Jim Buie asks:
I received a query from CBS News technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg about “the older generation” on Facebook. Do you have a story to share about your experiences on Facebook, particularly in relation to teens, many of whom call us over-40s “the creepies”? Or do you know teens or twenty-somethings willing to say how they feel about parents and geezers coming online and inspecting their Facebook profiles? CBS News will sort through the responses and may seek to interview some of the respondents. Post your responses at the link below:
http://www.togetherwhileapart.com
I have been on Facebook practically from the beginning as I am interested in social networks and the psychology and sociology of online behavior (and I have posted many times about it). During that time I went through three entire large sets of “friends”. The first were NCSU students – the set I used for this little study.
The second set were people with Yugoslav names – this showed me that the kids are OK! While their parents were killing each other over symbols, the kids, Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Macedonians, etc., were friending each other, joining various Yugo-nostalgic groups (Balasevic is the best, Bijelo Dugmo is the best band ever, I miss chocolate bananas, etc.).
Now, most of my Facebook friends are bloggers, scientists, people I met at conferences, PLoS employees, etc. And since a couple of days ago – my wife! No more friending cute chicks any more 😉
This also means that I do not even see the “other Facebook”, i.e., what the current college students are doing and talking about. I have isolated myself inside the “new Facebook”, i.e., the bunch of us old “creepies”.