Just a few years ago, a tweet was the sound a bird made.   Now with the innovation of the social networking site called Twitter, a tweet is a short note used to communicate with people all over the world.  In 140 characters or less, people start friendships, share business ideas, and keep in touch with family.    

As with many social networking sites, Twitter has a minimum age requirement of thirteen years old.  However, there is no age limit to how old you can be.  The only criteria is the willingness to learn the technology.

In the five months that I have been on Twitter, I have tweeted with people of all ages.  I started to wonder who the oldest Twitter user was.  In a very non-scientific attempt to find an answer to my question, I tweeted every day for a week, several times a day to see what I could find.  The first response I received was from a 62-year-old person.  I knew that wasn’t very old so I kept tweeting expecting there just had to be someone older.

Finally, a guy tweeted saying he was seventy six.  It was Tom Holthaus.  That was pretty good but just in case there was someone older than Tom, I tweeted several more days but no one responded.  Maybe there is someone older but they just didn’t want to admit their age or maybe they didn’t see my tweets.  Either way, I wanted to interview Tom and find out more.   Tom was happy to help me out.

On April 5, 2009, Tom Holthaus because an official tweeter because he had been hearing about Twitter on TV and it piqued his interest.  He signed up using the name @tjholthaus and started tweeting from his home in Olympia, Washington.

Tom was already using MySpace to keep in touch with his granddaughter but found Twitter opened up more possibilities.  Tom says he “spends eight hours a day on Twitter. He loves meeting new people and exchanging ideas.”

Computers aren’t new to Tom.  Years ago, he worked for Xerox using computers for typical office tasks.  He also worked in the aerospace industry and before retirement, he was a COO of a software company.   When asked what he does in his spare time besides Twitter, Tom said he “reads books, keeps track of politics, goes target shooting, and is an active defender of Second Amendment rights.”

His children and grandchildren love that he is using Twitter and constantly ask him how many followers he has.  At the time of this blog, Tom had 1571 followers but as any tweeter knows, that can change minute by minute.

In my interview with Tom, I asked what the most memorable event was in his life so far.  He said, “My first solo flight,” which is no surprise since after college, he spent four years in the Air Force as a pilot and intelligence officer.

Tom is the perfect example that you are never too old to learn something new.  Twitter is one of the easier social networking sites and it has something for everyone.

Follow Tom or I on Twitter at:  @tjholthaus or @pencilbugs .

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