You're Not Too Old for Facebook

Facebook is not just for kids. In the past 60 days, users over the age of 35 have doubled, representing nearly 1/3 of all Facebook users. If you’re in that demographic and thinking of joining, you won’t feel like you’ve stumbled into a college party. Au contraire, for you, the atmosphere of the social networking site may feel like a family reunion, a Chamber networking event or a college reunion, and best of all, you don’t have to worry about what to wear.

The key to success on Facebook is deciding how you want to use it before you register. Your use will determine your “friends” and the information you post on your page. The new business prospect you met at last month’s conference is more interested in your industry insight than the fact your daughter broke up with her boyfriend last night. And while you may turn a blind eye to your son’s rantings against his coach, the coach may not be so willing to renew the scholarship. Facebook is designed to connect you with not only your friends, but friends of friends. These connections can be wonderful, but they may lead to awkward situations.

Match people to your purpose. Facebook allows you to group friends into lists, but this can quickly become too time consuming to keep up with multiple groups. Start with one group, you can always add later. For now, choose family and close friends, business acquaintances or social acquaintances.

Signing up is simple. Facebook prompts you to add an email contact list to get your group of friends started. It’s easy to select contacts from the list, this is not an all or none proposition. Your selected contacts will be sent a message asking them to confirm the invitation. Once confirmed, you have a new friend. You can continue to “friend” people from your Facebook page. New users are often tempted to friend everyone, resist. You’ll have a more cohesive group in the long run.

Keep posting, but don’t overdo it. A once a day status update is enough most of the time. Remember, every time you post an update, each of your friends will be sent a notification. Think: is this update interesting to my group of friends? One of the biggest frustrations on Facebook is with friends who post second by second. Restrain yourself, your friends will thank you. Also, use the inbox for writing private messages. Your wall is not the place for gossip or griping.

Do comment on your friends’ updates because conversation is a two way street. If you’ve run out of things to say for your own status update, try one of Facebook’s hundreds of thousands of quizzes. Send it on to your friends and compare results.

Facebook is a way to stay in touch with people you don’t see regularly, whether that’s because they are business acquaintances or far-flung relatives. It’s a way to feel connected in our ever increasingly disconnected world. But remember, Facebook will never replace face to face. Josh, 45 and a veteran Facebooker says, “Just pick up the phone and call me.”

Have a question? Email Leslie Meredith at leslie@toptenreviews.com