A mix of consumers made for a very entertaining and informative panel at the OPASTCO Summer 2010 Convention. Scott Meyer of Innovative Systems did an excellent job of moderating this panel that featured consumers from 16 to someone who didn’t identify his age, but had to be in his fifties or sixties. The panel was attempting to answer the questions of how different generations are using telco services and what telcos must do to attract various generations. Unfortunately, I lost my notes, but I do remember a couple of interesting tidbits from this panel included:
- “Hearing about it from their friends or family” was the most common reason cited for adopting technology. This is consistent with other panels I have heard through the years. Social and email networks probably facilitate word-of-mouth between friends and family and make this an even more important reference point than ever.
- Mobility was important. Interestingly, the oldest panelist dropped his cable television subscription, as he found he could live without cable television. He is now spending a great deal of his time on Facebook. He pointed out the importance of the local telecom company (Whidbey Tel) and their community involvement was a motivation to purchase their services.
- When asked whether having a presence on Facebook would be a good thing, the older panelist said being on Facebook would make a telecommunications company seem “hip”. The younger people seemed to be somewhat indifferent and had a mixed reaction to corporations’ presence on Facebook.
I do have to wonder if the enthusiasm displayed by this aging baby boomer is an indication, that Facebook has not only hit the mainstream, but also indicates that Facebook may be peaking when an apparent late adopter has embraced something originally targeted for college kids. Then again, I wouldn’t bet against Facebook (check out the new “Like Button” on the Viodi View and ViodiTV articles).
Note: The slide above was superimposed onto the photo of the panel.
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