We’ve been guiding a number of clients on setting up Facebook profiles. For example, we’re promoting a book that chronicles the journey of a home-birth midwife. We’re helping the author set up her profile. A non-profit client is becoming a cause that Facebook members can join. Needless to say, our team spends a lot of time on social networking sites. In my personal (i.e. non-billable for any clients who are reading this) time, I use Facebook for the same reasons most people do: to reconnect with old friends and colleagues, to check out people’s kids and to find out who just got back from a vacation or is missing their spouse.
In the last week or so, I’ve connected with a number of high school friends. You know how it works: Join one person’s friends list and their friends see and connect with you. And so on. And so on. All this social networking got me to thinking about the fact that my 20-year (gulp) high school reunion will happen in 2009. It seems the people who are inclined to go to such events are likely the same people who are on Facebook. On the one hand, Facebook may expedite the getting-in-touch part of the planning process. On the other, how anxious will people be to see each other, since we’ve already reunited online? I’ve seen what they look like, how adorable their kids are and know what they do for a living.
I recently read an article that suggested the demise of local newspapers is in large part due to the newsfeeds people receive on sites like Facebook — the newspaper is no longer the place to find out what’s happening in a community. I am not sure I agree with that. But I do wonder: Will Facebook kill the high school reunion? Maybe that’s also an overstatement. After all, I can’t dance to 80s tunes in a bad hotel banquet room on Facebook. Or can I?
The Boston Globe wrote this story over Thanksgiving weekend! http://tinyurl.com/5chzvk