Touched With Gray: The Maturing of Mobile Social Media

You, there! Yeah, listen up. And don’t even try to give me any of that attitude, whippersnapper!

You’re not hiding your hijinks, you understand? You thought by hanging out with your “friends” on your fancy social networks, you could get away with a thing or two, dincha? 

Think again! Because we know all about your skylarking! Figured that little weekend bacchanal with your buddies went unnoticed, huh? Think old mom and dad are too tech-illiterate to keep a disapproving eye on your antics, right?

What’s that?

No, kid, I’m not talking to you. What are you, 15, 16, 17? Go off and listen to your One Direction or whatever.

I’m talking to your parents.

Informate Mobile Intelligence, a firm that tracks mobile usage and adoption in various countries worldwide, came up with this nugget: it turns out the wackadoodle growth of social networks, especially mobile social networks, includes a development that’ll strike fear into the hearts of Gen Xers everywhere: older users are jumping on mobile social media faster than Lawrence Welk could shill Geritol.

And he could shill hisself some Geritol, let me tell you.

“While social networking may have started as a viral craze for U.S. teenagers, it’s steadily matured into an everyday lifestyle for many adults around the world who are now eclipsing teens and young adults as most-frequent users,” explains Informate CEO Will Hodgman.

What are the implications of this revelation?

• Advertisers aiming to engage consumers with significant disposable income, better known as the “last remnants of the American middle class,” better take a hard look at using mobile social media to reach oldsters with empty nests and deep pockets.
• Businesses and organizations looking to build advocacy and community among older Americans should incorporate mobile social media tactics into their strategies.
• Dinner at mom’s house next week will prove to be more than a little uncomfortable when she mentions how you’re able to post slo-mo video of yourself half-in-the-bag at some karaoke bar in Puerto Villarta, but you still can’t find the time to give your poor mother a simple phone call.

Now pass the macaroni salad.