issue feature

They say it's creepy for the 30-somethings to be on Facebook. Turns out it's just really cool.
- By Rosalind Fournier

I know a guy from college named Zack who’s 36 years old. When he invited his sister—10 years his junior—to become his “friend” on Facebook.com, the popular selfdescribed “social utility” network, this was her response: “My big brother on Facebook? What’s next, MySpace?”

You get the point. Until recently Facebook was generally considered the domain of the younger set. But lately it has exploded with people in their 30s and up, a phenomenon noted by one Nathan Mather, who started an online group within Facebook named “Unlike 99 percent of the Facebook population, I was born in the ‘70s.” His members now number more than 130,000.

How would I know all of this? Because I joined, of course. Since I, too, was born in the ‘70s, I hesitated initially when the aforementioned Zack invited me to become his friend, but he talked me into it. He even suggested a few folks I already knew on Facebook to start building my own network so I wouldn’t look so lonely (and ridiculous) on there all by myself.

So join I did, and set about building up a network as quickly as possible. First were a few more college friends, poached from Zack’s own list. Then I found a few classmates from high school. Next, a surprise find: a young cousin, who is currently serving in Iraq. When I emailed to request his “friendship,” I wasn’t even sure I had the right Wesley Bostian because his picture was so small. Turned out I’d nailed it, though. His reply: “Yes, I am your cousin. You’re the Rosalind that ran over someone’s flowers with the lawn mower.” (This is true, but it was an accident.)

After that, I started to get a little obsessive—especially after noting that an acquaintance was boasting an entourage of more than 30. So I beefed up my efforts: I added everyone who’s ever babysat my children, though admittedly they’re easy targets, all having been born in the ‘80s and already well-versed in the world of online social utility. I added current and former colleagues, though only the ones already on Facebook-I still usually draw the line at actually inviting people to join, due to my innate fear of rejection. I even added a few ex-boyfriends, one of whom, apparently still bearing a grudge, beat me by one answer on the Facebook “Seinfeld” quiz and e-taunted me mercilessly.

Yes, Facebook offers more than social utility: there’s also competition. After scoring 95 percent on the Seinfeld quiz (apparently plenty of others knew the last name of Babu the deli owner, but it eluded me), I made my own quiz for Grey’s Anatomy. (Question: What disease did the chief have hospital staff screened for after an outbreak occurred? The answer may not be suitable for a family magazine.) Finally, Facebook offers a whole lot of news-slash-gossip, finely tuned to one’s own particular social network, political interests, favorite teams and beyond. It’s like this: you know how if you sign msn.com, it bombards you with tidbits you couldn’t care less about: whether Britney’s in or out of the psych ward, who has or hasn’t used steroids and those ubiquitous “30-minute-or-less recipes” that would actually take a normal person (read: me) an hour and a half to prepare? Well, on Facebook, the “news” is all about your friends: what they’re reading, who they’re dating, what kind of mood they’re in, even when my cousin is coming home from Iraq.

This kind of continually updated information either makes Facebook (a) an informative way to stay in touch with friends, (b) presents a dangerous distraction when one should be working or (c) both. I vote for (c).

After all, it’s hard to feel too guilty about being distracted from work when all of your working friends are regularly tuning in, too. And it can occasionally be productive: I think I just lined up a freelance job from a guy in Boston I haven’t laid eyes on in 15 years.

That said, it’s possible Facebook will never completely lose its teenybopper stigma. A friend from high school posted a photo from our school yearbook, and a few younger people took it as an opportunity to make snide wardrobe marks—not entirely invalid, since someone was sporting a Member’s Only jacket—but the one who posted the picture took offense nonetheless.

“Watch it,” he wrote. “I don’t need any snark from those born when I was going through adolescence. “They say it’s creepy for the 30-somethings to be coming onto Facebook,” he continued, lamenting, “but no one remarks on the psychic toll us oldies have to bear when the 2s0-somethings start with the sarcastic comments.”
January Birmingham, Alabama

  

 
Digital Newstand

View Magazine

bmag buzz

What are you doing
this Weekend?
 



 
bmag bonus


This Month's Giveaway ...
Tickets to the Rigling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, which will be in Birmingham from Jan. 28-Feb. 1.

Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter,
the bmag buzz, and be automatically entered for your chance to win!