Most of us midlife women have probably heard of Facebook by now.  Some of you may not be sure exactly what it is, but according to a recent WomenBloom survey, half of you actually know what it is AND are using it.  A recent article says that 50 something women are the fastest growing group on Facebook.  What gives?

From my Facebook page, I asked several friends who are midlife women why they are on Facebook.  Read on to learn more about what your fellow Bloomers are saying about Facebook!

Uh Oh.  I’ve just been sucked into the black hole that is Facebook.

OK, you may think Facebook has nothing to do with you but you may want to reconsider.  Facebook is picking up steam for us middle aged ladies so if you don’t stop to read this now, you’ll feel mighty clueless when your friends are all chattering about their Facebook activities.  

Consider the following...

I’ve been dabbling on FB now since about October.  And, I had noticed a definite uptick in the number of women I know whom I found on FB or who found me.  So my observations were only validated by my recent WomenBloom survey showing that half the women who completed the survey know what FB is and they use it.  Then yesterday a friend sent me an article yesterday that said 50 something women are the fastest growing group on FB.  Yes, you read that right.

So these past few days I have spent much more time exploring it and I had a lot of misconceptions about it, I find.  I always thought it was people basically sharing inane things like what they had for breakfast. Clearly, I wasn't fully in the picture. In the past few days, I:

•    Learned that the house of a friend of mine and her partner had been robbed
•    Heard that the tween age son of a friend who is in a professional organization with me had badly injured his ankles in a gymnastics meet
•    Learned, alas too late, that Denny’s offered their Grand Slam breakfasts for free up until 2 pm yesterday
•    Got to see a few vacation pictures from the trip a close friend had recently taken

These are the kinds of things I might have found out about way after the fact just because I don't see these people every day.OK, maybe you don’t care much about point 3, but I was glad to know about my two friends’ troubles.  And, it was fun to see pix from a trip I’d been hearing about in the planning stages as were L’s other FB friends. 

And I’ve found some of WomenBloom’s members on FB and they are pretty excited about it.  Here are their own words about how they came to be on there:

Debra Winegarten in Austin, Texas (who invites you to be her FB friend by the way):

"I'm on it because people at work were talking about it and I finally thought I better succumb. Now that I'm on it, I love it!

I'm like Mrs. Kravitz on "Bewitched," always peeking through the window shades to see what the neighbors are doing -- this gives me a way to peek into my friends' lives.

Then, I discovered I could use it to organize meetings. I'm president of my college's Austin alumni chapter, so I went out and "spammed" a ton of women and got 38 of them to sign up on the Facebook page I created for our chapter -- now, with one email, I can invite them all to the next meeting, etc.

And, I connected with people in cities where I no longer live, back 25 years so far -- it's been sweet getting in touch with others.

And, I created a fan page for a friend of mine and convinced 26 people, most of whom don't even know her, to become her fan: here's the link, please join: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43726979756

Linda N of Austin says:

"I signed up for my account a few months ago because one of my sons is on Facebook and I wanted to check out what he was doing.  I never used the account, though.  Two weeks ago, I received an email from a friend who was setting up a FB group for the co-op we lived in during college.  I loved the idea of being in touch with people from, gulp, 27 years ago, so I began using my account then.  Besides my co-op friends (30 in our group so far), I've connected with work buddies, family members, and friends near and far.  I'm still learning how to use it, like this tag-thing you just did.  I especially like the ability to see and post photos."

Cindy La Ferle of Detroit:

"I like your "Mrs. Kravitz" comparison ....

I was actually INVITED by a couple of my son's (college-age) friends to join it over a year ago!  At first I thought it was a big joke they were pulling -- but later learned it wasn't. We had a close-knit group of kids growing up in our neighborhood here, and they really wanted to keep in touch.

After joining FB and getting the hang of it, I started finding it was a great way to connect with other writer/editor pals.  I have colleagues all over the US, and love it when they post links to their newest pieces online. You gotta love the way the Internet connects people.”

Karen F of Austin:

"I love this and also see how I can be on this all day!  I am keeping an open mind.”


BJB of Austin:

"I joined the Facebook crowd because I became involved in spiritual mentoring some students at the church I attend near the university campus.... and of course, Facebook is what they use.”

So, ladies.  There you have it.  I’m pretty sure that Facebook is going to be like shopping online was 10 years ago.  Don’t you remember how many of us said in a very stern tone of voice that we would never shop online because we would never put our credit card numbers out on the web?  Unh hunh.

It’s very simple to set up a Facebook account.  Once you have, do a search for me, Allison Allen, and you can see what my profile and pages look like.  You can also join the WomenBloom Bloomers which will let us all share photos, activities and questions with each other.  I hope you’ll join!

Follow along for a little while and then you can start experimenting with doing things on your own page.  I promise that if you’ll play with it for a while, you’ll see what cool ways it offers to stay in touch with friends and family.

Just email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you have any questions.  I may not know the answer but I can find the answer for you.

Have fun!
 

LIST OF COMMENTS