The World's Oldest Twitterer: Social Media Lessons from @IvyBean104

Her name is Ivy Bean. She has 16,719 followers on Twitter, including self-help guru Tony Robbins, actress Demi Moore and the LA Times.

When Ivy Bean joined Facebook last year, she became, at age 103, the oldest member, beating out a 97-year-old woman from France. Now she has stormed the micro-blogging world.

Her Twitter name is @IvyBean104 and she lives at the Hillside Manor in Bradford, England. Initially there was some controversy about whether the story was staged. Someone at Geek Squad UK had visited the home and set her up.

But it doesn't seem to have been a media event or one-time "photo op" because she is still twittering. And, whether she had some help or not, I think it's very cool that someone would learn a new skill at the age of 104. Talk about your life-long learner.

@IvyBean104's Twitter lessons (really applies to all social media)

Between naps, eating "ice lollies" (popsicles?) having cups of tea, and cheering on her favorites on Deal or No Deal, @IvyBean104, in fewer than 3 weeks, is practicing strategies that some of us social networking masters have failed to master.

Lesson one: be your authentic self

On May 16, @IvyBean104 twittered:

Me and my friend mabel are going to have a game of connect 4

(yes, no punctuation, no capital letters)

May 16, later: 

i won 3 games but poor mabel cant see very well so a bit of cheating going on

Assuming it was @IvyBean doing the "bit of cheating," she is showing us she is not perfect, that she has her flaws.

Lesson two: leave links with entertaining, interesting information

May 18, from @IvyBean104:

hello why not come see me win my gold medal at the over 75 olympic games at www.133hillsidemanor.co.uk. We had such a good day.

Okay, someone is going to have to show @IvyBean104 how to edit a video, but this is hilarious. Kind of reminds me of John Cleese, who I expect to be popping up from behind a bush. Ivy Bean has invited us to share an experience she had.

Lesson three: share humorous observations and allow people to get to know you

May 26:

My friend mabel looks like she has been on a motor bike ride her hair is all stuck up with the wind and I laughed my head off at her

All right. That wasn't real nice, but it was funny.

Lesson four: engage in conversations and show empathy 

May 15, from one of @IvyBean104's followers, @pennydrops, talking about the TV show, Deal or No Deal:

@IvyBean104: Do you think they will win big tonight on Deal or No Deal and do you respect the banker?

May 15, from @IvyBean104: 

@pennydrops everyone should win big grrr at the banker. 

In this short interaction, @IvyBean104 responded to a question and showed us a little part of herself in the process. 

And, finally, lesson five: encourage others 

May 15, from @IvyBean104:

@adam_lambert good luck

Now I may be one of the only two people on the planet who doesn't watch the show, but I believe that Adam Lambert was one of two contestants left in this year's final episode of American Idol. And, yes, she is following Adam, Demi Moore, John Cleese, and 123 other people. 

So, if you've been thinking about giving Twitter a try, maybe it's time. If someone 104 can learn how to use it, well…

Feel free to follow @IvyBean104 or @catseyewriter, or both of us.

Comments

[Lynn Baldwin-Rhoades]

I love this post, Judy! What a delight to meet someone like Ivy Bean in the most unlikely of places - Twitter. You used wonderful examples to show us how we, too, can succeed in cyberspace. Thanks!

[Judy Dunn]

Thanks, Lynn. I was so inspired by her spunkiness that I just had to share it. If I were still a teacher, you can be sure that I would bring this story to my students. It's what life-long learning is all about.

[Meri Walker]

What a great post, Judy. I love the lessons you've distilled out of Ivy's tweets. I especially love this because I've just moved into a community for people 55 and older and I'm doing all I can to help my neighbors understand how social media can enhance their lives. We've started a Ning for the community in the 6 weeks I've been here and got almost 30 people to join... so we're building momentum pretty quickly. I'm going to post a link on the Ning to your blog and encourage my neighbors to read it. We've been talking about Twitter... and you've set a great context for continuing that conversation with your specific "lessons" here. Thanks so much for taking time to share this!

[Judy Dunn]

Meri,

Good for you for introducing social media to the "mature crowd." Once they get a hang of it and see how it helps develop and strengthen relationships and allows them to share common interests, I think they'll be off and running. At least some of them will.

At Ivy's nursing home, they only have one laptop that they have to share. I've heard her grumble in her tweets that she has to go now because someone else is waiting to use the laptop. How cool is that?

Would love to get more updates on your "project." Oh, and thanks for stopping by!

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[Judy Dunn]

Thanks for visiting, Jomie!