Boomers zero in on social networks
— -- Kirk from Los Angeles would appear to be just another typical MySpace denizen. His page reveals that he's a Sagittarius, loves movies and wants to meet Angelina Jolie. Get in line, kid.
Or maybe not.
"I suppose I could just call her dad (actor Jon Voight) and set that up," says Kirk Douglas, who faithfully updates his page once a week. "As long as my wife says it's OK."
At 92, the screen icon is at the older end of the growing phenomenon that is social networking. But his decision to share pointed opinions and Brangelina-inspired desires with virtual strangers is echoed by the millions of Boomer-on-up Americans that have taken a teen staple and made it yet another weapon in their always-on communications arsenal.
Whether it's congressmen Twittering during presidential speeches, parents connecting with high school flames on Facebook or empty-nesters planning group outings on grown-up sites such as Eons.com, Baby Boomers are speeding up the Web's ongoing metamorphosis from limitless void to global watering hole.
Social networking is fast becoming a staple for a growing number of adults as Web use surges. One-third of adult Internet users have a profile on a social networking site, up from 8% in 2005, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And though adults share some teen habits — checking in with friends, planning get-togethers — they differ from the younger set in their desire to use the medium to meet new friends from across the country.
Their reasons for connecting with others online vary, but the passion for it is unwavering.
For Douglas, social networking affords him a literal voice — a stroke in 1996 left him with halting speech — as well as "instantaneous contact with people of all ages and opinions, which keeps me young."
Retired software consultant Reed Nash, 52, of Lunenburg, Mass., says sharing his passion for NASCAR and barbecue with fellow devotees has "made me a lot of great new friends I otherwise wouldn't have."
Kathy Carr, 45, a family counselor from Park City, Utah, used to get her social fix while traveling for work. She has turned to social networking "to find other women who are raising teens, enjoying good careers and have something to say."
Facebook, that social networking giant with 175 million users worldwide, was famously conceived for kids by a kid, Harvard undergrad student Mark Zuckerberg, now 24. But what Boomers like, they devour.
