Social Media for the Common Good –The Codger’s Crusade

Attention everyone 55+ out there: I have a message for you from my buddies on Madison Ave (and its equivalents in Chicago, L.A., San Francisco, Miami, London, etc): “You’re dead to me.” It’s true, why spend valuable ad dollars on a group that is set in its ways, has strong brand loyalty, and (let’s face it) will be dying off soon anyway? Better to try and capture the heart$ and mind$ of the twenty-somethings while convincing ourselves that our brand is young and relevant. One small problem: 50 is not the new 40, it’s more like the new 35. The fastest growing segment using social media are the 50+ crowd --- and that segment is growing fast as Baby Boomers aided by better health care and nutrition join the fold. The problem is, young mature adults (can I coin a demo phrase, YMAs?)do not want to be treated as being old, or senior for that matter. Many avoid the grandpa/grandma titles altogether as being too “old” sounding. Proposed: Social media sites that truly cater to the 50+ set that are not condescending and do not try to include 60 and 70 year olds (who should have their own social media sites). A few have tried, but ultimately none have succeeded to provide this without itself engaging in ageism. It can be done – we should be working hard to get there before we’re too old to care.