People of all ages want results, outcomes, not tools. Too often we social media dweebs go on about RSS this and retweeting that, and so on. I’m as guilty as the next guy; I get too comfortable in the techno-babble and forget to speak English.

Here’s something almost everyone has mastered – email.

And guess what? Email works just fine as an input to social media. Tell a CEO they can post to a blog from their BlackBerry and you see a visible relaxation of tension. Sure they could learn WordPress, they’re smart and capable, but when you think about it, why should they? After all, the CEO has people for that and she is busy running the joint, not editing.

Tools like posterous are leading the charge. Their slogan is “… the dead simple place to post everything. Just email us.” And it’s true. YouTube has a similar function. Record a video onyour phone, email it to a special address, and hey presto, live reporting from the conference,no geekery required. Ditto for flickr with photos. A little care and attention to the setup and you can erase the barriers to social media participation for your executives.

Someone recently took the time to set up Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Twitter, but in this case his first tweet was from Twitter HQ. As reported on mashable.com:

“Yet another world leader has recognized the power of Twitter. Recently, President Medvedev stopped by Twitter’s headquarters for a quick visit and his first tweet via @KremlinRussia.”

Most tweets don’t come from Twitter HQ, at least not directly, so it remains to be seen whether the relatively youthful 44-year-old Medvedev will haul out the crackberry and start tweeting regularly. Maybe, like Obama and Hugo Chavez, he’ll outsource that.

“Hello, Sandeep? Wassup at the Kremlin?”

As usual, send me your feedback on Twitter at @dblacombe or via e-mail doug@communicatto.com.

Doug Lacombe is president of communicatto.com, a social media marketing agency.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Recent posts

• Top 5 reasons non-profits must be digitally literate
• Six social networks you probably haven’t heard of
• Digital literacy key to success in Canada’s growing digital economy
• Blue Imp social media seminar follow up resources
• Biotalent social media boot camp resources
• Twitter trash talk shaves off pounds
• When warm & fuzzy goes dark & ugly, a #bashtag is born
• Third Tuesday World Kiva Day recap: A community within a community, within a community…doing a world of good
• When will IR ‘get’ social media?
• Book Review: The REAL Truth About Social Media