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NEW YORK (AP) — Joan MacDonald was 71 years old. He was overweight and was on multiple medications, including high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and kidney problems.
His daughter, who is a fitness coach, warned she would be injured if she didn’t turn things around. She hit the gym for the first time and learned to balance her diet with the help of a brand new gadget, an iPhone.
MacDonald, now 75, is a hype monster for health, with a bodybuilder’s physique and 1.4 million loyal followers on Instagram.
He is among a growing number of “major influencers” aged 70 and over who have amassed significant social media followers with the help of fans younger than decades.
“It’s very rare to find someone that age able to do all that,” said Marianne Zapata, 18, of Larchmont, New York, one of her fans. “Even thinking is a very positive thing.”
Both inspiring and inspiring, ex-influencers are turning their digital platforms into gold.
MacDonald has partnered with sportswear and accessories brand Women’s Best and stress relief device Sensate. And long after learning how to use digital technology, she launched her own health and fitness app.
On TikTok, @oldgays’ four friends, the youngest of 65, have 2.2 million followers, including Rihanna. He has an endorsement deal with Grindr, who delights his fans with his mind-blowing answers to pop culture questions.
Others focus on beauty and style, setting up their Amazon cabinets with their go-to looks, and livestreaming makeup tutorials. Lagetta Wayne, 78, as @msgrandmasgarden on TikTok has teens who want her to be her grandmother while she’s dealing with and cooking her vegetables in Suisun City, California.
With 130,500 followers since joining in June 2020, Wayne owes his social media success to a young grandson. His first video, a garden tour, received 37,600 likes.
“My garden was beautiful one day and I was so excited about it and asked him if he would take a few pictures of me,” Wayne said. “He said he was going to put me on TikTok and I said, What is TikTok? I’ve never heard of it.”
According to a 2019 survey by AARP, most people age 50 and older use technology to stay connected with friends and family. But less than half use social media daily for this purpose and rely on Facebook above other platforms.
The research showed that only 37% of those aged 70 and over used social media every day in 2019. AARP senior vice president Alison Bryant said that since the coronavirus hit, older creators have broadened their horizons beyond mainstay Facebook, often driven by a growing number of posts from people their own age.
In the desert town of Cathedral City, California, Jessay Martin is the second youngest person among the Older Gays at age 68.
“I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life pretty relaxed, and I do, but that adds up more to us. I worked at the food bank at senior center Monday, I did an hour and a half yoga on Tuesday and Friday, I was at the reception at senior center Wednesday. I was kind of swimming through. And boy, did the Old Gays change that,” said Martin.
Like MacDonald, they dispel many myths about what is possible in the sixth, seventh, and eighth years of life.
“They show that anyone can do this, that you don’t have to be afraid of getting old. “The 20s and 30s don’t think much of it,” said Bryant. “The authenticity we’re seeing in some of these old influencers is really refreshing. That’s part of the complexity of their narrative. They bring other parts of their lives into it. They’re grandparents, great-grandparents and spouses. In their own skin. they are more comfortable.”
Sandra Sallin, a blogger and artist, has slowly grown her Instagram followers to 25,300. It recently reached out to British Olympic gold medalist diver Tom Daley, who was raving about his mother’s cheesecake recipe after his coach had spotted it online and prepared it for his athletes and team. A lipstick lover focused on cooking and beauty, Sallin shares photos from her past and other adventures, as well as last year in an old Spitfire above the Cliffs of Dover.
At 69, Toby Bloomberg in Atlanta is a Sallin supporter. He discovered Sallin after watching him compete on the short-lived Food Network show “Clash of the Grandmas.”
“He talks a lot about aging. It’s a rather unusual phenomenon on social media, which is clearly dominated by people much younger than us,” Bloomberg said.
What attracted Sallin to social media was actually getting older.
“I wanted to expand my world. I felt like I was getting older, my world was getting smaller. “People were moving, people were sick,” he said. “I started my blog because I wanted to reach it. After that, I heard about something called Instagram.
“I really stumbled in. I was shocked because most of my followers are 30-40 years younger. But there are older people who kind of give up and say, ‘You know, I’m going to start wearing lipstick’.”
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