Baby boomers renewing old ties as fast-growing user group on Facebook

Facebook: It isn't just for college kids any more.

That could be the slogan of the moment for the hugely popular social networking site that today sees 50-year-old-plus females as its fastest-growing user segment, according to Hugh Delehanty, editor-in-chief of AARP publications.

"What I like most about Facebook is the power its had with the baby boom crowd," Delehanty said. "It's made technology very easy. It's taken things that are daunting, like posting photos to a Web site, and made them very easy."

He added that finding old friends is the No. 1 use of the site by people older than 50. His own inauguration into Facebook began with a competition with his stepson to grow his Facebook friends list.

"Everyone he knew is on Facebook," Delehanty said. "I started with my high school in Weymouth, Mass. It's the largest school in Massachusetts. I went there (the school's Facebook page) and didn't recognize one person's name.

"I'm somebody who doesn't spend a lot of time cultivating and nurturing friendships. I've lived and worked in a lot of different places. I can't find people if I'm not in touch with them, so I would search out the kids of my friends," he said.

"I had a good friend named Larry Smith. Well, there are about 800 or more of them out there, so I had to find people that knew him. It's a real treasure hunt when you're searching for people with common names."

Delehanty now has more than 1,000 Facebook friends. His list grew exponentially after a column he wrote about Facebook addiction was published. He noted that the number of comments on his status updates didn't grow with the expansion of his friends list.

"An anthropologist from Oxford, England, said that the human species can only keep track of 140 to 150 people in their heads. The Roman Legion was 140 people, and those guys had to know each other. When you go over that number, what you find is that the people that are intimately following or commenting doesn't go up. It stays the same. Just a handful of people are commenting," Delehanty said.

He also laments a minor change to the Facebook format. Gone is the "Facebook user is" blank. In its place is "What's on your mind?"

"It was your name and 'is.' There was a lot of creativity around that," he said. "(Facebook) changed it, and now you can do almost anything. It made it less creative and less interesting."

If you haven't yet joined the Facebook rush, take note, as Delehanty will be presenting "Facebook 101" as part of the AARP Vegas@50+ event, which runs from Thursday through Saturday at the Sands Expo and Convention Center. His session is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Friday.

There's still time to register for the event at www.aarp.org/events.

Excuse me while I update my status.

Share your Internet story with me at agibes@reviewjournal.com.