Social media is increasingly being used to support interaction among family
members. However, differences in media preferences and interaction patterns
challenge intergenerational communication. It impacts negatively on the
physical and mental health of older adults. Trying to bridge such a
communication asymmetry, this paper reports the primary results of an analysis
conducted on an existent dataset from two 21-weeks deployment studies, along
with a 3-week design study, to understand intergenerational communication
mismatches among older adults and relatives. Results indicate opportunities
that informed the design and implementation of the Social Connector system, a
software application that allows older adults to establish synchronous and
asynchronous social interactions with their relatives. The paper also describes
this system and discusses the main design decisions made to try reducing the
stated communication asymmetry.