Facebook for seniors

All challenges are different, but explaining social networking sites to senior citizens is something else!

When NEOS asked us if we could give them a hand with their “Just a click” training programme, we were definitely prepared to do this since they were very helpful with our digimeter. “It’s a cinch,” I thought to myself.

This was a clear case of overconfidence, as I soon realized while I was putting together the presentation. I broke out in a cold sweat.

Are they really going to understand this?
How do you explain “user generated content”, for God’s sake?
What if they’ve all fallen asleep after five minutes? How do I keep them interested for another two hours?

So, anyway, with the courage of despair, I call up my 84-year-old grandmother, who barely knows where the on/off switch is on her microwave.

“Granny, can I come round and explain to you what social networking sites are?” I didn’t expect her answer, which was: “Of course, love, you’re never too old to learn… and that means I’ll get to see you again, because it’s been a while.”

Quite frankly, after an afternoon of hearing about life before TV and people who had never seen the sea, I wasn’t terribly reassured about the task at hand. I’d run out of time to make any substantial changes and my Granny had still managed to understand what YouTube and Facebook meant, so everything was going to be fine… wasn’t it?

After an hour’s worth of Elvis in the car to put me in the mood, I arrive exactly 17 minutes early at Wommelgem’s public library. I take another quick look at my notes and we’re off.

To my great surprise, it seems that most of the senior citizens who have turned up (about 25 of them) have brought their laptops along. “What on earth have we got here!?!”

After two cups of coffee fresh from the percolator and a slice of rice flan, we get to work. After a concise definition and a bit of an overview of only four of the countless social networking sites on the planet, we come to the interesting bit?

What is the impact of social networking sites on today’s society? A few senior citizens start to fidget a bit at this stage, but once I’ve been tackled by a gentleman (thank you, Google creators) who asks,  “That’s all very well and good, but what if they shut down the internet like they did in Egypt?”, it does seem that most of them are convinced of the fact that social networking sites are useful.

I shall conclude

... by saying that even though it’s clear that there is still a lot of work to be done to close the digital gap in Flanders, I’m willing to admit that I’m already looking forward to my next session with this really interesting target group.

Facebook for Seniors. It makes a nice change from researchers with double negatives and questions about PSAP.

Oh yes and, by the way, if anyone is keen to help their Granny on the road to the digital revolution, here’s the presentation (in Dutch, with many thanks to Ilja Thewissen):
http://www.slideshare.net/iLabo/sns-het-tijdperk-van-de-toekomst-6811486

Good luck!!!