My daughter turned 13 last week and wants a Facebook page. So we were talking about it and had a very interesting conversation. In the end I agreed that she could have a Facebook page as long as she remembered this:
- Facebook makes money by selling your information to others
- People will form impressions of you by the way you present yourself on Facebook
- Once your information is on Facebook you can never take it back
It was an interesting conversation and as with many interesting conversations I came away with some realizations including the fact that a young person probably cannot opt out of Facebook. By the time she gets to college, the admissions people will be looking at all applicants in the context of their Facebook presence. Without one an applicant could be at a disadvantage.
So my final wrap up was the idea that Facebook is an advertisement to the world of you. Use it to your advantage.
While you are thinking about Facebook. You might want to check out the 60 minutes piece from last week. You may want to pick a different segment on the CBS site -- but after looking at a few of them, it is hard to find one that shows the whole Zuckerberg segment.