The web2.0 disconnect with demographics

Thought provoking post from Fran today who had the opportunity to attend two simultaneous conferences in copenhagen last week. One was Reboot a technology, life, business and social software and the other a conference on demographics and aeging. As she says:

It was interesting to go back and forth between a conference concerned with the impact of an ageing population and made up almost entirely of senior/elderly/ageing (take your pick, all the words are kind of uninspired) people, and to another with young hip thangs with faces humming with the glow of their laptop extended selves. There was clearly a gap between both dimensions, and it made me wonder whether there might be a way to bridge the two universes.

and later

I am probably missing some elements, but there is a bit of irony that both conferences were celebrating their 8th happening but with very different audiences in mind. Somewhere between the two is a revolution or real Web 2.0 waiting to happen…

With an ageing population being one of the key demographic trends that will be reshaping the economy in the coming decades, one has to wonder, are we technologists speaking the right language? (and I mean that both figuratively and literally)

• Every year the populations of western countries is getting older. And guess which is the demographic that holds most of the wealth. And while we technophiles and barcampers get so easily exited over each new fangled thing, remember this is the demographic typically slowest to adopt all things new, whether they be fangled or otherwise.
• I’ve heard said [though I haven’t factchecked] that women account for 85% of consumer spending yet often represent 25% or less working in roles of product development (not to mention compsci and engineering)
• Lastly, as Timothy Li pointed out the other day, the number #1 blog on technorati is now Chinese. And, as of 2004, china has the worlds highest broadband penetration. Fastest growing languages on the internet 2000-2005? Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish and French.

If you’re a technologist, a designer or a web2.0 entrepreneur, I’d ask yourself these questions?

1. is your primary market young, tech-savvy, English-speaking and male?
2. are you missing the boat?

link to fran’s post

update: more coverage of reboot and the global aeging conference on fran’s global village blog here