# Help me understand the attraction to Facebook. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 6, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735 "2011-08-06T15:12:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735/41 "2011-08-07T22:18:02Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The #1 thing I hear is “I can talk to old friends from high school” which means zero to me. I don’t know why I would suddenly like to hear from them when I have not heard anything in 25 years. Same here. Actually, I’ve found very, very few people from my high school class on FB. There are some from college, but not very many. A very good friend of mine IRL surmises that there’s an “age curve” of FB users: The younger you are, the more apt you’ll be active there. Not that you’d be inactive if you were in your 40s, but 40s on up isn’t, according to my friend, FB’s major demographic. I have no idea if there’s any truth to this, but it’s an interesting theory. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735/42 "2011-08-07T22:30:52Z")
A lot of 40-somethings get FB accounts to keep track of their teenagers, like my sister did. As a result, she was contacted by her high school boy friend which was a little interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735/43 "2011-08-07T22:46:38Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > You had perfectly simple and accessible ways to communicate with them before Facebook, yet your interaction was limited to a Christmas card here or there. Why would you suddenly want to interact with them any more than you used to? Because Facebook makes it “easy”? It already _was_ easy before Facebook. > > What is the attraction of every Facebook Friend of a Friend of a Friend of a Friend (= ‘total stranger’) being able to keep tabs on you and your family and real friends? Why would you want to know about these total strangers and their favorite colors and their zodiac signs? More importantly, why would you have them know about you? > . I am fundamentally a lazy person. It is much easier than writing letters. I have my privacy settings high enough that I do not come up if you search, and only my family can see the few pictures I post (which are old family pictures. My cousins and I are posting what we have so we can make copies if we want). I do not have an email address, phone number, location, job, education, or anything like that available for anyone to see. My friends list is not visible to anyone who can see my posts. I use it for what I want, and I’m happy with that. I first got on it when my daughter was away at college and would post pictures from school. At that time you needed an edu suffix on your email address in order to get an account, so I used my husband’s account and signed up. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735/44 "2011-08-07T23:01:53Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > Same here. Actually, I’ve found very, very few people from my high school class on FB. There are some from college, but not very many. A very good friend of mine IRL surmises that there’s an “age curve” of FB users: The younger you are, the more apt you’ll be active there. Not that you’d be inactive if you were in your 40s, but 40s on up isn’t, according to my friend, FB’s major demographic. > > I have no idea if there’s any truth to this, but it’s an interesting theory. Since Facebook doesn’t really advertise and it’s only content consists of what it’s members post online, it doesn’t really “target” any particular demographic. Your tendency to want to go on Facebook would largely be a product of a) your comfort level with technology and b) the likelihood of people you know already being on Facebook. But since Facebook did start in 2004 with specific college campuses, it stands to reason that the initial adopters would be young people. Older people would gradually adopt it as young people grew older and their personal and professional networks broadened. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735/45 "2011-08-08T00:27:00Z")
Love it. Got hooked on a week ago, and set up a quick MySpace page to host music and share with “associates.” It’s just kind of fun, and it’s like your own private SDMB. Yeah, I “friended” my Mom, and defriended her, and refriended her, but it goes with the territory, I aspose. I didn’t even have a way to share my (few) recordings which I somewhat need for my “business” and was always too lazy to do MySpace except for little bands and stuff. Now I still don’t have much in digital, (word of mouth), but it’s easy to “network” just by checking in with my real friends IR: every so often. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735/46 "2011-08-08T12:28:49Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I am fundamentally a lazy person. It is much easier than writing letters. I have my privacy settings high enough that I do not come up if you search, and only my family can see the few pictures I post (which are old family pictures. My cousins and I are posting what we have so we can make copies if we want). I do not have an email address, phone number, location, job, education, or anything like that available for anyone to see. My friends list is not visible to anyone who can see my posts. I use it for what I want, and I’m happy with that. I first got on it when my daughter was away at college and would post pictures from school. At that time you needed an edu suffix on your email address in order to get an account, so I used my husband’s account and signed up. Okey-dokie. If it works for you then that’s cool! ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735/47 "2011-08-08T14:12:46Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > A lot of 40-somethings get FB accounts to keep track of their teenagers, like my sister did. As a result, she was contacted by her high school boy friend which was a little interesting. Heh, the family members I have on FB precisely do that. They seldom, if ever, post anything themselves. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735/48 "2011-08-08T14:15:41Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > But since Facebook did start in 2004 with specific college campuses, it stands to reason that the initial adopters would be young people. Older people would gradually adopt it as young people grew older and their personal and professional networks broadened. I think that’s precisely what my friend meant. I did find a couple of high school friends after a lot of sleuthing. Turns out their privacy controls are tighter than tight. Can’t say I blame them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-attraction-to-facebook/591735.md?page=2)