A revelation for the internet marketer: Older people like the web and it’s good for them too
Posted by Frances van den Berg on 07 Sep 2009 | Tagged as: Common SEO Topics
My own personal net addiction started at age ten. By ten years old, you’re bored of toys and imaginary games and want to start exploring the ‘real’ world in earnest, but living in the suburbs, your options are rather limited. Like many other youngsters, the net was my way to explore the world when the real thing wasn’t possible. More enticing, even, is the fact that the web allows youngsters to indulge in a world that is entirely fantastical but which presents a convincing and more pleasing reality, which explains why the younger generations are the driving force behind the internet revolution.
As we’ve grown, the internet has matched our every step. So much so that China now has hundreds of web addiction boot camps to (literally) beat the youth-based obsession. But what about the older generations — the generations who remember someone who died in the war (as in one of the world wars, not the gulf wars) and watched a plethora of new technologies develop from the sidelines? Are they completely excluded from the internet revolution? On the contrary, statistics reveal that over-50s also enjoy the odd indulgence in a web-type addiction.
Often, we think of the older generation as technically challenged and with good reason. The cell phone you gave your mother last Christmas is either still lying in the drawer or, if she’s started texting, she takes so long that you can make a Sunday roast and do all the dishes before she’s sent the text. Yet, a study done by web watch reported on what they called a rising number of ‘silver surfers’ (in other words older people active on the internet).
Europe, Sweden, the UK, Spain and Italy were shown to have internet users in the over-50 age group numbering in the millions and rising each year. The study showed that older people frequent banking and online mapping sites, but, despite this, online marketers are still not taking the older demographic into account.
Tom Ewing, market analyst at Nielsen, said that the growing interest of older people in the web provides an opportunity for “Site owners…to promote their products and services to this growing audience, many of whom are already organising their finances and booking holidays online. However, they do need to research their audience in order to tailor their sites, products and services more carefully”.
If you think about it for a minute, the web is the perfect medium for people who are house bound: it takes away the necessity to stand in bank queues or even catch the bus to the grocery store and for people with children and grandchildren residing overseas, it is a good way to keep in touch without walking to the post office.
And for those older people out there who love to surf the web with the best, a recent study done by the University of California reveals that the internet is good for the brain especially for older people facing the threat of Alzheimer’s. Like every part of our bodies, the brain ages and there is a reduction in cell activity. But activities like cross-words and surfing the internet, engage complicated brain activity which exercise the brain. The study showed that the internet sparks more brain activity than reading a book because the wealth of decisions on the web demands the use of complex reasoning by the net surfer.
So, next time you want to laugh at your nan because she doesn’t know how to create an email account, step back, show some respect and teach her how to do it. She will, in turn, teach you a thing or two about how it should be done.
