Am I Too Old for Facebook?
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I created my account on Facebook about a year ago. I joined because I had a curiosity as a marketer. I’m in there to play around and experience the environment, and to contrast it to the opportunities with MySpace.
Lately, I’ve gotten more into testing the applications on Facebook with an eye towards conceiving some of my own, and with the avalanche of colleagues joining, it’s become a good place to network.
Recently, I read an article on the Huffington Post, “When Worlds Collide: Facebook in Business,” that got me thinking about the generational clash going on at Facebook.
Author Megan Berry, a 20-year-old junior at Stanford, laments…
As a 20-year-old junior at Stanford I am both an everyday Facebook user and a summer intern at a software company. What I didn’t realize is how Facebook and my work would collide. Facebook seems to be the current obsession of the business world with thirty-something business users joining all the time.
It seems these business users are joining Facebook not because everyone is on it, but because the cool people are on it. For these older users having a Facebook account actually has little to do with convenience, but instead it is a symbol, communicating to others that you keep up with the latest Internet trends. Yet the “cool people” on Facebook are, for the most part, college students. Why are these thirty-something web users rushing to keep up with college students?
Perhaps that’s the intention of some of my old people peers, but I don’t think that’s the case for my Facebook “friends”. We’re all just looking to get different things out of it, including networking, research, re-connecting, discovering ways to monetize it, etc.
Jared Sandberg of the Wall Street Journal discusses the generational divide within Facebook in his article, “OMG — My Boss Wants to ‘Friend’ Me On My Online Profile.”
So the college students don’t like us old interlopers coming around where they hang out.
Deal with it. You’re not that cool, and we’re not going anywhere.
- Posted in Affiliate Opinions
8 Comments
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On August 10 @ 2:04 am posted[...] that time, however, I found a very interesting post at Affiliate Tip Blog that asked the question: Am I too old for Facebook. The article was very enjoyable and I recommend you give it a read if you’re not part of the [...]
I think the affiliate community really is coming into its own at Facebook. To me, it seems that we’ve carried over and transformed the buzz from the Summit into something that is really tangible. I’m sure there are some youngsters (I’m 28, so typing that feels weird) who resent the old folks joining, but as a former secondary school and college teacher, I daily get “friended” by former students who want to stay in touch.
Like anything else, Facebook is a tool and is what you make of it.
reply to this commentI’m sorry, but I had to mention that this ‘20 year old’ forgets that many people of all ages go to college. Seriously. People from 15-100 can take college courses.
One more thing to consider… if she was a fan of Bruce Willis (for example) and he was on Facebook, she would probably want to be his friend. What happens to the age difference feelings then?
reply to this commentWell,
I was dating a girl in her mid 20’s not too long ago (I’m mid 30’s) and found out quickly how centered MySpace and Facebook are to the lives of her generation.
I ended up setting up a profile on both accounts and did get a bunch of grief from friends of my age group and even a girl more my age that saw my profile. She thought it was a place for me to hook up.
As far as business goes, I’ve yet to leverage it for those purposes. Truth is, I don’t think I’d want my boss to see my profile.
Funny clip.
JW
reply to this commentI have to agree with JW, I got into out of the necessity of dating a younger friend. They are totally obsessed with it and now I am the running joke of the office because some of my coworkers take pleasure in publishing peoples profiles.
The plus side is, I found it to be a place where I can express my indivduality and pride. I like playing the role of business man during the day, and a flamboyant twink during the night. I have found it an excellent place to hook up and find the next party and honestly, thats all I use it for now.
And I pray to God that nobody in the office finds my latest profile.
Ben D
reply to this commentMr. Dahimover,
That is a funny story. It is interesting that people display such personal information on such a public forum. Before I interview someone, I check their email address on Google, and their myspace page. Do not want someone who talks about Drinking and being a twink. Just not the kind of employee I want working my affiliate program. We all know its too much work for someone who is not giving it all that they can.
reply to this commentGreat post. I just signed up for a Facebook account. I didn’t know much about it other than the basics. I’m not certain I’ll do much with my account but I did want to see first what all the “hype” was about. I thought the embedded video was fantastic and your closing line made me chuckle.
reply to this commentFacebook can seriously be used as a spying tool. I think that most corporate recruiters (many being in their mid 20’s) are using facebook to see if new hires have anything perverse or innapropriate on their profiles.
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