There was a rather provacative post/link bait at Next Gen Journal recently that no doubt piqued the attention of many a social media person.  In it, Cathryn Sloane argues that social media is essentially a young persons game, that it's impossible to connect well enough with these moderately young technologies if you're over 25 years of age.

The specificity of the ways in which the method should be used is usually beyond them, however. The typically tired commercial statements or aggressively slang-imitating phrases companies tend to use on their sites do not match the witty, honest, energetic atmosphere these social media outlets offer.

Whilst Cathryn may have a slither of a point by saying that the under 25's have grown up with social media and can therefore be considered naturals at it, she does unfortunately overlook the very fact that social media isn't about you, it's about the community that you're trying to cultivate.  As such, your familiarity with the platform is of less importance than your familiarity with the audience you're engaging with.

I mean could an under 25 year old engage well with the fastest growing demographic on Facebook when they are half their age?

Of course you wouldn't be a youngster if you didn't think you knew it all, and indeed it may be that Cathryn has played us all and conjured a wonderful piece of calculating link bait that has delivered fantastic results for the Next Gen website.  If that's the case then I indeed doth my cap to her.  If, as I suspect, she's just been a bit cocky though I'm sure she'll do plenty of learning over the coming years and come to realise that you can indeed get a whole lot wiser as you get older.