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Activities For Senior Citizens: Seniors On Facebook Keeping Up With Friends And Family
Boomers and Social Media is an article from eMarketer.com that discusses facts from May, 2009. That evidence found that 47% of all baby boomers who adopt the Internet maintain a profile on at least one social networking web site. That's a boost of 15% from 2008. Facebook is the social media site of choice for baby boomers and the WWII generation. (via New Report Shows Boomers, Seniors Like Social Media.)
I have passionately encouraged aging folks on PCs and the Internet as a way of maintaining a great quality of life for my aging friend, especially in the area of memory improvement. I, myself, have a Facebook account and a number of other social media accounts, besides. I examine my Facebook page just about every day because it helps me keep up with individuals I know all over the globe. In fact, I have never met some of them face-to-face, and others I haven't seen for fifty years or more!
On Facebook you will come upon many activities for senior citizens, as well as special groups about anything you can think of. It is likely that you will find alumni groups for your high school, people who grew up in your home town, or even your family! If not, you can begin a senior community of your own, or any other kind of group you like! Seniors on Facebook have a number of groups, and I belong to a variety of of them myself.
If you are browsing this it is probable that you are a computer user. As such, you will already be familiar with the advantages to be gained by owning and making us of a personal computer. However, you probably also know that many aging folks are unmindful of the things they can do with a computer, or are patently put off by the thought of using computers. This is a problem for both them and for us, because we want the associations we might have with them. In fact, if you are the child or grandchild of a senior who doesn't use a computer or the Internet, you will almost undoubtedly gain from providing that individual a copy of this article!
Here are some of the functions of Facebook that make it so great for seniors:
The Wall is a place on every user's profile page that allows friends to leave announcements and questions for the user to see.
Photos, where Facebook members can copy albums and photos. Privacy setups may be determined for individual albums, limiting the groups of users that can see an album. For example, the privacy of an album can be set so that only the Facebook member's friends can see the album, while the privacy of another album can be set so that any Facebook users can see it. Another feature of the Photos application is the ability to "tag", or label users in a photo. For instance, if a snapshot contains a user's friend, then the user can tag the friend in the photo. This sends a notification to the friend that they have been tagged, and provides them a link to see the shot.
Status, which permits users to tell their friends of their whereabouts and what they are up to. Depending on how privacy is specified, those who can view a user's profile can also see that user's Wall. Facebook also permits users to post attachments to the Wall.
News Feed, that shows up on every user's homepage and highlights information including profile changes, upcoming events, and birthdays of the user's friends, if users decide to allow this.
Facebook Notes, a blogging feature that allows tags and embeddable images.
Gifts , which allows users to send virtual gifts and cards to their friends
Marketplace, which lets users post free classified ads.
Facebook is very simple to subscribe to, and the levels of privacy available will make the majority of seniors comfortable. If you want to try it out without joining, use your web browser to navigate to the Facebook site, Facebook.com. Once you have arrived at that page, click on the "Find Friends" link at the bottom of the page. On the subsequent page, enter my name, Robert Alan McCluskey, in the space labeled Search for People, and press the enter key or click the magnifying glass. Next you will get a page that identifies me. Click on my name (Robert Alan McCluskey again) to confirm that I am the valid person and you will see a concise extract of my Facebook profile. If you are interested in going ahead and trying a free membership, click on the Sign Up button to the right of my profile and follow the directions. You will rapidly reveal the many activities for seniors, as well as an almost limitless number of other exceptional options! See you on my Facebook friends list!
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