Blog Challenge #27

Alright, I'm putting my blog challenge into effect right now. My first topic is #27- How Woman Use Social Media. But I'm changing it slightly. I will be writing about how men AND women use social media... or something along those lines.

While doing research, I came across a few articles that stated that women tend to use social networking tools more than men (57% of Facebook is women), and that women often use social networking tools to make connections and share personal items from their life; whereas men use them as a means to gather information and increase their status. Alright, I'm calling "bologna" on that. I won't disagree about the women, but the men, really?! If by "gathering information" you mean finding out who broke up with who; and by "increasing their status" you actually mean comparing their conquests. Men do NOT use Facebook to gather information; comeon, it's not Google here! You don't go to Facebook to learn about anything other than a person's business.

Even if there isn't much of a difference between men and women when it comes to how they use social media, there is a difference between the age groups and what they are doing. We can all agree that ages 15-24 have the highest and heaviest usage rates, especially when it comes to mobile phones. I'm definetly one of those people. I'll check my Facebook and Twitter anytime...even during class (I know, I know, I should be paying attention; blah blah).

Older people (45+) typically use social networking to keep in touch with family and friends.  I set up Facebook for my grandpa and that's what he uses it for (even though he barely knows how to use it and asks me a million questions about how to do things). But there are a lot of older people who are tech savvy as well (also called Silver Surfers). I have come across videos of seniors who post regular videos onto youtube (Geriatric 1927, and Great Depression Cooking). I think it's fantastic to see that kind of social networking in seniors; considering my grandfather asks me to transfer his digital camera pictures every time I'm over.

Anyhow, back to the original thought; which has changed to how different age groups use social networking for different reasons. That is a textbook example of the Generation Gap: the difference in values and attitudes from one generation to another.  It makes sense that the older people use social media for keeping in touch with people, because it's basically uncomplicated. My generation (X and Y) is consumed by social media; whereas the Veterans (for the most part) are just beginning to step into that massive, unknown world.