Subject area: Social Media by Proxy: how older adults work within their ‘social networks’ to engage with social media

Format: Journal article

Length: 1 hour

Audience: Information professionals and sociology academics

Organisers: Information Research Journal

Authors: Gemma Webster and Frances VC Ryan

 

Reflection:

Social media has permeated both our personal lives and the professional sphere of library organisations. I wanted to get a better understanding of the social media use behaviours of older adults (aged 65 and over) to better support them in a library setting. As this demographic tends to experience more digital barriers which creates social, political and economic disadvantages.

The article details a qualitative study exploring how older adults are supported in their social media use by other people in their networks. These support persons have been termed “social media proxies”. The study categorises a range of themes emerging from three areas of inquiry; what motivates older adults to seek proxy support and what motivates proxies to provide support, what formal and informal agreements exists between them, and what collaborative behaviours and practices exist between them.

I learned that family members act as key proxies for older adults who have trouble with using social media, where support is provided ad-hoc with no formal agreements in place and they are motivated by their desire to ensure older adults are included and engaged with their families. The study also revealed that the motivation of older adults, seeking support in more formal settings such as libraries, is to become more independent. Furthermore, the study emphasised the importance of trust in public libraries who take on proxy roles.

The study’s findings have a lot of value in its practical applications in public library environments. It calls for public libraries to design creative programs to strengthen partnerships that allow older adults to more fully engage with social media. This will give libraries greater opportunities for collaboration and communication with their communities and strategic marketing efforts. The study is also compelling in that it looks at the relational, social and dynamic aspects of the digital divide, where there is a tendency to be more individualistic.

 

Reference:

Webster, G., & Frances, R. (2023). Social media by proxy: How older adults work within their social networks to engage with social media. Information Research, 28(1), 50-77. https://doi.org/10.47989/irpaper952