Thursday - Sep 2, 2010
Teenagers and young adults expressed indignation when Mom and Dad invaded Facebook. Now, a new demographic is friending the family–Grandma and Grandpa. A study released last week by Pew Internet reveals a dramatic increase among older Americans in the last year.
According to the survey:
-”Between April 2009 and May 2010, social networking use among internet users ages 50-64 grew by 88%–from 25% to 47%.
-During the same period, use among those ages 65 and older grew 100%–from 13% to 26%.”
While those over 50 still favor e-mail, they increasing use social media to keep in touch with family and friends.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. As the Baby Boomers retire, they have both computer know-how and time on their hands. Facebook gives them an opportunity to see what the kids and grandkids are up to and to easily network with old friends and coworkers.
As people age, their mobility may be impaired, so participating in life online provides a convenient social outlet–a virtual way to find folks with similar interests. For those living with chronic ailments, there’s an opportunity to join support groups.
Even for seniors who are technologically challenged, technology presents creative solutions. Check out this story of an 80-year-old who uses a fax machine to tweet with her kids.
An interesting aside is that Facebook lets advertisers target various age groups. But guess which group you can’t target? Ten points if you said people over 64. Given the 100% growth rate in this affluent demographic, I bet Facebook will be reevaluating that oversight (discrimination?) soon.
Monday - Aug 30, 2010
Google likes to shake things up and now it’s done it again. It just rolled out a new service in tune with the lean economic times–it won’t cost you a penny.
If you have a Gmail account (and if you don’t, it’s free to sign up), you can now make free phone calls in the U.S and Canada. Calls can be placed from your computer to another computer or from your computer to a landline or mobile phone. Either way, you can’t beat the price, which will remain free at least through the end of the year.
You can also make international calls, but you’ll have to pay. For instance, calls to landlines in Australia and China cost $.02 a minute; calling India will set you back $.06 a minute. Here’s a list of international calling rates.
To get started, go to the Gmail home page and download the voice and video chat plug-in. After you restart your browser, click the “Call phone” link and type in the phone number or select it from the address book. To pay for international calls, use a credit card to add credit to your account. I used the built-in mic and speakers in my laptop in lieu of a headset and microphone. The quality was quite good.
At the moment, the service is only available using your computer’s web browser, not a mobile browser on a smartphone. Is that coming? I believe that it will. And when it does, imagine the havoc it will wreak on the telecommunications industry. A Google Calls app will usher in unlimited talk time–no more charges for extra minutes.
Wednesday - Aug 25, 2010
By now, millions of words have been written about net neutrality, including by me. If you’re a visual learner, this infographic offers a good overview of this controversial issue.
[Via: Online MBA Programs]
