Trajectories to Community Engagement: Understanding older people’s experiences of engagement with online and offline communities.

This was a qualitative study which sought to capture the experiences and preferences of older people in the Meridian area on the south coast of England. Interviews were conducted with fifteen older people of retirement age with a view to understanding their experiences of engagement with local and online forms of community. The interviews provided a means of understanding the relevance of Social Networking Sites and online communities to their everyday lives. They also gave an opportunity to explore the relationship between online and local community for these people, identifying factors which encouraged them to engage with communities and those which deterred them. The specific aims of the study were to understand the following: ● What motivations exist at a local community level for older people to engage with SNS and other forms of online community? ● How do older people’s experiences and expectations of offline community influence their attitude towards online communities? ● How does socioemotional selectivity play a part in participants’ interest in online communities? ● What are the different routes taken to engagement with offline and online communities, and are there identifiable trajectories which are commonly taken?