I noticed recently that some students I informally mentor at Ohio University created a Facebook group for their online magazine, the most excellent Speakeasy. That was all the excuse I needed to hop over to Facebook and check it out.
First rude awakening: My workplace blocks Facebook, informing me that it is questionable content and bumping me straight to the company’s intranet site.
Undaunted, I waited till I got home to check it out. I registered, poked around a bit and kinda forgot about it.
Then I got a ping from my friend Tiffany, noting she was listing me as a friend in Facebook. That drew me back, and I started messing around with it more, adding a photo and details in my profile. Then I stumbled across a really cool feature that allows Facebook to scan your Yahoo (or Gmail or whatever) e-mail address book for people who are already in Facebook. Once you get the list, you can start adding them to your friends list.
Before I knew it, I had 17 friends in Facebook. Very easy. Very addictive. I’m also on Linked In, but I’ve never really paid much attention to it, to be honest. Maybe it’s because I’ve always perceived that as a place to look for jobs and I’m pretty happy where I am.
Next rude awakening: The damn thing made me realize how freakin’ old I am. I noticed most of my friends are in their 20s. I started searching for folks my age (mid-40s), first by looking for Edinboro grads who would be my contemporaries (none) and then by searching my hometown for folks my age (none). Ouch.