Ecumen CIO Larry Jorgensen discusses using social media to build community and provide value in senior housing on services . . . .

Social networking is growing among seniors. According to a recent report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project growth of social networking among those 65+ has grown about 26% over the last several years.  Yet seniors’ total use is much smaller when you compare it with other generations in the chart above from Pew.

Why is this and what can we provide that our customers will find valuable and useful?

I recently informally polled a number of people why they think this trend might be occurring including members of my own family (my parents as well as my wife’s mother for example still won’t use Facebook). I received expected responses such as:

“Younger people have adopted this new technology much quicker because they generally just like the latest and newest gadgets and software”
“The younger population segment is now saturated and now older generations are catching up.”
“Seniors are waiting to see the value in the new technology before investing time in it.”
“It’s too scary because it compromises security and privacy. People are out to prey on seniors.”

We have to provide value!

I think it largely comes down to value and, of course, having access to a computer. It’s our job in senior housing and services to provide that value that is worth our customers’ investment of time. So how do we do it? Here’s one approach we’re using:

Ecumen Connects – Building Community.

At Ecumen, we are rolling out in our housing communities what we call Ecumen Connects. It is a community portal for use by our prospective residents, current residents, their family members and their friends. Ecumen Connects provides a wide range of capabilities including staying connected with friends, family, and staff; personalized calendars for keeping informed about special events and activities; books and newspapers online, virtual visits to museums, shopping, brain fitness, games, etc. It even provides the ability for a person to manage their health information.

Through technology provided by our technology partner Sitelligence, we’re building and strengthening community within our existing community. It also helps future customers get a sense of what type of community we’re offering. They can also use this social networking tool to talk to current customers about their experience living at an Ecumen community. It’s by no means a replacement for Facebook, but it does different things and is specific to each of our housing communities. It also empowers people who have a fear of social networking and a fear of a breach in security. We’re operating from one platform with an encrypted connection from our secure network and it allows us to personalize tools, such as event calendars or newsletters for each site.

We must honor our customers and meet their changing needs. Our customers needs and interests will continue changing and we will need to adapt and change with them. I believe that Ecumen Connects will provide the value that our residents and customers need and expect today, and we will continue to explore new opportunities to use technology to enrich the lives of the people we serve. We’re now working on taking Ecumen Connects into our at-home services, so we can empower people in their own home and connect them to a larger community. We see significant opportunity to connect the various people in a person’s life – family, friends, care professionals, case managers and others – to further empower our customers to live fully where they most want to.