Have I poked you yet?

My friend Todd phoned me this week to chew the fat, gossip a bit, and to ask
me a very serious, life-changing question.

"Steve, should I be on Facebook?"

I wasn't surprised to get this inquiry from Todd, a middle aged fellow
working at a publishing company with three daughters at home, two of them
teens who are active Facebook users. I have known Todd since the late '80s
and although extremely competent with technology that he needs to know, he
is a complete Neanderthal with technology he doesn't need to know.

So, is Facebook a need to know or a not need to know?

I joined the popular social networking site quite a few months ago and for
the uninitiated adult out there I am going to give you my take on its
functionality and purpose. Keep in mind that of the hundred million users of
Facebook only a little more than 10 percent are over age . well, older.

Facebook is an electronic Web-based combination of several items we (old
folks) all grew up owning and using. It is a diary, a Polaroid instant
camera, a phone, a bulletin board and a scrapbook. It allows the user to
communicate all manner of important and/or completely worthless information,
photos and video to a broad spectrum of friends, relatives, and if you wish,
complete strangers.

The first tab on your own personal Facebook page is a "news feed." If you
and I have allowed each other to become "friends" then everything I post,
say, or comment on will pop up in your news feed. I imagine this can be
edited, but I am not there yet.

Some recent news from my 45 friends includes the following:

"Tracy is getting ready for work."

"Amy became a fan of Michael Buble."

"Katie is dusting."

"Tim thinks it is too cold outside."

"Van and Jenny are now friends."

Could I live without this information? Sure. Is it mindless, time wasting
and actually just a bunch of electronic "doodles?" Yup. But the site is
horribly addictive. And it allows you to hunt for and connect with friends
from your youth and even those in adulthood that have simply faded away
because you realized at some point that they actually were annoying.

And although there are hundreds of software applications that allow you to
become a more involved member of the Facebook community, my favorite is the
"poke." Yes, you heard me right. The poke.

There is also the super poke, the naughtier poke, and the poke pro, among
more complicated pokes. Pokes allow you to make a quick contact with a
friend or acquaintance by simply clicking on a poke icon. It lets people you
love know you were thinking of them by poking at them electronically.

Why just the other day I was poked by several close, dear friends who I had
not seen in ages. I announced to my entire office that I had been poked all
morning. It actually made me feel kind of special that old friends thought
enough of me to poke me like that.

Now what us old folks must do is disavow ourselves of the notion that the
terms used in Facebook and similar sites mean in the electronic world what
they mean in the real world. For example, as a child I would poke at a dead
animal with a stick to see if it was really dead. Poking someone on Facebook
is very, very different.

I encourage all adults to hop on board the Facebook bandwagon. If nothing
else, you will be able to see what sort of shenanigans your kids are getting
into on the site. That is if they accept you as a friend (hint: make them).

And if you join please add me as a friend and give me a poke or two. It's
fun. You'll see.

As for my friend Todd, I think I am going to have to give him an old
fashioned phone call. He just sent me a "sexy poke."

I'm thinking that was a horrible, horrible mistake. The old Neanderthal!

Life in Eden

Steven Scott Stromberg