I was recently laid off and am struggling to find a job. I'm in my 50s, and I wonder where I fit in this current job market.

The author was recently laid off and is now unemployed.

Courtesy of Bil Browning

I was one of the first Twitter "influencers" back before it even had an app. When Facebook launched pages, I was the first gay journalist to have one after they helped me set one up, complete with the blue "verified" checkmark that actually meant something before they started selling them.I grew another Facebook page to over a million followers, and the Library of Congress archived my old blog as an important part of the internet.I spent 20 years helping to build the online journalism ecosystem into what it is today. So why can't I find a job in digital journalism now that I'm unemployed for the first time in 20 years? I have a sneaking suspicion it's because of my age.I was laid off after decades in the media businessI started my own site in the early days of blogging, back in 2004. After 10 years, I sold it to a media company and went to work for them.I stopped focusing on my own social media presence to build the media company's accounts. The publications needed the awards and recognition more than I did, I thought. I invested in them instead of myself.They laid me off a few days before I'd have been there for 10 years.