Brandweek has written an article this morning about how Baby Boomers are enjoying social networks. Ha!
“Social networking sites [SNS] used by teenagers and young adults are also being adopted by baby boomers (aged 44-61). The findings show that 41% of baby boomers have visited social networks, such as MySpace or Facebook, and 61% have been to sites with streaming or downloadable video.”
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This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Boomers are texting, using social media and sending emails from their Blackberrys. However, I was recently working with a big death star media agency on a brand launch for Boomers. They told the client that Boomers weren’t using the web; that targeting social networks was not worth it. They cited some old media studies and a new one that said that Boomers didn’t even know what social media was.
I argued. True. Most Boomers couldn’t define social media, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t using it. I showed thensome real world consumer studies that weren’t created by abstract entities. I cited observational studies of of Boomer SNS such as BOOMj and Twitter and blogs. To top it off, I had to explain to the media company that social media is NOT just made up of social networking sites.
What kind of people or should I say, ostriches, are working at some of these media and traditional agencies? The more you know, the better you can serve your clients and increase your own bottom line. Simple.