I wrote last fall about the pending arrival of mommies to Facebook. Despite my generation with a greater presence, a rising number of American women my mother’s age are turning to the site…
Keep following those red dots of women when men are added: 
When you swap out the 60-year-old men for both genders in their 50s…
…and swap the 50s with the 40s…
See the rise of the women? It doesn’t matter what generation you look at; more women use Facebook then men. The numbers may not be in the millions, but if the past 30 days are any indication, just wait.
In advance of my mother’s 61st birthday this spring, I’m thinking I’ll teach her how to use Facebook.
I taught her email when I departed for college, and I taught her how to copy-and-paste when she needed to do word processing (even though she still calls me and asks how to cursor over text to copy it). Facebook is the next obvious evolutionary step.
After all, my sister and I are already on it, my step-brother uses it, and numerous cousins write on each other’s walls. Why not make the Facebook walled garden a little smaller and more homey? With the value of Facebook etiquette, of course.
Mom could display her support for President Obama and chat with other moms in an online yoga group. And she could donate to her favorite charities without writing checks.
What do you think, dear readers? Are you a mom or dad on Facebook? Any tips you care to share? If you have a parent not on the social networking service, how do you feel about him or her joining?
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Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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I agree that old people want to learn something new, and internet and facebook is a great chance for them to find old friends and so on, my mother also uses facebook and she really love it, she cant live without it just a day, and I am very happy, that she found a lot of old and new friends there.
I am NOT looking forward to the day my Mom is on facebook. It’s too much information for her to know about me! She’s already asking questions about what she sees on my website, I’m just waiting for her to discover my twitter feed one of these days!
Anyway, the above does not surprise me… as facebook is about connecting and relationships, which in general (yes, a generalization) is more important to women. I also think women tend to keep in better touch with people from their past, so enjoy connecting with them on facebook.
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I think it is great for older people to get on internet sites. Most of my friends are alone for the first time in their lives and are in good health. Children are grown, husbands dead or with a younger woman, we want to expand our knowledge of the internet and the world that we hear young people talking about. Last week I was asked to teach an 82 year old neighbor lady how to surf the net and find friends to chat with. She has a computer that her grandchildren gave her 2 years but no one showed her how to use it. People her age are afraid of a computer and need slow clear demos. Many elderly in Alaska don’t live near a public place to take lessons. I hope to have my neighbor on facebook soon and connected with the Alaska Red Hat Ladies too. My mother sent me one e-mail from Georgia before she died and she was so pround of doing it.
Do a good deed and teach a senior citizen computer skills. Better to have us Grannies on the internet than depressed & needy.
My mon is in her 60s, and she’s been on Facebook for over a year. I think it’s great. My family is spread all over the US, and social networking is a great way for everyone to keep in touch. We share the Family Tree application, and play Scrabble.
Well, Ari, I set my mom up a Facebook to be in contact with our family’s former exchange student, in France. My mom is 78 yrs. old. Now I see my aunt (her sister-in-law), also in her 70s, I believe, has a Facebook. I don’t know how much my mom uses it, but I would be interested in hearing about this Family Tree application (she’s very into her family tree). Thanks!
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Rachel: What information do you have on Facebook you wouldn’t want mom to see? What if her friends are on it and she wanted to learn about networking with them?
Dianne: I visited Alaska nine years ago when the internet was fairly young, so am glad to hear of more using it. I’m aware of a lot of broadband issues, right?
Rick: Yeah, the Family Tree application (or another like it) is what I use with my cousins…though it’s more of something that we “have” and not something we “use.” How do you use it?
Gillian: I’d be curious to hear how your mom and your aunt use it–and whether they talk to each other there.
I say bring on the mommys! We shouldn’t be putting up anything we don’t want them to see anyways because if they can see it … so can our employers.
Plus there are always private groups and stuff we can post our nasty secrets in.
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Ari: Use… as in install to your Facebook profile and fill out.
One of the amazing stories that supports this is the incredible rise of Circle of Moms on Facebook, as reported on Techcrunch in Q4: 850,000 users in two months, all women (males cannot join ). Amazing.
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Maybe THIS is why Facebook thinks I’m old and fat!!
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I think it’s great whenever people (or a group of people) find value in a social networking tool, regardless of whether it is Twitter, Linked In, Facebook or anything else. It doesn’t seem particularly surprising that older women are a trending demographic. Older people have more time to hang around in online social tools since they are generally retired. When my mother got introduced to the Internet one of the first thing she started doing was hanging out in chat rooms with other (supposed) seniors. She liked the company and found it a good way to spend her time.
It also seems logical that women are trending higher than men. Perhaps this is some gender bias that I have or perhaps it’s just anecdotal from my own FB experience, but women tend to be more “social” in the ways that FB functionality is social (silly updates, interest in other people’s children, photos, “sending” stuff to one another. I have received virtual, drinks, hugs, Christmas ornaments, etc. and not one of them has ever come from a guy in my network.
As for mom being in my personal FB group, I would say no. Not because I have anything dicey in my profile or in my interactions there, but for the same reason I keep my FB network a close group of real friends: so we can hang out and not have to edit what we say for a peripheral audience. So, I wouldn’t invite my mother or my boss : – )
I have to say something here…I’m a mom (4 college-age kids) and on facebook. And there are things *I* won’t post to facebook because I don’t want my KIDS to see…
I’m a 53-year-old mom, and I’m on Facebook every day (much to the dislike of my 17-year-old son). I love the word games and the easy ability to keep in touch with acquaintances, especially now that I’ve been laid off from my job. It’s also good for networking, although I use FB mostly for social reasons, and LinkedIn for business.
AND… my 74-year-old mom is also on Facebook! I urged her to get an account so we could play word games together. Makes it easy to keep in touch with her on a daily basis — she lives in Missouri and I live in Georgia.
I never thought about going on Facebook. I’m a 59 year old retired teacher with time on my hands. My adult children are on Facebook; I don’t know what they’d think. Perhaps I’ll try it to get a reaction.
Hey, I am 67 and I am into all types of social media. We aren’t all dinosaurs.
My mum would love to go online, but my dad refuses to invest in a broadband internet connection. Their dial up is the slowest imaginable and they can’t even see photos that I send them.
My dad used to be a computer programmer, but since he retired he seems to have forgotten how to switch on a computer. I think being retired has driven him into quite a bad depression, it seems that he has lost all his interest. My mum is 70 and she’s so young. She looks young, she runs around at high speed and she is enrolled in all sorts of community courses, learning foreign languages and computer skills. I guess it all depends on your state of mind.
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Ari,
I’ve talked to mom about joining FB for the past year or so and she says no. Maybe you’ll have better luck!
Love,
Your sis
BTW- This is my first comment! Yay!
I’d love it if my 77 yo mom was on Facebook. But, alas, I can’t even get her to use email. If the demo keeps skewing upward they’re going to have to call it Wrinkled Facebook.
The first rule of social networking sites is that you go where your friends and people like you are. Facebook is a platform that makes it easy to find and connect with real life friends and new friends who share the same interests. Us “older girls” are moving to Facebook because we can connect and interact there.
I chuckle to see how the kids respond to us being there, throwing up walls and claiming that we’re impinging on their freedom of expression. As a life-long early adopter of new technologies, I’m delighted to see more involvement from my peers … and think it’s about time!
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