Hello iNana and iPop
The Baby Boomers are taking a beating at the moment, you name it and they are getting the blame. Organic consumers advise: Why Growing Numbers of Baby Boomers and the Elderly Are Smoking Pot and The Vancouver Sun suggests Aging boomers set to put brakes on auto industry.
These Baby Boomers are the same people that are grandparents or about to be grandparents to our kids. These same people who are coping with today’s new social media expectations.
For all of those Grandparents or soon to be Grandparents, I could not resist this excellent article by bostonkayakguy: Baby Boomer Grandparents: Good Bye Nana & Papa, Hello Avatars and wish you all luck.
I am sure that my Mum and Dad would one day love to be iNana and iPop! Mum’s been training for it for years on the computer and Dad does have a flip camera.
Article:bostonkayakguy: Baby Boomer Grandparents: Good Bye Nana & Papa, Hello Avatars
Or more definitively, what name should I be called by my granddaughter… who’ll be arriving in a mere 83 days??
Once my daughter gives birth, I will have a new job, a new title, and require a new name – another addendum to my resume of life.
Of course this is the chance that we grandparents2B get to define ourselves, to position ourselves for that first impression, …or maybe it’s the last impression?
So maybe you didn’t like the name you were born with? Or you think your parents chose a name that really doesn’t fit you, doesn’t convey the essence of who you are as a person?
And with the impending arrival of your new grandchild, you’ve begun to realize you now have an opportunity to create a new impression or moniker for yourself!
You now get to decide how you want to be perceived; how you want to be remembered.
And in this day of reality TV, social media, and mobile devices, you have to consider a name that will easily transcribe onto smartphones, iPads, and texting platforms.
So what does this mean for me?
I must envision a name that doesn’t use up too many of my 140 characters on Twitter, so that my updates are easily retweetable.
My facebook profile has to be hip, full of witty wall posts and multimedia extravaganzas so as not to embarrass the grandchildren! I want them to artfully create fan pages of their grandmother and grandfather.
I want my home on facebook to be a comfortable place where they’ll want to bring their friends to hang out.
I need to make sure my blogger persona and my blog are perceived as a cross between The Daily Show, TMZ, Tech Crunch, and The Drudge Report so that the grandchildren will want to be part of my world and I can easily glide into their conversations and text messaging.
My avatar needs to show my creative side, and must position me to attract followers – in massive numbers hopefully so that my grandkids will be eager to ‘follow’ me.
My mentions on Digg, Stumble Upon, Technorati, and Delicious must be sure to not embarrass the next generation, nor cast me in an unflattering light in their social networks.
My feeds must be timely and not mundane. I need to share enough of my life to entice, but not so much as to cause my family to cringe and implore me to ‘get off the grid.‘
I know I must make certain to never capitalize because SHOUTING isn’t dignified, and can incite certain groups.
My flip camera videos must be accompanied by rockin’ musical scores and Photoshopped images, before being cast onto the internet.
And my apps available on the iPhone and iPad must be moderately priced, but attract throngs of devoted, passionate fans willing to set up forums to discuss how awesome an app maker I am.
My mashups must deliver on imagination and ease of retainment, and my squidoo lenses must encompass breaking news and relevancy.
My iTunes library should recognize that music is a deeply personal form of communication, so my rap and hip hop lyrics must be clean; they must also show that I understand the intimate stories that drive these convos, and my classic rock preferences must steer away from a roster of musicians who are close to signing up for assisted living. So I won’t be waiting to learn what the kids call me; rather I will be positioning myself so that I will slip easily into Generation-2’s daily dose of social media.
What may be the greatest grandparent names of all? – the iNana and iPop!
The next milestone in innovation should be grandparents- for we’ve lived a life that’s been unbelievable, and we look forward to a future that is the ultimate in high performance as loving and relevant grandparents!
image thanks to Activity Village.co.uk: Grandparents Day Cards To Print
