Active social media and generation gaps

Information and Communication Technology 1

Generation Gaps in Social Media

Petter Bae Brandtzæg, SINTEF

ACTIVE seminar, 29th of May 2012

[email protected] Twitter: PetterBB

Information and Communication Technology

An aging world

In 2008 – 506 million people older than 65, rising to 1.4 billion by 2040 (Source: An Aging World, 2008)

By 2020, 25% of the EU’s population will be over the age of 65 (European Commission, 2008)

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New tech, new opportunities

‘‘New technologies will increasingly allow older people to stay active and productive for longer (….) and to enjoy a healthier and higher quality of life for longer.”

(European Commission, 2008)

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Bilde: Aldersfloken.no


Can we include everyone?

Social media will be a key in civic participation and social interaction in

the future….

(Brandtzæg & Roibas, 2009)

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Bilde: Aldersfloken.no

Information and Communication Technology 7Source: http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2012/05/tech/infographic.planet.facebook/


Norway - early adaptors of Facebook

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Source: Institutt for Samfunnsforskning, 2011

- 88 % of the population have an Facebook profile


Facebook penetration in the world (and Norway) as at June 30, 2011, according to the official Facebook number of subscribers reported for each individual country and/or world region Source: World Internet Stats (2011).


But what are social media (or social networking sites)?

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”all-in-one-place-solution”

eMail

Shopping

News

Mobile Photoalbum

Chat/IM

Blogging

Gaming

VideoTV

SNSsSNSs

SNSs typical examples of media convergence and ”mashup-solutions” that try to connect all media and services in to one single solution.Brandtzæg, P. B., & Heim, J. (2008). User loyalty and online communities: why members of online communities are not faithful. In Proceedings of the 2nd international Conference on intelligent Technologies For interactive Entertainment (Cancun, Mexico, January 08 - 10, 2008). ICST. Brussels, Belgium, 1-10. ACM digital library


“all-friends-in-one-place-solution”


The digital divide

“The gap between the haves and the haves not”

Digital exclusion and participation inequality (Norris 2001), a state of isolation and lack of social interaction.

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The majority of European citizens are lagging behind

60% - 42% non-users - 18% sporadic users

Austria, Germany, UK, Norway, Spain

Source: Brandtzæg, P.B., Heim, J., & Karahasanovic, A. (2011).


Digital divide – people that are disconnected

By “disconnected” I refer to not being able to interact with all kinds of people and to not having access to various resources and opportunities, due to lack of "virtual accessibility"


Digital natives (15-24 years)

The first generation to grow

up with digital media technology - “native speakers”

of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet (Prensky, 2001)

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Digital immigrants (older people)

Less likely… to see the usefulness

of new technology to use different

sources of information

to try and to adopt new technologies (technophobia)

to have the skills necessary to use new tech

to use it at work etc

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Challenge: How to include all users in social media…

Increased complexity, more devices, more apps

Higher demands for involvement in terms of co-creation and content production


How is the social media generation gap?

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Daily Facebook usage and age

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A representative sample of online users (age 15–75 years) in Norway in three waves: N = 2,000 (2008), N = 1,372 (2009), N = 708Source Norstat for Brandtzæg (2012)


Number of friends in SNSs in 2010

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N = 391 (only SNS-users), Source Norstat for Brandtzæg, 2012


Which family members do you have contact with in social networking sites?

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Source: Norstat for Brandtzæg, 2012


Motivation to continued usage of the SNS they are using most often

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N = 391 (only SNS-users), Source Norstat for Brandtzæg, 2012


What are 60+ doing online (when not using social media)?

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Source: TNS Gallup, 2011. årsrapport for internettbruk 2011.


Startsiden = aggregate that offer fast access, to news and different search engines


Why people stop using SNSs?

Bad usability (low ease of use) was reported by end-users to be one of the most important reason for reduced use of particular social network sites (Brandtzæg & Heim, 2008)

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Elderly people are motivated to use SNSs if..

1. Help of family and friends

2. Ease of use

3. Relevance

4. Content control/privacy

Source:: Karahasanović, A., Brandtzæg, P.B., Vanattenhoven, J. Lievens, B., Nielsen, T. K. and Pierson, J (2009). (Citizen media Project. Studies from Belgium and Norway)


Conclusion: Elderly people…

Use Internet and SNSs less and different from younger users

Have less friends than younger users Less communication than younger users Less motivated than younger users Choose different internett services

…..but their usage (and motivation) are increasing and there are still several good examples of how elderly people are benefiting from new technologies, remember…

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Thanks

Questions?

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Active social media and generation gaps

Technology

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