What's on your mind? investigating recommendations for inclusive social networking and older adults

Social networking sites (SNSs) are becoming increasingly popular as a method for social interaction. While research has reported benefits associated with components of SNS usage, a digital divide has emerged between younger and older users. SNSs can be useful for communicating with family members and helping one feel digitally included; however, there are a wide range of reasons why many older adults choose not to use this kind of technology. We present a series of user studies investigating the barriers and challenges that SNSs can present to older users. These user studies led to the derivation of user recommendations to mitigate these barriers. The recommendations were then evaluated within a comparative evaluation which involved 25 older adults completing tasks on two interface versions of a simulation SNS. We present the recommendations and the methods of their creation and evaluation. Implications for developers of SNSs are discussed.