More and more late midlife adults take to social media in retirement
What comes to mind when you think of a social media influencer? Although the first internet celebrities were usually young women, nowadays more and more senior influencers, or “granfluencers” are gaining a following online. They’re usually late midlife adults who’ve retired and are eager to share their wisdom and even explore building a second career. From fitness and diet, to fashion and beauty, and even activism, nothing is beyond these older adults. Let’s take a look in our special report.
This man wearing a white polo shirt and small round sunglasses is Fu Keh-tau, also known as Vajroam online. He’s turning 72, but it’s hard to tell from his energy and dress. Today he’s doing a collab video content for a vegan restaurant, to promote their Hakka-style offering.
Fu Keh-tau
Content creator
I became vegan in 1985. When I transitioned to veganism, I noticed that my high blood pressure, which I had since I was young, was gone, and it was within two to three months after becoming vegan.
Fu has been vegan for more than 40 years. His online content promotes the benefits of veganism. He also goes to the gym regularly, because he believes staying healthy is more important than anything else at an advanced age.
Here’s another older-adult-turned-influencer.
Suri Liu
Content creator
I really like all-white outfits. Many people may think it’s difficult to put together all-white outfits, but I think it’s the contrary. All you need is accessorizing smartly. That way, you can also create interesting layers in your outfit.
The right accessories easily makes her all-white outfits that much more elegant. Suri Liu is 62 years old and loves to wear white. So much so, that she posts under the name “Suri the White Goddess.”
Suri Liu
Content creator
My living space is just like my white outfits. Every time I open my closet, it’s almost entirely white, because I hope my life is just like the color white, simple and fuss-free.
Some people may think that online spaces are occupied by younger people. Certainly not these influencers who are well past their fifties?
In fact, more and more senior influencers, also known as “granfluencers” are cropping up. From Japan, South Korea, the US and many more, granfluencers are sharing their lives online with the world.
Chiu Ya-ta
Senior influencer agency CEO
Have you ever thought about what Taiwan would look like in 2050? By then, those aged 50 and above will probably account for at least half of the population. I believe by then, late midlife adults will lead society’s fashion and trends.
But what about the skills needed to become an influencer?
They’re using a trending AI-powered app to facilitate the filming and editing process. These trainees listening intently to the lecture and trying their hands on the app were handpicked by the senior influencer agency to become the next batch of internet stars.
Iris Huang
Senior influencer agency co-founder
Becoming an influencer really suits late midlife adults, because having nothing to say is the worst thing that could happen to an influencer. But with senior influencers, being in their fifties and sixties gives them more than fifty years of experience to talk about.
Age is their greatest asset. Experiences over half a lifetime, whether it’s good or bad, can all be turned into stories. Likewise, the senior influencer agency, by training these late midlife adults, also hopes to break into a lesser-tapped portion of the competitive social media industry.
Afterall, the Internet is a great source of information and entertainment, even for late midlife adults. Some of them hope to become creators too, whether for promoting products or advocacy. One trainee wants to make anti-scam content.
Huang Ting-yi
Trainee
I’ve been scammed NT$40 million and managed to get back all that money. I’ve even published a book about it. So I hope to create short-form videos to engage with my audience and let them know how they can avoid getting scammed.
Huang Ting-yi works as an insurance agent. Before, she used to make text-based posts on Facebok teaching followers how to identify scams. But text readers have always been outnumbered by video watchers by far, so she decided to enroll in the influencer training program to learn how to make social media videos.
Huang Ting-yi
Trainee
Scamming is an entire industry, we just happen to be implicated in this industry when we get scammed. There are three reasons why people get scammed: relationships, health and wealth. If you are lacking in any of these three things, scammers come in and appear to fill that gap for you, and that’s how you get scammed.
Chiu Ya-ta
Senior influencer agency CEO
Every late midlife adult may seek different lifestyles in retirement. As for becoming an influencer, it’s mainly because some late midlife adults believe they have things they want to share, ideas or values. They may even wish to influence more people. Many of our influencers actually do a lot of charity work every year.
The co-founders of the agency, Iris Huang and Chiu Ya-ta were actively involved in long-term care centers while in their university days. Chiu even set up a volunteer group in 2014 and got more than 40 fellow students to participate in a round-the-island cycling trip, during which they volunteer at retirement homes all over Taiwan, playing games and singing with the residents, or just keeping them company. The volunteer group is still active today.
Chiu Ya-ta
Senior influencer agency CEO
If you used to have an active outdoor and social life, but suddenly lose it and don’t know what else to do, you may spend all day at home watching TV. But doing so for too long keeps you at home for the long term.
When Chiu was born, his father was already 56 years old. That’s why he’s so aware of the perils for a retiree to lose a routine or a goal to work for.
Pipia Liu
Content creator
My life with the hubby these years have basically been the two of us taking care of each other. We’ve reached that age now. One day my friend told me that they’re now two old people taking care of each other, that it’s their reality now. And I realized it’s also mine.
She talks about how an elderly couple takes care of one another with her husband in front of the phone camera. This is Pipia Liu. She’s 75 years old and shares tidbits of her life by making videos with her phone.
Apart from the life of an older couple, she sometimes makes cooking videos with whatever she has in the fridge. Her videos feel relaxed, familiar and unembellished, and more than 27,000 followers enjoy her content.
Even though the number of followers she has pales in comparison with younger Internet celebrities, Liu doesn’t seem to mind. She says she’s already more famous that she believed she could ever be.
Pipia Liu
Content creator
People who I don’t know would leave comments. There are also those I know who would be surprised to see me on their phones. They’d tell be that they saw me on social media. Even my neighbors who I’d only nod to greet with would come up and chat with me, only because they saw me online.
A passion for learning and sharing is key to becoming a successful content creator. This character is evident in Liu herself.
Pipia Liu
Content creator
I really do feel young again, like I’m back in childhood. I get to play around, look around and try things.
As for Fu Keh-tau, who has more than 72,000 followers on Facebook: he was also a trainee at the senior influencer agency. He started out as teaching English pronunciation, but that didn’t get him many views. After discussing with the agency, the company noted that he already has two specialties to tap into: veganism and fitness
Fu Keh-tau
Content creator
People are more interested in older people’s exercise habits and diets. Whereas an old person trying to teach you English pronunciation wouldn’t be as interesting.
Fu used to work in real estate in the US and China. He returned to Taiwan in retirement. To keep himself busy and build a second career, he turned to social media.
Fu Keh-tau
Content creator
What I say is much more convincing than someone who’s 55 years old even if they say the exact same thing. Why? Because I’m already past 70, but I’ve stayed fit. If I were only 55 years old but also look like this, I wouldn’t be as persuasive, because lots of 55-year-olds look like this. But once you’re past 70 and still able to keep up a certain lifestyle and stay relatively fit—that I believe is relatively less common. And so someone like that would have more weight to their words and have a bigger influence.
Chang Te-yung
NTNU Professor of Adult and Continuing Education
After retiring, it’s important to somehow feel that you’ve not really retired yet. You must continue to feel that you’re still contributing to society, and get to feel that you still have value of a sort for society. In a way you’re like a more senior intern passing on your knowledge and experiences to the younger generations. But at the same time they’re also learning lots of new things. It’s a form of lifelong learning that encompasses video production and social media management. I believe that’s still quite an important challenge.
The Internet offers a wide platform for retirees to stay connected with the world. With a lifetime’s worth of experience under their belt, they make for strong candidates in social media, if they choose to become influencers. If they do, there’s a whole new world waiting to hear what they have to say.
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2026-01-23
