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The older generations of Americans are getting with the flow. Whereas online social networks were originally set up, run and used primarily by the young and the hip, you are now much more likely than ever before to find Great Aunt Matilda hobnobbing with cronies and asking to be friends with your pals on Facebook. She might even be Tweeting!

A report just out from the Pew Internet & American Life Project reveals that social media usage among folks 65 years and older doubled between 2009 and 2010. In the 50 to 64 age group, it went up 88 percent.

Now nearly two-thirds of all U.S. adults are involved in social networking online. Twitter has also experienced a jump in use by older Americans: Pew says that 11% of the 50-64 crowd and 5% of the 65+ crowd use Twitter or a similar service.

The survey run by Pew was taken in May. According to Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and author of the report:

“Young adults continue to be the heaviest users of social media, but their growth pales in comparison with recent gains made by older users… Email is still the primary way that older users maintain contact with friends, families and colleagues, but many older users now rely on social network platforms to help manage their daily communications.”

• One in five (20%) online adults ages 50-64 say they use social networking sites on a typical day, up from 10% one year ago.
• Among adults ages 65 and older, 13% log on to social networking sites on a typical day, compared with just 4% who did so in 2009.

Fifty year old Nancy Erlich, a Pennsylvania elementary school teacher, told CNN:

“It definitely has changed my whole life — that’s how significant Twitter is to me,” said Ehrlich, who now regularly chats with educators around the world and helps host a weekly forum for them on the micro-blogging site. “At first, I didn’t really get it. But I just kept watching it and, before you knew it, I was hooked.”

Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft, on of Fortune’s top 50 riches people, and lymphoma survivor, is taking some of Microsoft’s biggest competitors to court over alleged patent violations.

According to E-Week,

“Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has filed patent-infringement suits against Apple, Google and nine other companies. The patents apparently cover technologies related to e-commerce and online browsing.”

The Wall Street Journal reports:

“Mr. Allen’s suit, filed in federal court in Seattle, asserts those three companies and eight others are using technology developed a decade ago at the billionaire’s now-defunct Silicon Valley laboratory. Mr. Allen, a pioneer of computer software, didn’t develop any of the technology himself but owns the patents… Mr. Allen’s lawsuit comes amid high-profile successes of firms such as NTP Inc., which enforce patents without making products and have been called “patent trolls” by critics. Courts have tried to rein in patent litigation, with mixed results, and Congress has yet to act on legislation that would do the same.”

The suit is being brought against numerous parties, notes the WSJ:

“Named in Mr. Allen’s suit are Google, Facebook, eBay, Apple, Yahoo Inc., AOL Inc., Netflix, Office Depot Inc., OfficeMax Inc., Staples Inc. and Google’s YouTube subsidiary.”

The WSJ points out that not only is Microsoft exempt – but so is Amazon.com, which is located in Allen’s hometown of Seattle. Google representatives had this to say:

“This lawsuit against some of America’s most innovative companies reflects an unfortunate trend of people trying to compete in the courtroom instead of the marketplace,” the Mountain View search giant said in a statement. “Innovation — not litigation — is the way to bring to market the kinds of products and services that benefit millions of people around the world.”

Facebook isn’t happy either:

“We believe this suit is completely without merit and we will fight it vigorously.”

Many are calling Allen out as a troll, saying his recent illness and his decision to gift the bulk of his forytune to charity are tied to the legal action. From the WSJ, again:

“It sounds like the classic patent-troll case,” said Mark Lemley, a Stanford Law School professor who specializes in intellectual property and has represented Google and Netflix Inc. in other cases. He said suits filed by holders of years-old patents over technology that’s in widespread use can be difficult for a plaintiff to win.”

Whatever Allen’s motivation, Google may have a bit of a fight on their hands – Brin and Page supposedly “acknowledged Interval’s funding in their 1998 research article “Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine” in which they “present Google.”"

Interval is supposedly the owner of technology used to .found Google, Yahoo and other basic networks, and that is the basis for this lawsuit.