ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how social media apps expand the social networks of third agers, increase the volume of information they are exposed to, and foster the maintenance of social engagement. In the first part of the chapter, I focus on media construction of ageing, referring to constructionism, and the value of social engagement among third agers. The second part of the chapter introduces my approach to collecting data. Investigating the third age's use of media in a second-tier city in China such as Zhengzhou provides a number of methodological challenges for researchers. How can we research social media use among the third age cohort? Limited research exists in comparison to the longer tradition of research on ageing populations (mostly in the fields of health and gerontology). I will discuss some of the approaches employed in previous studies and introduce the key approach adopted in this project, which is derived from social constructionism.
