We examined the Roanoke Facebook community in a previous post on July 6, and recently looked yesterday about 8 months later and the growth is phenomenal. In July, Roanoke had just under 10,000 registered users and in 8 months the number has soared to 28,344. That is 2,300 a month or 75 new users a day!

This is compared to growth in the Virginia Tech community from 44,000 to 48,504 during the same time.

Many of the top interest categories remained the same during this time. For interest, the top interest of the community is music and the favorite type of music is country with rap a close second. The favorite book is the BIBLE and the favorite TV show is Family Guy.

In July, 2007, 67 people were on Facebook in their 40s now that number is 2,180. (In looking at the comparison to the 50s this number seems low in July, but nonetheless, the growth is substantial.)

For the 50s age group 247 in July and now 1,164.

The 60s was 57 now 118. 

There are 92 people over the age of 70 on the Roanoke Facebook community and kudos to Sgt. Bennington at the age of 80 for having a photo on his profile and having some friends. (There were others older, but the profiles were sketchy.) Also, Kudos to Frank L. Moose Jewelers in downtown Roanoke for having a profile!

The 40 and over age group comprised just under 10% of the Roanoke Facebook community in July now that number is 12.5%. It’s a nice increase and encouraging to see more older Xers and Boomers join social media outlets, even if their motivation is to keep tabs on their children. Also noteworthy, is that the older a person is the less likely they have a photo or image on their profile.

The big aha is - just focusing on Facebook and not MySpace - the Roanoke Facebook community is about 10% of the Roanoke MSAs entire population. This is significant and it shows the emergence of online Roanoke compared to offline Roanoke. Offline Roanoke must connect to the growing online Roanoke so that both groups can better understand and communicate with each other.

Small business owners, marketers, salespeople, civic groups, non-profits, charities, etc. must have a presence to better connect to this growing population. 

Okay, the first five parts to this series looked at he examples at how progress is being made in Roanoke and RNR to attract and retain young professionals.

1. The movement is bigger than Roanoke
2. Qualitative stories of people returning
3. Media influence
4. Champions have been established
5. It’s now a political issue

Employers are now beginning to take notice of the real threat of not attracting and retaining young professionals as it relates to maintaining and growing local companies. More and more are asking for strategy assistance. They are asking to come in and talk to their young professionals to get them connected, so they do not loose them to other areas. In fact, NewVa Connects, a YPO, is planning to establish a greeter’s program for local companies for their new young adult hires.

At a recent Roanoke Valley Society of Human Resource Managersmeeting, I spoke to them about some of the facts, communication challenges, and programs that we are offering to address the issues. Over 80 employers attended and I received about 10 follow up emails from the event. Further, the NewVa Corridor Technology Council executive director shared the common issue facing its technology-company membership was attracting candidates with the relevant skill sets with 5-15 years of experience (i.e. 26-40 years of age).

Succession planning is also getting more attention. I have sat in on meetings with very large institutions who employ thousands of workers and they are growing more and more concerned with the mass exodus of Boomers from their organization and a very thin set of middle managers to keep the ships moving.

All of these examples illustrate that employers have finally taken notice of the importance of the issue. Our final installment tomorrow will look at how local college students are embracing Roanoke and the RNR after graduation.   

As I was sitting in a customer service area waiting for my car to be serviced, I overheard a conversation by two Boomers who used to work with each other in a manufacturing setting. One was retired and the other was still working at this facility. It went something like this…

“These young guys come in here and think they know everything. They have never worked on a production line and they want to tell you how do to do something I have been doing for 40 years. It is really amusing when you think about it… I do not know what is going to happen in the future.”  

“I tell these young guys now to put on your resume that you have maintenance experience and lie like hell… cause they will teach you everything you know…there are many good opportunities there.”

Does this sound familiar? Generation warfare in the workplace. Work/lifestyle balances converging in old economy settings. No doubt these two Boomers have some good points. Also, Gen Next has certain expectations and are not willing to work the same way their parents did.  

What is going to happen when these Boomers retire?  Good question. Hope this manufacturing facility can manage the generational shift in the workplace and keep this company going. It is a dilemma that many will have to figure out in the not-so-distant future.