Slowly but surely -- and faster than any other age group -- Baby Boomers are embracing social networking as a way to communicate with friends, families and colleagues.
Granted, email is still preferred, but new findings by the Pew Internet and American Life Project show dramatic growth among 50 to 64 year olds in the use of Twitter and other social networks.
During the past year, their embrace of social networks nearly doubled — from 22 percent in April 2009 to 42 percent in May 2010.
“Young adults continue to be the heaviest users of social media, but their growth pales in comparison with recent gains made by older users,” explains Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and author of the report, said in a statement.
“Email is still the primary way that older users maintain contact with friends, families and colleagues, but many older users now rely on social network platforms to help manage their daily communications.”
According to the report -- "Older Adults and Social Media" -- older adults still rely heavily on email for their daily communications: 92 percent of those ages 50-64 send or read email and more than half exchange email messages on a typical day. Online news gathering also ranks highly in the daily media habits of Baby Boomers: 76 percent of internet users ages 50-64 get news online, and 42 percent do so on a typical day.
The use of Twitter and other services to share status updates has grown most notably among those ages 50-64.
While just 5 percent of Boomers had used Twitter or another status update service in 2009, 11 percent now say they use these tools. On a typical day, 6 percent of online adults ages 50-64 make Twitter a part of their routine, up from the 1 percent who did so in 2009.
Pew cites some positive implications for the rise in the use of social media.
For one, an older adult living with a debilitating ailment can easily reach out to others for support.
And, said Pew, "social media bridges generational gaps. While the results can sometimes be messy, these social spaces pool together users from very different parts of people’s lives and provide the opportunity to share skills across generational divides."
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