Social Networking and YOU

While 74% of Internet users turn to social networking sites (up 24% from last year) that still leaves nearly a quarter of all users without. On CNN we decided to track down a few people that weren’t on the sites and give them a digital media makeover which will air again at 10pm EST Saturday.

I wanted to share some interesting random thoughts/observations from the digital makeovers:

First, statistics. The largest growing group of Facebook users is 50+.

Also (in my experience) older individuals approach social networking sites different than younger users. They use a more methodical, calculated approach asking lots of questions wanting to really wrap their head around understanding it. They’ve heard of the privacy issues and want to make sure they don’t make any mistakes - (which of course is a good thing!)

We also discussed who should be taking advantage of social networking. And while it depends on the individual its at least worth trying a test site if even the slightest interested. However, for a business it’s an absolute must. It is low-cost / high traffic and in many cases FREE resource for marketing and promotion.

But of course this isn’t a complete love fest of social networking. It’s very important to understand these sites and the repercussions of oversharing. Just keep in mind there is no such thing as Internet privacy and just as amazing as it can be to make a long lost connection it could be detrimental on the other hand if you upload a picture you should have thought twice about.