Concerned that your grandparents won’t make it to your party because they didn’t get your facebook invitation? Fear not, sort-of. Introducing Jive. Designed by Ben Arent for his senior design project, Jive is a platform that aims to bring the benefits of social networking to senior citizens by cutting out all the technology, and making getting information about friends a straightforward, and tactile experience.

Jive’s system is called “the betty,” and is centered around ease of use. The white block in the left of the picture is a wireless router/dsl modem, it plugs into a phone jack and gives the social networking unit internet-access.

To add one another as “friends,” users exchange friend-pass cards, which contains an RFID chip that links to an account. The user takes the friend-pass and places it in one of three locations on the screen. One for the profile, one for messaging, and one to see specific updates.What strikes me most about the prototype is that it’s designed to promote social networking from the abstract into the physical: friends are represented almost by business cards, and you have something to show for the “relationship.”

There are some aspects of the prototype that I’m not clear on, such as how messages are composed, how photos are uploaded, and how the interface is used above and beyond placing the rfid passes on the screen. But, it is a great acknowledgement of the fact that older people are every bit as social as the rest of us, and they have been largely left behind by the social networking revolution.

Finally, once the unit has been purchased, connecting to the network is free. The router is pre-programmed with ISP login information, and the network connection pays for itself by displaying targeted ads to the unit’s user.

All of this makes for the beginning of a potential new social network for seniors, somehow I’m alright with that, as I’m not exactly sure how I’d feel about a facebook friend request from my grandparents…