Some people have the knack for keeping their long distance relationships vital and alive over time. Sadly, apparently I do not. It's not that I don't treasure my friendships. I have had confidants, best friends, soul mates in every city along the way. (And while I believe myself at heart to be a nester, following my and/or Dan's ambitions have often taken precedence, leading us on a series of moves over time.)

In 2000, Prof. Robert Putnam released a book that made the headlines, called Bowling Alone, The Collapse and Revival of American Community. In a nutshell, it discusses how Americans have become less connected from family, friends, neighbors and their communities. Bridge clubs and bowling leagues had been replaced by crickets and tumbleweed. We had experienced a loss in “social capital,” or connections among individuals, impoverishing lives and communities. At the core of social capital theory is the idea that social networks have value, both personally and for society as a whole.

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Marketers of all ages: You can not truly grasp the boomer ethos unless you view the four-disc DVD: “Hiya, Kids: A ‘50’s Saturday Morning.”

Sure, you’ve seen still shots of Howdy Doody—or perhaps snippets of one of the first and most famous of the children’s shows to ever hit the tube. But unless you sit through an entire episode, you will miss many of the nuances that helped form boomers’ outlook on life, our expectations of how things should be, and how amazingly well we’ve both contributed to and adapted to changing times.

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“Are you on Twitter yet?” The question came to me from a fellow boomer, who was part of the in-crowd on the “what’s next” technology frontier.

“Twitter is way cool, but what I’m really into now is Yelp,” I replied.

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It seems despite all the newly baked books and freshly sprung boomer-focused marketing tips, people continue to raise one question: how do we really reach the boomers, particularly boomer women, who make many of their household’s purchasing decisions? Words like “touch points” and “psychographics” are casually thrown about in brainstorms, but often with little headway. For many, the breadth of this demographic is just too daunting.

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By now you are probably aware that the baby boomers are online in droves. Women 55 and older are the fastest-growing demographic on Facebook. They are social networking, sharing photos, and even twittering in an effort to stay connected to their friends and loved ones.

At aging conferences I use to attend, some people would cringe at the conference sessions that centered around older adults and sex. And in my mind the titles of the sessions, always hazy and euphemistically stated (e.g. “Going into the Garden after 70”), only reinforced the associated stigma. Shhhhh, they said. Older people aren’t supposed to have sex anymore. Let’s keep this discreet.

By Guest Blogger, Stephen Reily, CEO of VibrantNation.com, The largest online community for women 50+

We’re all familiar with the dated stereotypes that keep many mainstream companies from delivering Boomers the products they really want. But even when companies succeed with innovations that defy those stereotypes, there is another challenge that can deny Boomers access to their products: Retailers who don’t know where to put them.

I was reminded of this phenomenon recently at the Silvers Summit conference (focused on technology for Boomers and Seniors) at this year’s giant Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.