The boomer spin on social networking

Nearly half of all baby boomers (47 percent) are using Facebook, MySpace, Eons or another social networking site these days, according to the report Boomers and Social Media.

Although their contacts include family, friends and co-workers of all ages, you aren’t likely to see boomers touting themselves as “fans” or “friends” of a product or service unless they’re particularly passionate about it, the study found.

The report also shows that only 10 percent of boomers use the microblogging site Twitter and even fewer are reading blogs.

Boomers are using social networking sites differently too. This generation is more than twice as likely as younger generations to use these sites for professional advancement, according to CNNMoney.com.

Where to draw the line between the personal and the professional, and sharing news about one’s career vs. self-promotion? CNNMoney.com offers the following advice:

• Do ask pals to be fans of your latest project.
• Don’t ask them to be fans of you personally.
• Do add a personal message to your friend requests.
• Don’t friend business contacts you’ve never met.
• Do create a Facebook page for business.
• Don’t automatically import friends to that page.

Read more.

How do you use Facebook, MySpace, Eons, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo and other social networking sites? Have you made mistakes that you later corrected? Have you successfully reconnected with friends or generated new professional contacts? Or are you reluctant to get started?

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