The first in our series of insights focusing on adding some attitudinal colour to traditional segmentations: Silver Tweeters: how the over 50's are talking about retirement on the social web

1. Silver Tweeters
Social Insights Into The Over 50’s
Older, Richer, Wiser?
James Withey
Head of Brand Insight
Precise
+44 (0)20 7264 6316
james.withey@precise.co.uk
@PreciseTweets
www.precise.co.uk

2. Social Insights Into The Over 50’s
From Social Data To Social Insight
Social Insights Into The Over 50’s

3. From Social Data to Social
Insight

4. Why is an insight like
a fridge?
Image courtesy of
Magnetbox from Flickr

5. Once you look into it, the
light comes on.
(Jeremy Bullmore)
Image courtesy of crazytales562 from Flickr

6. There is an unfathomably
huge volume of social data
content being created and
shared across the
social web.
2 Image courtesy of Roberto Verso on Flickr

7. Monitoring tools are
vital, but insufficient.
Automated sentiment?
Flip a coin.
People are better!
Image courtesy of ImagesOfMoney from Flickr

8. We need to look at the
segment differently.
Issues and opinions, not
demographics.
8 Image courtesy of Iragerich from Flickr

9. Less about
‘silver tweeters’.
More about opinions on
‘silver issues’.
9 Image courtesy of
Iragerich from Flickr

10. Social Insights Into The
Over-50’s

11. Retirement
We identified all UK-based social media discussions about ‘retirement’
and discovered three broad opinion-based segments.
1. 2. 3.
Excited Escapism Cheated & Chastened Pragmatic Planning
Image courtesy of Irwandy from Flickr Image courtesy of DulcieLee from Flickr Image courtesy of 401K from Flickr

12. Excited Escapism
“I’m looking forward to retirement and these are my plans”
 Consumers sharing hopes and dreams for
retirement.
 Somewhat disconnected from reality
- perhaps knowingly so - as rather flippant
and often light-hearted.
 Relatively more likely to be posted on
Twitter (26% of users are 45 and over) or
Image courtesy of Irwandy from Flickr
forums such as Digital Spy (where 35% of
visitors are 45+).
A faraway dream, not a looming reality – unlikely to be our ‘silver tweeters’
23-year-old male working at “I actually can't wait for retirement. It looks amazing, just
hospitality group in Ayr sit about reading the paper all day drinking tea #bliss”

13. Cheated & Chastened
“I’m angry about the changes the government is making to state and /
or public pensions”
 A strong degree of frustration and anger.
 Driven by the feeling of being cheated –
that a contract has been broken.
 Less about coming to terms with
reality, more about fighting the changes.
 Relatively more likely to be posted on sites
used by public sector workers (such as
Image courtesy of DulcieLee from Flickr
teaching site community.tes.co.uk) by
all ages, but relatively older.
Despair that the prospect of not working has receded. Some ‘silver tweeters’.
40-year-old district “I'm a district nurse and my state retirement age is 67. I'm already
nurse knackered at 40! They just want more and more from you.”

14. How do the public feel about the retirement age debate?
Agree with or
understand
the need to
raise the
retirement age
21%
Disagree with
the decision
or need to
raise the
retirement age
79%

15. Pragmatic Planners
“I’m serious about planning for retirement”
 Detailed discussion, emphasis on finance.
 Have come to terms with risk of
poverty, and are planning to avoid it.
 A lot of sharing of investment successes.
 Relatively more likely to be posted on
financial forums such as IVA.co.uk or
personal finance message boards like
Image courtesy of 401K from Flickr
MoneySavingExpert.com (on which 45% of
users are aged 45 and over).
Plan for retirement, rather than dreaming about or fearing it. More ‘silver tweeters’.
Money Saving Expert “I've been saving and investing more than 60% of my net income
user plus gross pension contributions”

16. Help people come to terms
with and prepare for that
longer road to retirement.
Image courtesy of Ryan Wick from Flickr

17. Thank you