Facebook and Change- Part 2

As someone who has casually and non-scientifically studied human behavior for many years as a learning and development specialist, I know that most people don’t like unexplained change. I have a theory about all of the complaints surrounding the new Facebook updates.

Huge social networking groups like Facebook, Google and Twitter were founded by members of Gen X (born in the early 1960s to late 1970s) and Gen Y (born late 1970s to early 2000s). Facebook founder, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born in 1984. Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter was born in 1976 and the creators of Google, Larry Page, Sergey Brin were born in the early 70’s. These generations, especially Gen Y were brought up on technology. Since they were born into a world of computers, cell phones, computer games they are much more technically savvy than any other generation.

The demographics concerning Facebook show that over the past two years there has been an increasing amount of new members who are in the 35 – 50+ age range. One of the fastest growing demographics in 2009 showed that women aged 55+ grew over 175.3%! (The Baby Boomer generation). Since many Boomers are generally less technically astute than the demographic of the Facebook management and staff, it might explain the complaints and uproar over the new layout. Perhaps for future roll-outs, the company reviews its own statistics and considers other methods of communication and introduction. Maybe Basic Marketing 101 is a good place to start.

To link this sentiment to the job search, everyone, including Baby Boomers need to be aware of and keep up with the changes and advances made in business and technology. This will help cancel the stereotype that Boomers aren’t flexible.