I was recently talking to a group of 40 something guys about career 2.0, and the conversation moved to LinkedIn - the business social networking site. One seasoned CIO had never used it, while another had over 1,100 direct connections and more than 5 million indirect ones. I mentioned Facebook as the latest tool. One was unfamiliar with MyFace [sic], the others thought it was for personal relationships.
The latter point of view was confirmed by Alice Mathias, a recent college grad, who recently shared her thoughts about Facebook in a New York Times op-ed piece. The piece received a lot of play in the blogosphere with postings from bloggers like Mathew Ingram, Scott Karp, and Mario Sundar about the nature of personal and professional networks.
According to Ms. Mathias we post graduates don't quite get it.
She writes: "Just a warning: if you're planning on following the corner of this map that's been digitally doodled by my 659 Facebook friends, you are going to end up in the middle of nowhere."
To her and presumably her generation, Facebook is not a valuable social network; it's "online community theater," less a functional tool and more a source of entertainment.
We can learn a lot from today's youth. How they embrace technology is of great interest to me. But their (i)tune may change when the Facebook generation scatters across the country and around the world to start new jobs and begin families. They may abandon Facebook for LinkedIn or begin using Facebook the way we working stiffs have started using it - as a valuable social network to keep touch with friends, family and colleagues. Or maybe a hybrid will form that combines the personal and the professional, just as work and play have merged in the real world.
And when that happens, the youth of tomorrow will likely do what today's youth have done -- embrace a whole new network they can call their own. They will put up a digital warning on their doors that reads- Knock before entering or Keep out - signs any parent of a teenager will recognize. And once again, adults will be told they just don't get it.
And so the generation gap continues -- only this time in cyberspace. In our youth obsessed culture, it's not surprising that adults want to enter the bastions of the young. I don't see too many college students clamoring to join eons.com, the social network for the over 50 set.
Yes we adults probably don't get it, but give us credit for trying and for recognizing the knowledge and sensibility that the young bring to the table. It's not as if we are trying to dress like college kids in age inappropriate clothing.
Let me get back to you.
Technorati Tags: Alice Mathias; Social Networks; LinkedIn; Facebook; Career 2.0;link to original post