Social media is yet another thing that today’s Grandparents have a little trouble following. This came to me the other day while listening to a conversation at the gym. There were 3-4 people talking downstairs, and I heard them trying to remember the names of some of the social media platforms. Things like: “was it SnapGram or SnapChat?”, “what is that ‘tick’ thing called”? (I assume the ‘tick’ thing is really TikTok). Then one of them pulls out her phone to show the others what her grandchildren had taught her. So I laughed to myself, wondering how confusing it must be. And these were not “older” grandparents. I was guessing late-50’s, perhaps 60’s. It is hard to tell since they stay active at the gym!
Now I do recognize that there is not really an “age” for becoming a Grandparent. And I know some people that are Grandparents in their early 40’s. However, I am referring to the group that did not grow up with the internet.
As a disclaimer, by no means does this imply that all members of that age group have trouble sorting out Social Media. This just happened to be the group I overheard, and it made me laugh.
Here are some things this group may remember:
- How to use a rotary phone
- Party lines – Sorry! But these are not lines to get into a party. This was a phone line shared by two different phone numbers. You may or may not know who the other party is. And this was totally not helpful if they left their phone off the hook and you needed to use the phone.
- The house phone used to hang on the wall
- Needing a dime for the pay phone at the gas station
- Why you would need a pencil for a cassette tape
- 8 track tapes
- Moving and actually having to get a new phone number
- Never having to charge your phone
- Waiting for someone to get off the phone so you could use it
- Mobile phones were originally called “car” phones, and they came in a bag
- Computers were definitely NOT personal, nor could you carry them around
- Walking across the room to change the TV channel
That should give you an idea of the challenges that Social Media provides for Grandparents from this age group!
Grandparents and Early Social Media
For some perspective, let’s set the scene for this group. While growing up, the words “social” and “media” were not typically used together. And if they were, it was probably because the local newspaper (the media) was covering a social gathering that got a little too rowdy. Or perhaps it was a rock concert, since this was about the time the Beatles were on the scene. Or possibly there were some social gatherings to protest something. Those types of things started happening in the late 60’s or early 70’s.
There is another phrase that goes along with Social Media, and that is Social Networking. I believe Social Networking is where people try to get invited to parties in the hopes of running into someone either important, or very well-connected. This is kind of like “trying to run into the big-wigs”. Generally there is the hope of landing a better job, promotion, or gaining a client or possible business contact. Or… it could simply be the hope of standing next to someone famous or important and getting a “selfie” with them. Oh wait! This started w-a-y before mobile phones and selfies were even invented! So this is the previous “low-tech” version of that. In many cases, there was likely Wine involved. Wait! We will get to that later.
Let’s Fast Forward…..
Along comes the internet. The car phone gets smaller, and can be carried around. Then it fits in a pocket. Flip-phones. You can send a text, but only if the receiving phone was able to get texts. You could take pictures with your phone. Everyone was excited even though the picture quality was rather poor. Then you could send pictures (they weren’t even called “images” yet).
At some point (about 1996), mobile phones (now no longer just called cell phones) were able to connect with the internet. Following that, PDA’s came out. These were also known as Personal Digital Assistants, and were basically electronic appointment calendars. Then there was the iPod, and you could have music on a small device. Things kept evolving, and then one day, the music device ran into the phone device and PDA’s. It was just like the Reese’s commercial where the chocolate gets in the peanut butter, and vice versa. The phone could play music and the music device could make phone calls, and the phone had electronic calendars. OMG. NOW WHAT?!?!?
Shortly after that the iPhone came along. The very first one. Apple said it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning… and the first mass-market smart phone was born. There were mobile apps too! The phones also came with cameras, and the PDA also embedded itself entirely in the Smart Phones. Then everyone is creating apps for smart phones. And everyone lives happily ever after…. Or not.
So…..things just took off from there! As the devices get more complex, developers create even more apps. And those still figuring out their flip-phones are totally left in the dust!
Let’s Help the Grandparents with Social Media
Now let’s look at where we are today with Social Media and/or Social Media Networks. What are they exactly? Let’s start with some basic definitions.
According the Oxford dictionary, social media consist of the programs and various websites that people use for social networking. Don’t you just love the circular definitions that use one term that you are trying to figure out to define the other one?
Now, let’s see what Webster has to say about this. Webster describes social media as various forms of electronic communication where users share information, messages, ideas, and various other forms of content (pictures, videos, etc). While sharing, users create online communities around their shared interests. All right. That is much better! I also suspect the sharing happens mostly in groups, rather than just one-on-one.
So then, what is social networking? Oxford describes it as the the use of applications and websites in order to interact with others. People use these sites to find people whose interests are similar to theirs.
Webster has a very simple definition for social networking. They refer to it as creating (and maintaining) business and personal relationships, especially when done online. Based on the Webster definition, social networking has been going on for while. However, this term now describes online networking, that now occurs using social media applications and websites.
These days social networking is almost totally online. However, if you really think about it, a very early form of social networking could simply have been the telephone!
Types of Social Media – this is important for the Grandparents to know!
Now that we have defined it, let’s look a little closer. It may help us understand better if we group the various Social Media platforms based on the type of content that users share. As I was researching, I found multiple lists of the various categories for Social Media sites. So I have tried to merge them here. I also found quite a number of sites that I never even heard of before, or had not considered as a Social Media site. Let’s go!
The Categories please….
- Social Networks. This is the most logical category to start with. It is generally the first thing that comes to mind, and includes the most popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
- Next, we have the Media Sharing Networks. This list contains more of the really popular ones, including: Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat. The primary types of content on these networks are pictures and videos.
- Some are simply Discussion Forums. This includes sites like Reddit, Quora, and Digg. Ok. I have never heard of Digg. Ya dig?
- Now this is a category I would not have guessed, but it is Bookmarking and Content Curation. That only makes sense when you realize that this is where they include Pinterest, and another one I have never heard of: Flipboard. Those familiar with Pinterest know that is where the “crafty” people go to exchange ideas. You know the ones.
- There are also Customer Review Networks. I did not think of that one either. This category includes Yelp, Zomato (huh?), and TripAdvisor.
- One final category that I have included, I consider to be the Chat Sites or Group Message Sites. I consider this list to be things like Skype, Group.me, Zoom (to some extent), Telegram, Facebook Messenger, and a new one – Prime One Chat. You will be hearing more about this one in the future! Remember that you heard it here first!!!
Social Media Sites – this bigger names
- MySpace (2003). The very first really popular site. And it was the largest social networking site from 2005 – 2008. Now you hardly hear about it. You better keep up, or you get run over!
- Facebook (2004). In the days when people did more reading, they sat on the couch with their face in a book. That is not what this one is! This is the grand daddy of all the social media networks. You can tell since it is in the news a lot more, and the CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has been making frequent appearances before Congress due to all the scrutiny.
- Twitter (2006). A microblogging site where users do not post. They tweet. Also recently abused by a sitting president. Tweet. Tweet.
- LinkedIn (2003). Professional social media. Very useful for professional networking in your career field. It is also useful for finding out where your co-workers went, especially the ones that did not tell you when they left!
- Instagram (2010) Is owned by Facebook. No this is not having your Gram on speed dial!
- Pinterest (2009). See section above. This is the “crafty” site.
- YouTube (2005) Is owned by Google. Just like Google is now the “go to” site to find out things, YouTube is the “go to” site to watch a video to see how to do things. Also the second most visited site!
- Snapchat (2011). Opens straight to the phone’s camera to snap and share pictures. I suspect this is more the snapping of pictures, and not much actual chatting.
- TikTok (2016). Currently the fastest growing Social Media site, and part of the Media Sharing Networks. This is pretty much all short videos that are about 15-60 seconds in length. Also in the news a lot in 2020, because it also comes from China, just like COVID.
Some Lesser known Social Media Sites
- TripAdvisor (2000). If you are looking for travel recommendations, this is where you go.
- Reddit (2005). This is the site where a whole lot of investors drove the price of GameStop stock (GME) extremely high in a very short period of time. They discussed it here first. Or so I heard…..
- Tumblr (2007).
- MeWe (2012). Mostly known for its lighter approach to content moderation.
Totally unknown sites (at least to me)
I will have to update these as soon as I figure out what they are. They just appeared in my search lists and I have never heard of them before.
- Quora
- Digg
- Telegram
- Yelp
- Zomato
- Vine
Hopefully Grandparents now understand Social Media better
I sincerely hope that this helps to enlighten many grandparents on the ever-changing world of Social Media. For those who are trying understand and remember this, there is now a Brain Food product that can help with this. And for those who are totally overwhelmed by all of this, may I suggest some Fine Wine!
Thank you for stopping by!
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