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Twitter for Baby Boomers

The Huffington Post, 7/22/09

Abstract:

One of the great mysteries of the universe is how we will all use social media to make money. We know that the Millenials, that often elusive group of future recruits and current employees who grew up with technology, use social media incessantly. Baby boomers who occupy the senior management ranks of most companies have caught on to the business appeal of LinkedIn, which is used as a recruiting tool and as a way of connecting with a company's alumni. (They also worry that employees are using it as a job search and professional networking tool and they're right about that.) They now know what Facebook is because their children and increasingly their friends are some of Facebook's 200 million users. Facebook has for the most part been a tool that people use with their social, not their business network, but a work agenda for Facebook is beginning to emerge, especially as a recruiting tool. But the new game in town is Twitter and some boomers are learning how to play...or to tweet, in Twitter-talk.

For those who don't know, Twitter is a vehicle for sending short messages -- 140 characters in length -- to a group of "followers" who have signed up to receive your tweets. Messages are called "tweets." Think of it as a way to broadcast text, photos and videos quickly without needing to address your messages each time you send them. People can see the tweets on their computer, BlackBerries, iPhones and telephones. Expert Joel Comm, author of Twitter Powercharacterizes Twitter as the "water cooler of the 21st century."

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