WASHINGTON—AARP has been making rapid progress in its quest to help older Americans close the so-called technology gap — and its doing it by showing older Americans that social media can provide important real life benefits.
The social engagement strategy at AARP, the nonprofit membership organization for people 50 and older, aims to emphasize connections. Within a year, for instance, AARP grew the “likes” on its Facebook page by 1,250 percent.
“Social is so personal,” said Jennifer Reeves, the relatively new-on-the-job social media manager for AARP.
But with a little more than seven months under her belt at AARP, Reeves said she’s committed to showing that social media is more than just a bunch of posts, likes and shares.
It’s not just about joining social networks, Reeves said, it is about being able to effectively use the tools provided by social media in order to better your life.
“Everyone is talking about this technological gap between seniors and other generations. That’s going to end so quick. So quick,” Reeves said. “And to be able to help turn that theory around, and really help offer that literacy and comfort and confidence that you’ve got family members of all generations who are going to be talking and communicating — and there won’t be a gap anymore.”
Reeves came to AARP after 10 years at the Missouri School of Journalism, where she taught students how to use technology to change the structure and workflow of a newsroom.
Now she’s bringing that experience to AARP staffers around the country.
Initially, she worked on training people in all 53 offices in the U.S. to better utilize social media and online communications.
Reeves said she hopes the tools she’s shared with the staff will translate to AARP members as well. “It’s not just those nine people in the social communications team. We all need to work together,” she said.
With a staff in the thousands and 37 million members, AARP’s social media team has a lot of work to do if it wants to reach that cast audience.
Members like Debra Moore, 65, from Hemet, Calif., see AARP’s efforts as having a positive effect on their lives — and how they interact on social media.
“I feel like the more people they can reach, the more people they can serve,” Moore said.
Moore has utilized several AARP webinars and attended several events, but she still prefers Facebook. It allows her to keep up with other groups that she’s involved with, as well as becoming fans of pages that interest her.
“I’ve been on Facebook since I retired, because I wanted to connect with my sorority sisters as well as my high school friends,” said Moore. After she retired from teaching in 2008, Moore said she found using Facebook is easier than calling everyone.
For some organizations, social networking sites are an extension of their offline persona that points users back to their main website. However AARP’s pages are littered with frequent posts about concise, relatable topics that promote discussion. A few of the posts subjects have covered volunteer opportunities, healthy eating tips, and online dating advice.
“Since 2011, 50-plus America has been the fastest growing demographic on Facebook. So we’ve actually caught the generational wave,” said Tammy Gordon AARP’s vice president of social communications.
AARP’s Fan page started in 2012 with 80,000 likes. It now has more than 1 million.
“We’re really working to move people along a spectrum and teach them to find ways to volunteer and contribute in their community, get involved in issues that they care about and really just find things that are generally entertaining,” said Gordon.
AARP appears to be picking up on the trend found in the 2012 Pew Internet & American Life Project. The study revealed that 53 percent of those 65 years and older use the Internet, the largest spike from that age group after several years of marginal growth.
“Though these adults are still less likely than all other age groups to use the Internet, the latest data represents the first time that half of seniors are going online,” said the report’s authors Kathryn Zickuhr and Mary Madden. Thirty four percent of those 65 years are on social media as well, but email continues to be the core of Internet use for seniors.
Three years ago, Gordon was AARP’s lone social media liaison. Now the organization has expanded to a nine-person team of strategists, including a blog editor and trainer.
“We’re growing — and growing fast — and our demographic is really loving the social media and joining very quickly,” said Gordon.
2010 Census data also identifies the older adult population as the largest growing group. The 65 and older age bracket is currently 13 percent of the population, which is the highest percentage since the survey started recording this information. As the population grows, AARP has more of an opportunity to incorporate the other 36 million members that have yet to “like” them on Facebook.
“There is no wave. It’s happening,” said Reeves.