Facebook

A friend of mine was worried about a grandchild. At first blush that concern appears to be justified. Kid has a lot of people who care about him but he's pretty consistent about getting into trouble whenever the opportunity presents itself.

She asked about Facebook. Being in her 70's, it is not something she's familiar with. She wanted me to explain it to her.

Well...

How do you define "social networking?"  So I tell her, in it's best form it's kinda like a big bulletin board where you can post pictures of your latest trip, your new haircut, or snap shots of the weekend when your good friends came and visited. A place to post information about an upcoming meeting, event or service project so your buddies can be informed and join you. Kinda like a big get together and being part of the crowd in the kitchen getting the hot scoop! When used appropriately it can save a lot of time over making individual calls on the phone and just be a nice/fun exchange of information.

But we all have different ideas of what appropriate entails. And that's where it starts to fall apart. Even when people put their profiles on private, if you post a suggestive picture it's there for just you and the rest of your 352 to 700+ closest friends.

And the titillating details of last night's tryst? How long do you think it's going to be before some enterprising soul who has access to your profile spreads that all around town...

Ticked someone off? Remember when you posted the 'called in sick and played hooky in Vegas story?' Ummm, the girl you dumped last week just copied that and sent it to your employer. Guess what happens in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas. Now you're job hunting again.

Plus, just the teen angst...Wow, some of the kids post Every. Bit. Of. Drivel. that occurs to them in that empty space between their ears and turn the site into a virtual party of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I guess a note from a 30 something year old guy who has a tendency to friend lots and lots of tweens & young teen girls, 750+...(yeah, creepy) put it best recently...

"I swear, I know 2 many losers. Thinking about cutting the roster or just leaving Facebook all together."

Well, in the land of - it takes one to know one  fella...

I'd say that Grandma had better have her computer password protected and the kid can't be on it unless an adult is in the area who also has access to his site 'cause there are too many losers out there and you don't want the boy finding them all on your watch.
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