Engagement with Facebook Advertisements among Senior Citizens as a Vehicle to Choose Assisted Living Facilities in the Local Area: An Observational Study

Abstract

The widespread usage of social media as a vehicle to communicate and exchange information has been massively growing, especially in the times of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Billions of people around the world now can connect to the internet and transmit uninterrupted data via social media platforms. There are numerous papers available targeting teenagers and adults utilizing social media as a platform to make vital decisions. However, the adoption of modern communication technologies among senior citizens has been rarely investigated. In this paper, we propose to investigate a sample of 80 senior adults who were looking for assisted living facility services through a Facebook social media platform. We aim to understand what guided their decision to contact an assisted living facility for the service, and what options they prefer for their stay. This paper will be among pioneering papers since the investigation of senior citizens and social media utilization for assisted living is scarcely found on scientific search engines such as PubMed.