Hello interesting and active seniors! It’s been a month since you last heard from us and we’ve been busy getting interesting stories and planning a few fun events.

Today’s Topics

• Online social networks aren’t courting seniors, who should be a top priority

• What kind of event should we host in your town?

• The James Bond film that threw a stunt double into real crocodiles

• How to get you and your friends featured here

• Vint Cerf, “father of the Internet,” on sharing your ideas

Seniors should be a top priority for online social networks

One of the inspirations for Tapestry was the inexplicable lack of attention to older adults among online social networks. With seniors now simultaneously having the most buying power and having used the Internet for decades, catering to seniors should be a no-brainer. Silicon Valley, however, continues to ignore an obvious market and miss a golden opportunity.

An industry purportedly built on hard data still seems blinded by a cultural obsession with youth. People over 50 account for half of global spending and that figure is growing. Simultaneously, Facebook is the most popular network among that same age demographic. The platform’s reaction is, naturally, pouring resources into attracting Gen Z, a generation that collectively rolled its eyes at the idea. 🙄 

This isn’t just to pick on Facebook. We’re on it and it’s one of the friendlier big platforms for seniors. But the fact that these companies are ignoring such a big opportunity is evidence of a wider problem in the tech industry. As a pertinent opinion from the New York Times facetiously points out (link may be paywalled), “Why optimize for a larger number of wealthier people when you can be cool with the kids?”

Ironically, the tendency for tech companies to focus on the young is old-school thinking. Their approach worked fine when predominantly young people were learning and using the Internet, but this is no longer the case. Someone who is 60 now may have been the tech geek of their office 30 years ago and hasn’t stopped learning since. Some seniors have been using Facebook for almost two decades. Older adults interact with technology every day and understand how to use it. In this respect, seniors are living in the present while Silicon Valley is stuck in the past.

In any case, their loss is our gain we suppose. If they aren’t going to do it, we will!

Today’s poll: Events in your town

Chat with us, share with a friend

Know anyone interested in Tapestry or want to talk to us? You can forward this newsletter to them and they can sign up for it here. Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and join the discussion in our Group there.

And you can always reply to this email if you have any questions or thoughts. A real live person will get back to you (imagine that).

Your fact today: They threw a stunt guy to real crocodiles

In the 1973 Bond film “Live and Let Die,” one scene had Bond jumping across the water atop crocodiles. Those were real crocodiles and the stuntman, Ross Kananga, tried five times to get it right. He was paid a nice 60 grand (about $430k today) for his work. That’s probably worth the 193 stitches but we wouldn’t have taken the risk! Check out the takes on this YouTube video. (read more on Wikipedia)

Your Stories

We are scheduling virtual interviews with seniors who have built second, third, maybe even fourth lives after the age of 55. Does that sound like you or someone you know? If so, reply to this newsletter to let us know and potentially be featured in our upcoming publications.

If you need some inspiration be sure to check out the quote at the end of this email.

Your Quote of the Day

We hope you'll share your ideas with us.