When I came to KU in the fall of 2007, I quickly noticed many of my professors had profiles on Facebook. My first reaction was something along the lines of "OMG, what the [heck] are you doing on my interweb!?"
I chalked it up to few tech-savvy professors keeping up with the latest trends. But as time went by I began receiving friend requests from friend's parents--even one grandparent! In the past year, the number of my Facebook friends over the age of thirty has steadily increased. Facebook has begun courting the over thirty crowd to grow its network.
As a graduate student in journalism, who spends many waking hours studying the motivations behind using new media, I couldn't help but notice the differences between older Facebook users and their younger counterparts.
Those of us who have grown up with social networking sites have a tendency to share too much information with the world. Older users getting acquainted with social networking sites are more reserved in what information they choose to share. No racy pictures, no obnoxious wall posts and less information in general. Younger users may be tempted to say this is because adults lead boring lives...
In this instance, I think many of us can learn from our elders. Sometimes less is more, more professional that is.
Five Do's and Don'ts of Facebook:
I chalked it up to few tech-savvy professors keeping up with the latest trends. But as time went by I began receiving friend requests from friend's parents--even one grandparent! In the past year, the number of my Facebook friends over the age of thirty has steadily increased. Facebook has begun courting the over thirty crowd to grow its network.
As a graduate student in journalism, who spends many waking hours studying the motivations behind using new media, I couldn't help but notice the differences between older Facebook users and their younger counterparts.
Those of us who have grown up with social networking sites have a tendency to share too much information with the world. Older users getting acquainted with social networking sites are more reserved in what information they choose to share. No racy pictures, no obnoxious wall posts and less information in general. Younger users may be tempted to say this is because adults lead boring lives...
In this instance, I think many of us can learn from our elders. Sometimes less is more, more professional that is.
Five Do's and Don'ts of Facebook:
- Unless married, don't post your relationship status. With a 50 percent divorce rate it's still a bad idea. And for pete's sake, never put "It's complicated!"
- Don't post pictures of you and others engaging in illegal activity...duh.
- Do make sure your privacy settings are enabled--I recommend limiting it to your immediate friends.
- Do Google yourself on a regular basis--it sounds dirty but it's really quite harmless...
- Do consider your audience, this is social media after all. Only post information and tag pictures you feel are an accurate reflection of you.
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