Interaction with mobile devices on social networks by elderly people: A survey in Brazil with Facebook

The use of social networks in Brazil has been increasing on different groups of people. Although the high concentration of users are in the 20-40 years-old group there is an expansion in the group of people over 50 years which use social networks. These different groups have their own needs during the interaction with different social networks. The goal of this work is to present the results of a survey on the use of Facebook as an entertainment tool by older users in Brazil. The research shows that although most users adopt the social network for more than one hour a day, some of them still experience difficulties during its use and wish for new ways of interacting with the tool. The exploratory study outcomes allowed us to draw the personas for the Brazilian scenario. From this survey, were identified and defined the main personas, aiming at an efficient representation of the group studied. The survey showed us that although the majority of users had mobile devices and used for daily activities, some of them still face dificulties on handling them.