The Rise of Networked Seniors – Differences in Motivation for Using Social Networks Between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants
The Rise of Networked Seniors – Differences in Motivation for Using Social Networks Between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

Author(s): Snježana Barić-Šelmić
Subject(s): Media studies, Social development, Gerontology, Social Informatics
Published by: Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Ekonomski fakultet u Osijeku
Keywords: Baby Boomer generation; digital natives; social networks; uses and gratifications theory;
Summary/Abstract: New trends in the use of social media, increasingly involving the general public, also widen the research focus of all generations, i.e. (new) media consumers and producers (prosumers). This chapter aims to establish the motivation for using social networks to explain the enormous popularity of Facebook, Instagram, and other networks among the older (Baby Boomer) generation. With the help of the uses and gratifications theory, the author investigates the gratifications the older population achieves when using social networks and the uses (desires) they satisfy. The author attempts to answer the questions – Does the elderly population (50+) use social networks, especially Facebook, to meet their cognitive needs and escapist purposes? Has the younger population decreasingly used Facebook as a social network since older generations (their parents, grandparents, and digital immigrants) appeared on it? – through research using in-depth interviews and the theory of uses and gratifications of social networks.

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