The July/August issue of AARP (not my normal reading fare I’ll point out, but this caught my attention) includes an article titled, “Born to Blog: Older Americans are writing, ranting, and reflecting online.” According to the article:
Only 5 percent of bloggers are over 50, according to a recent study, but most Web experts believe that number will grow. Blogster.com, a site where users create their own Web pages, says 22 percent of its bloggers are now older than 50, a 20 percent increase since October 2005.
“I’m convinced you’ll see more older people take up blogging,” says Ronni Bennett, 65, a former 20/20 producer in New York City who launched timegoesby.net, a blog on aging. “When you quit working, your social group shrinks. Blogs enable people with similar interests to develop a new social group. They also keep your critical abilities sharp because you’re reading, writing, and thinking.”
This jives with a PEW/Internet report released last month: “Bloggers: A portrait of the internet’s new storytellers.” David Warlick posted a good summary of the major findings. The first one coincides with the focus of this AARP article:
54% of bloggers in the U.S. are under the age of 30.
This means that about half the bloggers in the U.S. are over 30! We have a lot of digital immigrants out there blogging, and likely loving it since they’re keeping at it! No one is twisting their arms here! I think it is a great idea to encourage people of all ages to not only READ blogs, but also WRITE them. The long tail is real, and bloggers know this– because the blogosphere allows for unprecedented, global connections with others who share common interests. What an exciting and empowering age we live in! 🙂