BOOMERS LEADING: WHO'S ON THE NEW WEB?

Generation Y/Millennials may have "practically invented" social media as Ryan Healy said in his recent Employee Evolution blog with their use of the original versions of Facebook and My Space, but it's older people who are modifying and using the new web in droves. What is appealing to the older adopters is the hyper-connectivity, real-time updates, and even spending time online.

Statistics from Comscore reveal that:

*  The average age of a Linkedin user is 40. Since deep profiles are a great asset on Linkedin, and Gen Y has not had time to compile a great deal of experience, that site is not so appealing to them. Also, connecting with people in your own industry is not so compelling to Gen Yers who may not think in industry contact terms.

*   The majority of Twitter users are age 35 or more; the age 45-54 cohort is 36% more likely than average to visit Twitter.

*   The groups that are fueling the tremendous growth of Facebook are older: From October '08 to April '09  the 35-54 year old group grew at a 276% rate, and new Facebook members over age 55 grew more than 194%.

According to a recent Accenture survey, Baby Boomers (people over 45) are latching on to consumer technologies about 20 times faster than the younger generations. There has been a 67% increase of Boomers listening to podcasts and reading blogs.

What explains Gen Yers' reticence to embrace the new web technologies given that they are much more tech savvy than the older generations and consider their electronic gadgets to be an extension of themselves? Healy wonders if it's that they see too much connectivity and time online as unproductive and not getting them where they want to go. Or, he suggests, maybe they just don't view what comes from Silicon Valley as cool.

So my message for Boomers who have been holding out as adopters of the new web and are still thinking that web 2.0 and online social networking is for Gen Y/Millennials is that the numbers indicate otherwise. The business focus is clearly on the use of social networking sites for referrals, reputation building, recruiting and job search. And in tight economic times, online is by far the less expensive alternative. Now is the time to jump in if you haven't already.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com