Written by Rob Nilsen - Chief Marketing Officer - Far Flung Interactive & founder of All Media Agency.

There are many misconceptions out there about advertising for senior citizens. For example, seniors do not use the computer or do not know how to navigate on the internet. This recent study debunks all of those misconceptions by Pew Research.

Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled -- from 22% to 42% over the past year.

While social media use has grown dramatically across all age groups, older users have been enthusiastic over the past year about embracing new networking tools. Email continues to be the primary way that older users maintain contact with friends, families and colleagues, many users now rely on social network platforms to help manage their daily communications -- sharing links, photos, videos, and status updates.

Half (47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one-in-four (26%) users ages 65 and older now use social networking sites.

Half of online adults ages 50-64 and one-in-four wired seniors now count themselves among the Facebooking and LinkedIn masses. That's up from just 25% of online adults ages 50-64 and 13% of those ages 65 and older who reported social networking use one year ago in a survey conducted in April 2009.

Overall, 92% of those ages 50-64 and 89% of those ages 65 and older send or read email and more than half of each group exchanges email messages on a typical day. Online news gathering also ranks highly in the daily media habits of older adults; 76% of internet users ages 50-64 get news online, and 42% do so on a typical day. Among internet users ages 65 and older, 62% look for news online and 34% do so on a typical day.

Social media properties -- including networking and status-update sites -- are newer additions to the daily digital diet of older adults. Yet, the "stickiness" of the sites is notable. To look at the data another way, among the pool of adults ages 50 and older who use social networking sites, 44% used them on the day prior to their being contacted for the Pew Research Study survey.