Scary... your parents are on Facebook!

As is already the case 'resistance to technology' is melting away enough for Baby Boomers to recognise the amazing social engagement that Facebook facilitates.

It makes sense that this generation of 50 -65 year olds would be embracing the social web now.  After all, nearly all the Gen X and Gen Ys are on Facebook and parents seem to have an inbuilt 'nosy gene'  (or is it a 'caring gene') for keeping a protective eye on their offspring and their friends.

According to the latest  stats, over 300 million of us use Facebook.  50% of us are logging in daily and the fastest growing demographic is 35 year olds and older.  By now you would've seen the comparison that if Facebook were a country it would be 4th largest in the world (and nearly the 3rd based on latest figures)!

Courtesy of TechCrunch.com

But this presents a dilemma... to friend or not to friend?

If your parents, or say your girlfriend or boyfriend's parents "friend" you, what should you do?  Offend them by ignoring their request, probably not.   But if you accept them do you really want them seeing exactly the same Saturday night shenanigans that your closest friends see?

What does this mean for Gen Xers & Gen Yers as our parents' generation crop up increasingly frequently on Facebook?  Could it lead to an increase in Facebook abandonment?

I don't think so.

What I do think is that this "friend or not to friend" dilemma will see Facebook evolve to mirror our relationships in the offline world.  

In the non-cyber world, we share lots more with our best mates than we do with someone we've just met. Similarly your relationship with your employer or professional colleagues will be different from relationships with your footy mates.  It doesn't mean you're a different person around them, it's just that they see different sides of you.   Friendships in real life certainly don't come as one size fits all.

What if Facebook introduced functionality that allows us to rate our relationships with Facebook friends as we do in real life.  

If a "friend rating" system were introduced then you could allocate 10/10 access for your best mate & say 1/10 for somebody you just met .  Or maybe you'd tick a "work colleague"  box or "parents" box.  As these friendship grow, you would then increase that person's rating so that you share more with them.  This is how we treat relationships in the offline world.

Taking this idea further, different friends would have varying access to see pictures of you.  For example, to your professional contacts your profile picture could be you in a suit and tie, whereas your lifelong school mates may see a photo of you in a costume from a fancy dress party.  Both are equally relevant & appropriate for the person viewing the profile.

How do you see Facebook evolving?