Social media has influence over senior executives too (not just “young” people)

I’m not surprised the results of this study reflect the growing influence of social media. What’s more interesting, in my opinion, is what seems to be a more fundamental shift toward collaborative decision-making in professional environments. Certainly social media facilitates that but it strikes me as a deeper shift than technology and communication tools.

For example, the fact that ‘younger’ and ‘older’ professionals are heavier users of social tools than their middle aged counterparts may indicate that a) younger people are naturally more familiar with social media (something we’ve long known) and b) older people have accrued more emotional intelligence (something suggested in past studies on the topic) and, one could argue, use social media as a byproduct of that characteristic.

A new wave of social media gurus?

Does this study suggest that ‘older’ people simply get social media more than middle aged people? Perhaps collaboration, motivation and consensus-building are more important to older people? Of course these are incredibly broad strokes but what if anything do these results suggest about our age and how we use social media?

Would love to hear your take in the comments…

Joseph Kingsbury, Text 100

Photo credit: Andreas photography