« | Home | »

Faceboom: Over Forty On Facebook

Topics: Lifestyle & Culture | 4 CommentsBy admin | February 11, 2009

With the recent spike in users over 40 on Facebook, I’ve watched some funny things playing out, so I thought I’d share some important notes with the boomer crowd. First of all, “LOL” does not mean “Lots of Love”. So when you post something like “Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that [...]

With the recent spike in users over 40 on Facebook, I’ve watched some funny things playing out, so I thought I’d share some important notes with the boomer crowd. First of all, “LOL” does not mean “Lots of Love”. So when you post something like “Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that grandpa passed away last night. I’ll let you know about funeral arrangements. LOL“, it comes across a little differently than you intended. Much like the story going around recently in which the guy shares: “my 8-year-old sister proudly declared that she knows that ‘WTF’ means ‘Wow, That’s Funny’ and has been using it all over the internet“. When you’re using Facebook, just rememeber, you’re not grandma, and you’re not an 8-year-old girl. “Poking” someone isn’t dirty, but it’s not especially purposeful, either. And that “Wall-to-wall” thing? Yeah. Everyone can read it. Stop typing sweet nothings to your best friend’s girlfriend. We all find it pretty amusing, but people get killed over this sort of stuff.  And lastly, drunk Facebooking is just like drunk e-mailing or drunk dialing. Only worse, for two reasons: 1.) You can “Facebook” somebody without having their  e-mail OR their number, and 2.) Everyone is watching. Anyone have an amusing Facebook story?

Read Comments

  1. Posted by Dojo Nick on 02.11.09 4:27 pm

    Did you notice the categories of Facebook users on the chart at http://www.istrategylabs.com/2009-facebook-demographics-and-statistics-report-276-growth-in-35-54-year-old-users/

    There’s “sex,” “drugs,” and “rock and rock.” Is that third category an eggcorn, a typo, or a new genre?

  2. Posted by TeacherPatti on 02.11.09 6:19 pm

    I don’t have an amusing story, but I have to wonder about a sworn enemy from college who friended me. It’s the only friend request that I have (so far) ignored. If this person had included a note with the request, I might have thought differently but I have no idea why on earth this dingle-dork would friend me.

  3. Posted by Stella on 02.11.09 7:52 pm

    My beef is with people posting their children’s fotos on it if it’s under their real name.
    Even with high privacy settings, if they are using it as a professional tool as well as social, they just don’t know some business associates as well as their friends (not that I would trust all FB friends implicitly either, if I had anklebiters). Parents have given me shit for ranting about this but the children are not capable of giving informed consent. I have a problem with that.

    Yup, you just had to get me going, mmhmm.

  4. Posted by admin on 02.14.09 1:07 am

    Hey Dojo Nick, I play Rock ‘n’ Rock in my rocking chair all the time these days…and TeacherPatti, you realize you’re leaving an Internet trail for them to follow with your comment here, don’t you? And Stella, that’s a tough one. I have to agree though, that contemporary etiquette and “appropriate” behaviour has a LONG way to go to catch up with the technology we’ve all so quickly integrated into our lives. Maybe we need a new Miss Manners?