I googled “Facebook is old news” to begin writing a blog entry about why many people say Facebook is losing popularity and no longer the hip social media channel, and it turns out it still has by far and away the most users.
What was served up to me as the top search? A story about Edythe Kirchmaier. You see, Edythe gets what social media is all about. She uses it to check-in daily with her friends and family. She also uses her Facebook page to raise awareness of volunteerism and the medical aid charity she devotes a lot of her time to, Direct Relief. You might be asking, so what? Isn’t that what most people use social media for?
Well, how many centenarians are active social media users? Edythe is Facebook’s oldest user at 105 years-old. 105! In addition to sharing her dedication to Direct Relief through status updates, likes, comments and shares, Edythe goes old school as well, hand writing thank you letters to Direct Relief’s donors.
Social media may be a relatively new way to market yourself and the organizations you support. However, Edythe shows the keys to succeeding on social media are the same as the keys to executing any other marketing initiative—listen, know your audience, be truthful, tell a good story, entertain and, most important, have passion.
Edythe is so passionate about her life, her friends, her commitment to giving back that she realized at 105 (when she joined Facebook) and the impact of social media. It’s helped her help Direct Relief, just like those thank you notes she has been writing for the organization for more than 40 years.
Kirchmaier said that she won’t be tweeting, pinning or visiting any other social media sites anytime soon and is sticking with Facebook, which brings me back to my original motivation for writing this. Facebook may not be hip, but it’s still the king. According to Pew Research Center, 71% of all Internet users use Facebook. Twitter is at 18%, Instagram 17%, Pinterest 21%, and LinkedIn 22%.
Sure, there will come a day when Facebook is no longer the social media king, but not yet. And who says it’s not hip? I think Edythe is pretty cool.
