Older people’s use of Social Network Sites while participating in local online communities from an ethnographical perspective

Abstract

Social Networks Sites (SNS) are attracting a lot of public and academic interest. However, despite an increasing uptake of Information and Communication Technologies amongst the older population, very little is known about how older people use popular SNS, such as Facebook. We focus on older people’s use of SNS with the aim to gain an understanding on how they can be used to foster involvement of older people in online and offline local communities. We have conducted a 17-months ethnographical study with c.55 older people in a local physical community in Barcelona, Spain. We address the evolution of their interests in SNS and concerns over time, the type of their participation in online communities, and the importance of trust, together with the strategies they adopt to build trust online.