Yet Twitter has a much older userbase,  with an average age of around  40, and in a world where everyone  is time-poor it’s no wonder  businesses are flocking to Twitter  in droves.  Twitter appears to be more of  a business-to-business interface.  Businesses follow businesses, and  it seems a similar case with super  funds – the industry follows each  other, but there are so few ‘members’  in comparison.  AIST too has jumped into the  deep end: we’re running a CMSF  Twitter feed as part of the iPhone  and Blackberry app, as well as our  own AIST Twitter account.

CMSF  2011 will also be the launching  pad for our Facebook campaign  to gain support for a 12 per cent  superannuation guarantee, with a  website (www.12percent.com.au)  inviting visitors to sign up to an  online petition.  Social media hasn’t been  something that we’ve used  extensively, and given people’s  apathy towards superannuation, it  will probably take some time before  we see members ‘following’ their  super funds in droves. Likewise,  it will be interesting to observe  the success of our campaign – on  Facebook and more generally online  – and of our foray into Twitter,  and to see whether they assist in  achieving that milestone of 12 per  cent.  On the upside, Charlie Sheen  had one million people follow him  in the space of just 24 hours –  there’s hope for us yet.