I love Facebook, although I only very rarely post my own updates on it. I signed on first to get updates from a friend of mine who moved halfway across the country, got married, started a business, and had a baby. We talk every month or so, but FB lets me keep up with her like we did when she lived nearby and we weren't both so busy.

But since that initial reason for signing up, I've absolutely loved getting in regular touch with friends from high school who I had lost contact with and with my cousins all over the country who I never saw except at family reunions.

Contrary to popular belief, Facebook and Twitter are not primarily hangouts for teenagers--the largest demographic on Facebook is the 35 to 44 year old crowd. Twitter users are even older (that was a technology that was first picked up by older adults and is now trickling down to younger people). These are people who are pretty much like me--wanting to stay in touch with a large number of people I've known in the last 40-odd years in an easy and quick way. Is it quality time? Not really. But I didn't even know Mary Lee lived in Florida and that Sonja was back in Maryland and that Cynthia had a child two years ago--even getting little snippets from everyone's life is better than the nothing I was getting before!

Sarah