Over five years ago, a then senior in my undergraduate career at Canisius College, I joined an online network called Facebook. The only way to join was if you had a registered college e-mail address that was within the approved list by Facebook. At the time, I thought of it as a way to stay in touch with all of the great people I had met along my four years as we all moved in separate directions in the "real world". I also was able to re-connect with older friends from high school if they were members of Facebook and if I knew what college they attended.
Over the next few years Facebook began to grow in popularity. They changed the criteria and it was made available for high school students and soon the entire public. Before I knew it my mom, my boyfriend's mom, and other relatives in the 50 years old and over age range had joined. Still, I only viewed it as a way to stay in touch and share information on each other's lives. Not until my recent career change did I realize the importance of Facebook and how it has changed the world as we know it.
In an article posted in USA Today, "Boomers Zero in on Social Networking" , Marc R. della Cava discusses how millions of baby boomers and older have joined in on the phenomenon that was once thought to be only for teenagers. Today, baby boomers are taking over the social networking web with many different networks other than Facebook - such as Twitter and Eons. According to the article, since 2005 the usage of social networking by adults has surged. One third of all adults are now utilizing these networks. However, the reason for doing so surpasses just to keep in touch or plan social gatherings with old friends. Many are using them to meet new friends across the country and share ideas and experiences. According to the Internet monitoring site comScore, there are 16.5 million adults 55 and older now engaged in social networking.
So why is any of this relevant in the grand scheme of things? Businesses can now use the social networking outlets as a way to advertise to other market segments beyond teens and college students. Companies can also utilize them to oversee reviews and feedback discussions they may be receiving from a costumer who posts something on Twitter or Facebook. Companies have to change their focus in marketing and advertising because of the social networking phenomenon. Boomers use these sites to share their opinions on products and services - today this drives the word, not TV ads and print advertising - and the Corporate world is starting to realize this.
Are their downsides to social networking? Sure. You open your life and world for everyone else to know about. But depending on what business you are in, this could be advantageous also. For me, working for an investigation and surveillance company whose focus is on insurance fraud, the social networking sites (particularly with the large number of baby boomers joining) have helped tremendously in our investigations. We have done our homework and we know that the Facebook's of the world are no longer for just teens. Within our in-house research on claimants, we have two employees who focus solely on social networking. With a list compiled of almost 25 various social networking sites, they search for the claimants and often find enormous amounts of information on someone that helps aid our investigation.
For example, Johnny Fraud claims he got injured at work and can no longer bend or lift anything over five pounds. We discover that Johnny Fraud has an open and public Facebook page and today his status reads "Feeling good today... heading to the gym". One of our investigators will then start canvassing the local gyms to look for his vehicle. If we find it, an investigator with a covert camera will enter on a day pass.... and look there... we catch Johnny Fraud doing dead lifts with 100 pounds. It happens ALL the time.... and we have caught someone committing insurance fraud and getting paid on your tax dollar.... and all thanks to Facebook.
Overall, social networks such as Facebook are changing the way we communicate with eachother and how business communicate with their costumers. The changing landscape of users are going to force businesses in particular to analyze and shift they way they advertise and get feedback from their costumer.
Check out more articles at Emarketing Class Blog Spot - http://e-marketingclass.blogspot.com/2010/07/iads-apples-newest-revolutionary.html
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