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If you’ve ever thought, “Hmmm, I ought to learn more about social media,” consider this blog post your toe in the water.

I'm a millennial and my job at Civic Ventures (www.encore.org) includes handling social media. Some of you are already familiar with social media. I hope I can make the rest of you comfortable enough to venture in.

It's my hope that some of you will take the plunge because, as I always say, "Don't knock it until you've tried it." (My grandmother used to say the same thing when I refused to try brussel sprouts, but I digress. Social media is nothing like brussel sprouts, and that's all the more reason to take it for a test drive!)

I've included a few links below that offer easy, step-by-step instructions to create profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – the three most widely used social media sites by boomers.

Facebook
Facebook's mission statement is pretty simple – “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” If you’re curious and want to stay more connected to friends and family, try creating a profile. Here’s a great tutorial called "How to Create a Facebook Profile" that will have you up and running in no time.

For those of you who've already joined Facebook, I hope you’ll click here and “like” us at the very top of the page. If you don't see the button, then that means you're already “liking” us. Thanks!

LinkedIn
LinkedIn describes itself as the “world’s largest professional network with over 120 million members.” LinkedIn is a good choice if you’re building your professional network or looking for jobs for retirees, potential clients or news related to your industry.

If you're ready to test LinkedIn, just follow the three easy steps in the "New User Starter Guide."

If you've already created a profile on LinkedIn, guess what... we're there too! When you join the Encore Careers LinkedIn group, you'll be joining an active online community of 1,400 members interested in the encore movement. Group discussions are updated daily, and you'll have the opportunity to share ideas and concerns in a moderated forum.

Twitter
Twitter describes itself as “an information network made up of 140-character messages called Tweets. It's a new and easy way to discover the latest news (‘what’s happening’) related to subjects you care about.”

In my experience, Twitter confuses millennials and boomers alike. It took me a few months to get comfortable with 'tweeting,' and if you're looking to get your feet wet with social media, this is not the platform I'd recommend, at least not at first.

If you decide to sign up on Twitter, there's a great resource appropriately called "How to Sign Up on Twitter." It'll walk you through the process of creating an account, and I hope that Encore Careers will be the first organization you follow. For the Twitter veterans out there, I hope that you'll retweet (forward our messages to your contacts) our tweets to help spread the word about the encore movement.

I hope that you'll contact me via Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter – or comment here by signing up on Encore.org. Let me know what questions you’ve got, what your experience has been on any of these sites and what social media topics you'd like to know more about.

Consider me your tour guide.

Stephen
Communications Associate, Social Media