Valley PR Blog

A rant: why older generations shouldn’t blog

By Linda VandeVrede on July 9th, 2009 In Social Media

Is social media something that can be taught? That’s what Boston-based Adam Cohen blogged about recently. You can read his thoughts here. There are 2 camps, he says – “those who believe you can teach someone how to use social media and those who think it’s absurd to teach people to do what they can learn on their own.”

I think social media is an attitude, a philosphy, and therefore tricky to teach. Older generations should think twice before blogging. I can count on one hand the number of 50-and-older bloggers that are any good – Katie Paine, Francine Hardaway, David Meerman Scott…

My favorite blogs are by people in their late 30s. Pam Slim is one of them. Brian Solis is another. If I had to divide the groups up by characteristics, I’d say:

20s – too green, a little arrogant, too “hip”

30s – perfect, relevant, conversational, humble

40s – starting to lecture

50s – full-blown lecture mode

60s – what’s a blog?

I don’t think many people over 50 get it. They’re trying to validate their own worth in a world that’s gone mad. That’s the old model – the hierarchy of time on the job = your value. The rules have changed START A CONVERSATION, not a lecture. I don’t care a tweet about what you knew, saw or learned 30 years ago, or what music you listened to or what clunker car you drove. Don’t talk TO me, talk WITH me.

I’ve had older people try to lecture me. Trust me, it mostly falls on deaf ears. I realized that the game has changed. Accept it. Learn from it. Understand that we all learn from each other, no matter what age we are. The 25-year-old has as much insight to offer as the 55-year-old. The major defining distinction is judgment, as that (along with high-waisted pants and a sudden yearning for Sinatra songs) is the only thing that comes with age.

A rant: why older generations shouldn’t blog

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Are you lecturing me right now?

Am I lecturing you? Tyler, depends on how old you are.

I’m not sure of your age but I am sure you don’t “get it.” Open your eyes and learn to count…there are many people over 50 with a contributing a lot blogging and social media, including many who finance the efforts of people like you. Put me in the 40s crowd starting to lecture.

Linda – Thanks very much for including my post here. I love your breakdown by age and I immediately think of my grandfather, who still uses AOL. I agree social media is an attitude/philosophy, and to those who don’t have it no amount of teaching will help. Beyond that, other folks (like people within our agency) who are looking to learn about social media can definitely be taught the basics. Excelling is a different story.
Thanks again!

Ray, I only have 3 months to go before I fall into the “50 and over” category, so I’m getting my best shots out while I can. I’d love to find more blogs by the older gen, but Katie, Francine and David are my favorites. Do you have any you could recommend?

If I went by your classifications of bloggers, I’d take a guess you’re in your 20’s with this post.

I know that’s not true, and I usually enjoy your posts but I feel that perhaps you should take your own advice.

To quote you, “I think social media is an attitude, a philosphy [sic].”

If the attitude and philosophy of Social Media is being open and having a conversation, blind classifications of bloggers by age doesn’t seem to fit within that philosophy.

Just a thought.

P.S. I’m in the “perfect, relevant, conversational, humble” age range.

So, Linda, do you eat your own dog food and will your spot on VPRB open up in three months when you go to the old folks home?

Pat, at that point I will go humbly, hat in hand, to Len Gutman and beg for a stay of execution!

The 25-year-old has as much insight to offer as the 55-year-old? Really?

Do I fit the 20s criteria? http://rarmendariz1.x.iabc.com/

I’m thinking I at least deserve to be in a 20s/30s category. Will you make one for me, Linda?

Rebecca, you are in a great category all your own!
My point is the frustration I feel at so many bloggers my age (I’m almost 50) trying to “hold court” and blog on and on about life lessons and their grandkids, when it’s really all about starting conversations. They’re writing monologues, not dialogues.

um… I offer you Doc Searls, Dave Winer,Michael Markman (Mickeleh’s Take), Ronni Bennett, and more. Doc and Dave built the social media infrastructure, and Ronni writes a blog for seniors called “Time Goes By…What it’s Really Like to Get Older.” You are right, social media is an attitude, but one of my daughters (both in their thirties) has it, one doesn’t. It is more about giving and sharing and collaborating and being transparent than anything else.

The artists I admire most, people like Paul McCartney and Paul Simon, continue to grow precisely because they understand they can learn from generations younger than they are. They stay in dialogue, not in lecture mode. I do my best to emulate them. Sometimes I succeed! (Linda, I have about 10 years on you.) I’d be curious to know what you think of my blog! http://blog.rightpoint.info/

Doc Searls rambles…A LOT.

Thanks for the shout out, but I’m not sure I agree. I don’t know that its generational as it is how our minds work. There are those of us former journalists, Shel Israel being the best example, the way my mother looked at a Martini, and the way your brother looks at music. We can’t live without it. We really don’t have a choice, we have to write and report, and that’s been true since I was 20.

Great post. But I am 48. Damn, do I look over 50?

I’m over 50, and I blog. Get over it.

And get off my lawn!

perhaps the issue is not a person’s actual age but the openness of one’s mind to see things the way that they are after they have changed and why?

If you hadn’t told us your age I would have put you in the “a little arrogant” 20s.
I guess I should just stop blogging now, my life is apparently over.

Love your post Linda. So how do you feel about the latest study that shows the over 55s group is fastest growing on facebook? Do you think those in this group, who may well go onto creating their own blogs, after some time ‘get it’ and ultimately learn the etiquitte?

Hmmmm…. so those of us playing in social networks before the web was invented (yes Usenet is a social network) look a bit past it huh!

I think this is a view akin to Colin Farrington’s comments a few years ago. It is taking a view that is counter community. If the community of an 80 year old has an interest then all is fair.

I wonder what you would make of my grand daughter’s blog? Is she too young do you think?

Interesting post but don’t agree since pigeonholing based on age never works, you either get it or you don’t. Also, getting it means when you start a conversation and people weigh in (i.e., comment) you need to say something back and not let an entire day and evening pass without a peep from you in return. Just pointing out the obvious.

Ha! Never comment from iPhone without flicking up to see author name. Sorry.

I’m over 50 and I blog and I unapologetically lecture from time to time. Why do I do this? From my lengthy years, I’ve come to see a pattern. In my 20’s, I thought I knew everything. I didn’t understand why those 40’s and 50’s didn’t come to *me* for deep insights and unique perspectives. In my 30’s, some (positive) self-doubt began to creep in. I realized I wasn’t the smartest person in the world and began to question myself, and through me, others in a potentially very healthy way. In my 40’s, that resolved itself as a powerful approach to the world, one where I questioned authority and conventional wisdom which consistently led me to unique insights based on more than just youthful enthusiasm. Now in my 50’s (no, David, you don’t look a day over 48), I’m more comfortable with myself. I don’t need to trumpet my insights from the highest pulpit, but I also don’t need always to seek the validation from the 20’s and 30’s. Yes, I need to understand their perspectives — they make up a significant portion of the population and naturally have growing influence in the work force and with work styles — but if I gain that understanding through engagement, I don’t at all feel bad about the occasional and even regular preaching. I’m an “old timer” (I’m even a member of a group called the “Internet OldTimers Foundation”) and I say so unapologetically. There are those people smart enough to realize my years of experience give me a unique perspective on things and that if I’m smart enough to leverage my experience into unique insights, well, then, maybe I have earned the right to preach from time to time. Perhaps the reason why the 20’s “engage in the conversation” (a phrase that makes me violently ill, by the eway) is that they don’t have enough insight and experience to contribute. There’s a reason why Sergey and Larry hired Eric Schmidt, there’s a reason Marc Andreesen hired Jim Clark, there’s a reason Michael Dell’s board forced adult supervision on him when the company’s growth stalled.

I’m 54 and smart enough to listen to the 20’s and 30’s to learn what I can from them. If you’re in your 20’s and aren’t smart enough to listen to my preaching…well, I promise you in your 30’s, you’ll realize you missed out on something.

“The 25-year-old has as much insight to offer as the 55-year-old” Really? Come on, REALLY? There’s a lot of life lessons that happen in those 30 years that we can learn from. I will give the 55 year old MUCH more weight than a 25 year old kid. There really should be much more respect afforded to people who have lived and learned and had the time to evaluate life lessons.
… end of lecture…

P.S. Another sign of an over-50: your reply is longer than the original blog post.

Wow – this post is so insulting. Stereotyping like this is dangerous territory. It’s false, mean and totally inaccurate. Certainly, it isn’t in the spirit of good, quality social media.

I’m 63 still working and blogging and twittering etc. I have six grown kids and if I lectured they would soon tell me to get down out of my tree. I hate ageism most isms in fact, not that I’m saying everyone else should. It’s not about years it’s about a state of mind. People who lecture or talk at people in their 50s and 60s probably started it in their 30s.

I’m in my 40s and a college professor and therefore lecturing comes naturally to me. So, here’s my lecture: why this need to categorize by demographics, beyond hoping to generate a little blog traffic? The generalizations you put forth here are sweeping … and ridiculous. Would you say women should never blog, or all women blog the same way? Of course not.

I’d rather see you put out some tips for Boomers new to blogging — much more constructive and without the assumption that old people always lecture.

Hmmm… Lecture mode? I rant occasionally, but mostly I try to provide helpful information.

A very dear and wise 80-something friend (who still rides a Harley, BTW) once commented that it’s not until you get into your 50’s that your life’s knowledge and experience begin to coalesce into true wisdom. Now in my mid-50’s, I’m starting to understand what he meant.

I’d write your ‘age characteristics’ chart quite differently – Since turning 50 I’ve been subjected to more lectures from 30-somethings who are very naive yet think they have all the answers than I care to remember.

You observe yourself that “the 25-year-old has as much insight to offer as the 55-year-old”. Quite so.

But of course not every 25-year-old has that much to offer in the insight department, any more than does every 55-year-old.

Surely – as with just about everything – it’s down to what you say, and how you say it, not what’s on your birth certificate.

Or am I in the wrong lecture?

Ouch! Really. If everyone were as intolerant as some of us, none of us would have anyone to whom to lecture. And yes, yours is a rant and a lecture. How old did you say you were? I’d guess you’re a 70 year old grump or a spoiled 3 year old brat. So there!

PS No one makes any of us read a boring blog more than once – if that. The choice is yours. Read the ones you appreciate, leave the others to the rest of the world. That’s the best part – you can do whatever you like.
And I take it back … you don’t sound like a 70 year old grump.

DMS doesn’t look over 50, but what’s inside matters more? Am I the only one that’s worked with people who were middle-aged at 23? I’ve walked/skied with a sprightly 85 year old lady and comforted a TV presenter pal in floods because she was heading for 30 and would be dropped when she got there.
Who was it that said: time is a great healer but a lousy beautician”?

First, I’m getting really tired of being told who should or shouldn’t be doing what in social media. It’s evolving beyond our control and we need to get used to that and adapt.

Second, I think it’s absurd to characterize all people and their attitudes based on when they were born. My 79-year old father started blogging earlier this year. He’s been a communicator all his life, and he gets it.

Finally, it really distresses me to hear you say, “I don’t care a tweet about what you knew, saw or learned 30 years ago.” I’m 43 and one thing I’ve learned in my life is that nearly every situation I encounter has been dealt with before by someone else. The tools and technology may change, but the fundamentals remain the same, and we can learn them from the people who have been there before.

“The 25-year-old has as much insight to offer as the 55-year-old.”

You’re kidding right? This doesn’t hold true in the analyst world for 90% of what needs to happen. Why? You can only gain insight by either being in industry and understanding the business or speaking with vendors and users over many years. Then you gain insight. And where are you getting the insight? People who have been in industry for 20+ years. But a 25-year-old straight out of grad school? Not in my world.

Disclosure: I’m 37.

Oh NO, David! My sincere apologies! That means I only have 2 favorites in the 50+ category now…
Katie – I was talking about business generational – the old model of work your way up and then reap the benefits in your fifties, and hold court with the younger co-workers. Those days are pretty much gone. I learn a lot these days from the 20 and 30 somethings, who write amazingly perceptive blogs and who link to each other and connect intuitively.
I’m not dismissing those 50 and over – but calling out the mentality that longevity on the job always equals value, as well as the mentality that a monologue is better than a dialogue.

You’ve fallen into the trap of believing that the media form dictates the content and I disagree. Blogs are wonderful because they let authors write in any style that they choose. Readers can read or ignore as they wish. That’s a good thing. The generational stuff is hokum–it smacks of old school marketing techniques where everyone had to fit into a convenient bucket.

Look at Doc’s latest post…he’s been complaining about his internet service for a while now. Tell me that’s not the most stereotypical thing an old guy would talk about.

We need more engagement, period. Tons of younger bloggers tell us about their day, what they learned at work, etc. I do wish they’d go back to LiveJournal.

I’m a 27-year-old who started blogging before it was widely-known as blogging, way back in 2001.

As someone presumably younger than the author, let me say: this post is inane.

And laughably unoriginal. Younger generations have discounted the wisdom of their elders and lamented that they “just don’t get it” for thousands of years, at least since Rehoboam ignored the advice of his father’s advisers, listened to his youthful peers, and subsequently triggered the violent split of the kingdom of Israel.

Ah, the folly of youth.

Noting your esteem for bloggers in their late 30s, Ms. VandeVrede, I’m going to take a wild guess that you’re in your late 30s as well. I think you’re doing yourself a tremendous disservice by ignoring those older than you and letting their insight mostly fall on deaf ears.

But I can’t blame you: folks our age have been doing that for eons.

Technology may change, markets may change, but fundamental human nature does not. There is nothing new under the sun.

[...] At least, those seem to be the implicit assumptions behind this otherwise incomprehensible rant. [...]

You say,”I don’t care a tweet about what you knew, saw or learned 30 years ago, or what music you listened to or what clunker car you drove.” Well, just because you don’t care , doesn’t mean others don’t.
Who sets the blogging rules?

As an over-50 who helped develop the first-generation Internet tools and infrastructure that made all this possible — including confronting a whole new set of legal, ethical, and social issues that the Net created — it’s amusing to see people in their 20s and 30s who think they’re the first to deal with these issues.

Frankly, we lecture because you still have a lot to learn from us.

Linda, Now I’m going to be honest.

Age means nothing. It’s all about attitude. Plenty of twenty-somethings are sticks-in-the-mud and set in their ways. And plenty of people in their 60s and 70s have an amazing outlook and express it well online.

Linda,
Intriguing take on age and blogging.

Here’s a quick quiz: Can you guess my age from my website/blog combo? I’m hoping not. No cheating by looking at my picture first.

I do think we can find clueless people and bad writers in every age group.
Newt

ewwww! that sucks! i’m 66 & i have blogs. yep. plural.

Now I’m not a blogger myself, but I think this post is way out of line. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that not only do you stereotype every generation but you’re also trying to impose your ideas on what blogging should be about. Maybe you should have a open-mind and accept that not everyone uses blogging in the same way. Just because you don’t like certain types of blogs doesn’t mean other people aren’t reading them and they should cease to exist.

and with all of the effects of global warming can you really be too green? maybe it’s you that isn’t green enough.

I’m the worst kind. I think I’m 20’s but blog 50’s. (When I actually blog that is….ahem)

Linda,

Are you an age-ist? What if someone made a comment that women shouldn’t blog? I am not over 50, and you certainly have the right to your opinion, but ruling out someone’s ability to blog effectively based on their age is kinda out there.

My well documented belief that older generations are at a crippling disadvantage in social media notwithstanding …

There are two key elements to social media success: Experience and Personality.

Experience is necessary to effectively navigate online communities, sidestep faux pas, and use tools efficiently. This is something older generations are finally catching up in. They’ve now had a few years to get fluent in social media in their personal lives, and many of their personal networks include heavy social media users (finally) as well. Are they ever going to be as web savvy as their younger counterparts? Doubtful. Have they narrowed the experience gap enough that other factors (like experience in messaging, strategy, traditional consumer engagement, etc.) may make them more effective in SOME cases? Probably.

In addition to experience, personality will always be key to social media. Truly effective corporate or brand social media comes from people who are able to infuse personality into their brand or company, which usually requires that you have a personality of your own (never a given). This is something that can be found at any age, but which is more natural in the younger, yet-to-be-burned-too-many-times generations.

David’s assertion that age is irrelevant only reveals him to be an idealist. That a few exceptions may exist does not change the reality that age plays a huge factor in the two things that matter most in social media: Experience and Personality.

“The 25-year-old has as much insight to offer as the 55-year-old.”
I think not! Insight often comes with age just as judgment does – they are pretty closely intertwined, I think. And sometimes the young have it, sometimes the old don’t.
While I don’t pay particularly close attention to the ages of the various people I enjoy reading, I think it’s safe to say that John Perry Barlow is both over 60 and usually pretty interesting to read, regardless of the topic.
Maybe you’re just at wits’ end for something to write about, or trying to get a rise out of people – I can’t imagine you really mean to appear so age-bigoted.

It’s all attitude.

The main requirement for immersion in social media at a mature age is that you stop caring about all that obsolete reflective thinking that old geezers seem to do or producing well structured arguments from evidence. That’s a dead skill that no longer marks an aspect of intelligence in the world of social media. You must create a continuous cognitive environment entirely composed of tweets and text messages. You must waste no time on anything that takes more than 2 minutes to contemplate, because that would be gross inefficiency. And even 2 minutes is usually too much.

You must then become obsessed with being a conduit for a continuous stream of sound bites, links, and gossip from other people and be very careful not to have any original thought of your own that might take more than a tweet to express. Such things might resemble the worst of all horrors, a “lecture.”

So be sure to learn lots of subtly derogatory terms for any message of more than 140 characters, and to refer habitually to the irrelevance of anything longer than a computer monitor can show without scrolling.

I strongly believe that you can do this at any age. If you really want to.

Personally I still love being lectured by really brilliant minds from time to time, but I’m sure I’ll outgrow that obsolete mode as dementia sets in and I become better attuned to the true wisdom of social media.

Ageism??

i thought this was a functionally fab blog entry in that it incited lots of comments and dialogue, and it seems that is the purpose of social media to many. if engagement is the purpose of blogging, it’s a home run. but . . . did anything get resolved? do i know any more than i did when i started? was the purpose of the exercise just to blow off righteous indignation? and do i just have an illusion of being listened to by writing this comment?

–jl

Linda:
Two key participants here: David Meerman Scott, who is right when he says attitude trumps age; and Justin Locke, who poses the question, was anything resolved by the broad-brush rant at the older crowd.

Stereotypes exist for a reason. If you’re actually offended by this (ahem Julie Roads), perhaps it’s time to take a very large step back.

Arrogance at any age weakens the argument and the desire to take one seriously.

Wow. My name mentioned in the same sentence as David Meerman Scott. I LOVE THIS BLOG – jl

Wow! Linda look at all the content that was produced with this entry. I love it. Proof positive that social media works. I hope I don’t get old. In the mind…The rest I can do much with. I try to keep up with modern culture as much as I can. I’ve only got a few years before hitting the big 50 myself. You rock Linda!

Me I’m 62 and understand social media, after all we have been doing all our lives – taking, communicating with people. We now have the added advantage of doing it on-line.

Sometimes people have no sense of humor. This is a great post and the advice could be taken at any age or by many kinds of bloggers, you just chose one to focus on. I love blogs, like yours, that aren’t afraid to put a stake in the ground. I’m 34, fwiw.

Thank you, everyone, for participating in this post. Believe it or not, my intention was to initiate a conversation about those folks who get it and those who don’t. I took the obvious risk of blindly age-categorizing based on my experience, however, that categorization was not intended to be absolute but rather to provoke comment. And man o man, did I provoke feedback!
All of your age-agnostic posts were thoughtful and insightful. I especially appreciated those who provided examples of good blogs to check out. p.s Please remind me never to blog about religion or politics.

Personally, I thought this whole thread once again proves the age-old truism that folks with a few gray hairs are being discounted more than ever these days. Just because somebody doesn’t ‘get’ blogging doesn’t mean that they have nothing of value to offer younger generations. No matter what else changes, human nature–and the tendency of young people to think that they are the very first ones to ever suffer from a broken heart, lose a job, fail to get that big job, etc.– doesn’t change. Smart-aleck kids still think they know more than their folks, and as they grow up, their parents’ IQ magically rises. That’s something to blog about!!

So what if Grandma’s not very good at blogging? Maybe you all should be helping her instead of putting her down because she ‘doesn’t get it.’ Maybe some young kid will learn something.

[...] They’re under 26. (Revenge for http://www.valleyprblog.com/social-media/a-rant-why-older-generations-shouldnt-blog/) [...]

Well, controversy sells. I knew when I was reading it there would be lots of animated comments. Was that your point, Linda?

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