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Only one in six people aged 55+ have used a social networking service like Facebook‚ Skype‚ Twitter or Youtube says a poll commissioned by Age Concern‚ and now the charity is encouraging the other five to give it a go.

Previous Age Concern research found two thirds of ‘silver surfers’ reported getting online has improved their lives.

Age Concern’s myfriends online week supported by BT runs March 16 to March 20 and is a chance for older people to learn about online social networking.  Free taster sessions will be held at events throughout the UK during myfriends online week.

One person who’s already an old hand at Facebook is Ivy Bean of Leeds. At 103 years young‚ Ivy is the world’s oldest Facebook user and currently has 4‚554 friends.

“I love getting online and receiving messages from people all over the world!” says Ivy.

Another older person who’s embraced getting online is 81 year old Peter Oakley‚ better known to a legion of fans on YouTube as Geriatric1927.

Peter has more than 49‚000 subscribers to his video blogs and his channel (youtube.com/geriatric1927) has been viewed over 2.3 million times. Peter says he sees YouTube as a way for older generations to reach younger generations.

“YouTube is a platform where I can demonstrate that the elderly have a role in society and possibly influence a better understanding between the generations“‚ says Peter.

Leonie Vlachos‚ Age Concern England Digital Inclusion Manager‚ said: “The stereotype is that older people don’t use social networking tools online‚ but we find with support and training many older people embrace the technology and use it to stay in touch with friends and family‚ as well as meeting new people”.

Minister for Digital Inclusion Paul Murphy said: “New technology can often seem scary to many older people or is something they would rather ignore. Myfriends online week is a great way of discovering how to keep in touch with your family and friends easily and cheaply.

"As a 'Silver Surfer' myself‚ I welcome Age Concern’s work to ensure that older people can access and explore the internet in such a friendly and supportive environment."

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Notes for editors

1. Age Concern has worked in partnership with BT since 2005 to tackle social exclusion among older people by promoting digital inclusion.  myfriends online week is one of a number of partnership activities running throughout 2009.  
2. Call Age Concern on 0800 100 900 (quoting ‘myfriends’) to find out where your nearest event is taking place.
3. The Age Concern survey comes in the wake of Nielsen research which found social networking has overtaken email as a form of popular online communication and that “Facebook started out as a service for university students but now almost one third of its global audience is aged 35-49 years of age and almost one quarter is over 50 years old”. Source: Global Faces and Networked Places; Nielsen Report on Social Networking. Released March 8 2009.  
4. The ICM Survey polled 1076 people aged 55+ from February 27th to March 9 2009. Of those with internet access aged 55+‚ 19% reported they had used Youtube‚ 17% Skype‚ 14% Facebook‚ 2% Twitter‚ and 15% reported using some other online social networking tool. For people aged 65+ the figurers were 10% for Youtube‚ 11% for Skype‚ 7% for Facebook and 1% for Twitter. 
5. Age Concern is the largest organisation in the UK working for older people.  Everyday we are in touch with thousands of older people‚ enabling them to make more of life. Our services include information and advice‚ befriending‚ day centres‚ lunch clubs‚ transport services‚ home visits‚ and advocacy services. More information can be found on our website. 
6. Age Concern England and Help the Aged are joining together to form a single new charity dedicated to improving the lives of older people. 

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