Blogs, Twitter & Facebook for folks over 50

While I love having people over and feeding them, today was a first: my guests included a blogging couple. So we spent a good amount of time photographing the meal for our various blogs and chatting about Twitter. What made this even more remarkable for me was that everyone at the table was well over 50 years old!

That makes us freaks in a world where social media and blogging is the domain of the young.

Only 7.1 percent of all bloggers are over 51, according to a study by Sysomos, a social media consulting firm. But the number of 50-somethings who are tweeting and facebooking has doubled over the past year and keeps growing, according to a report by Pew Internet and American Life Project. My generation is getting more interested in this stuff all the time.

So say hello to my friends: Mary Duenwald, Susan Glauberman LaRosa and her husband, Paul LaRosa.

Here we are, enjoying Susan’s homemade cheesecake.

Up until now, I’ve only been drooling over her blog, “A cake bakes in Brooklyn.” After finally tasting one of her treats, I’m here to report that she’s an extraordinary baker.

Before we ate the cheesecake, Paul did his modern husbandly duties by taking shots of our delectable dessert for Susan to use on her blog. Paul’s a blogger too, who’s always trying out new Twitter toys and Facebook functions. You can check out his posts on Here is New York.

In the background is my MacBook laptop. During our meal, it streamed lovely Brazilian music from Pandora.com. Have you tried this free online radio station? Type in a song title and it’ll automatically play a bunch of tunes for you from that genre.

If I realized that I was gonna blog about this, I would’ve taken some pictures of my food. I made vegetarian mu shu, beef and broccoli and, of course, my sesame noodles (click HERE for the recipe). Here is Paul’s shot of me inhaling that fabulous cake.

After a while, my boyfriend dropped by and we all hung out. As Paul noted, if it wasn’t for social media and the wonders of the Internet, we wouldn’t be here together today…

Years ago, Paul and I sat across from each other in the New York Daily News newsroom. We lost touch but found each other on Facebook. I got to know his wife through her blog. My BF and I met on Match.com.

As for Mary, while we were all talking over tea, she opened a Twitter account. Who knows what will happen next…

Right now, we’re having fun online. Maybe it’ll keep us young and healthy longer.

P.S. — You can see more of Paul’s shots from our feast on my Facebook page. Click HERE.