"A little silly and empty-headed": older adults' understandings of social networking sites
Proceedings of the 23rd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Celebrating People and Technology
Social network activity and social well-being
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Designing social networking sites for older adults
BCS '10 Proceedings of the 24th BCS Interaction Specialist Group Conference
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Social Networking Sites (SNSs) have seen rapid growth in popularity over the last few years, but despite this, adults over 65 years of age still make up a relatively small percentage of users on many of these sites. Previous research has suggested that a perceived lack of purpose is one of the key issues, however with social media constantly being highlighted in the news during natural disasters and crises, more in-depth research is proposed. This research aims to discover if it is possible to design a SNS to be inclusive for older adults by avoiding some of the common issues and negative perceptions of such sites. With suggested psychological benefits, especially during a life transition such as retirement, SNSs may be a powerful technology for ageing adults. Further investigation is required, however, to gain a deeper understanding of reasons for low participation, and how SNSs can be brought more in-line with older adults' perception of communication.