Can young people fight back against the invasion of our beloved Facebook?

Facebook, the beloved social site of us young folk, has come under attack from a new and very dangerous quarter. 

Recently opened up to everyone everywhere, Facebook is being swarmed by hoards of the most-feared beings known to young people.

Yes, that's right.  It's horrid, it's tragic, it's the end of the world as I know it and the loss of my freedom... it's the invitation from my mom asking me to be her friend on Facebook.

It's happened to me, and it's happening to other poor innocent students right before my eyes. What's worse, many parents are reporting their conquest gleefully on their own blogs--not only crowing over their victory, but winning more supporters over to their wicked cause!

And this catastrophe doesn't look like it's going away.  Try searching "Facebook for Business Professionals."  The results are terrifying.

According to all the business professionals who are diving in, Facebook is a soon-to-be-hot-location for networking. The invaders are gleefully posting their photos, putting in their college affiliations (with <gasp> graduation dates over 10 years ago) and forming groups!  They're even writing on walls.

Eric Kintz of The Marketing Excellence blog writes that HP has over 3000 employees using the site, and that Facebook's fastest growing subscribers are 25 years and older! He closes with a highly-dangerous invitation to join him "as a friend on Facebook."

Pittsburg's Business News section reports on how professionals are now diving into Facebook, beginning with the oh-so-true statement: "Receiving an e-mail invitation to become the friend of a thirty-something year-old man on Facebook.com might at first be a bit unsettling."

Unsettling?  I think I would choose a slightly stronger adjective to describe how nerve-wracking it is for my Mom to have the ability to read everything my friends write on my wall. 

Before, when it was just school administrators and recruiters who were searching Facebook for indiscretions, it was easy to barricade myself behind a filter.  But how do you tell your mother (or father) that you don't trust them enough to let them read/write on your wall?

Attention Young People: We desperately need creative ideas to escape the tragic implications of this invasion on our territory!

For the moment, I have a quick and dirty solution for those of us who are torn between having our fun and personal page, or putting up one that is "Ok for Mom/Bosses."

Facebook's primary weakness at the moment is its blatant claim that "Everyone can join."  So, lets take advantage of that to create an auxiliary Facebook account for networking.

And the problem is solved!

By the way, Mom... I'd LOVE to be your friend on Facebook now! ;-)

Comments

[thorben]

Hello Katie,
having your mother as friend on facebook must be a strange feeling.

In my head just raises the question what would happen here in germany? It seems to me that it's just a matter of time that the parents invade the "StudiVZ".
But I think here in germany it would take a longer time than in the USA...

Hi Thorben, It is a little weird having my mom on Facebook, but I can't blame her. The site is very good for connecting with people and it's really exploding here among professionals.

Yes, I'm grumbling about the involuntary combination of my personal and professional lives on it... but I knew Facebook when it was just for us college kids! I think the main challenge for us original Facebook users is to figure out how to keep the two separate.

I agree with you that it will probably take a lot longer for StudiVZ to succumb to the more mature crowd. For one, it's in German. (So don't get any ideas, MOM!) I think a big reason Facebook is becoming popular among business people is that so many professionals worldwide speak English.

Also, Facebook has more options than StudiVZ (at least as far as my limited German can discover) and has a much bigger subscriber base.

But don't worry... I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we have to worry about StudiVZ as well! ;-)

[Jill Konrath]

Do you realize just how lucky you are to have a mother who is so "with it." I'm sure other kids are really jealous of you. If my mother was on Facebook, I'd think that was really cool.

~ your loving mom

Actually Mom, if your mom was on Facebook, I'd think it was really cool as well. And do you realize how lucky you are to have a daughter who will help you personalize your Facebook page so you really look like you're "with it"? ;-)

~ Your Loving Daughter--who still intends to clearly separate her personal and professional lives online.

[Eric Kintz]

And the invaders are also reading your blogs!!! :)
Eric

Oh no! Oh no! Then I'll fight back by reading their blogs so I know as much as possible about the enemy!

[Faisca]

It's funny that you mention HP, because I work for HP and I decided to join the HP network on Facebook just to check it out. And yeah, tons of older looking people. It's strange. I only have one friend in the HP network, but he's my age and I know him through a friend. Like you said, now that I don't have to worry about administrators I have to worry about my coworkers and bosses!

Limited profiles are a good way to avoid any kind of nonsense, perhaps.

When I read the headline, I thought you were going to be talking about "myspacers" and other random people joining Facebook and bringing all of their widgets and gadgets and ridiculous gaudy nonsense. Guess I was wrong, but that stuff still annoys the hell out of me.

I miss the good old days (2+ years back).

The old days... when Facebook was young and we didn't have to worry about parents, bosses or any other responsible adults seeing our online antics... and when the only wild and crazy things on Facebook were the photos and comments people wrote. You know, when Facebook was young, I had to walk two miles up a hill...in the snow...both ways...just to sign-in! Those new Facebook users--those adults--they don't know what it was like! ;-)

[Sarah D]

This post is funny because it's so true!! I've been grappling with this one for some time now.

Like most people of my generation, I'm linked up to all my friends, work colleagues, clients, etc. online in some shape of form. But my mom, dad, younger cousins, siblings etc. (of which I have many!) are also into social networking. Fab, you'd think, I live in a different country to them so what a great way to keep in touch, right??

Wrong, because I can't BEAR it - and it's not because I have something to hide or be ashamed of or because have issues with multiple personalities. It's just plain unnatural that all these people from different spheres of my life should be privy to the same version of "me"!! So I've recently come up with my own not-so-quick and dirty solution: Bebo = family friendly, Facebook = friend friendly, LinkedIn = client/boss friendly. Maximum benefit, minimum embarrassment for everyone involved!

Sounds like a good solution, Sarah! I also agree that it's not a good idea to combine the many different aspects of my life. I relate very differently to my professional friends than to my college friends, and I'd prefer to keep them apart online as well. Too bad all my friends and I were already using Facebook when the professional swarm started arriving!