Commentary
My Dad Facebooked Me!
- by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, December 17, 2008
Of course, times change.
In the last month I've experienced two events that signified the mainstream-ification (if that's a word) of what we do. Finally, what I do makes some sense to my family!
The first event was when my sister and my dad Facebooked me. My Dad is actually pretty savvy when it comes to the Web and has been using P2P for years, but he had never heard of social networking. He'd heard of MySpace, but it held no value for him. It wasn't his demo, so to speak.
It seems the epiphany occurred over Thanksgiving, from what I can only surmise was a discussion led by my cousins, who are all in their mid-20s. I routinely interact with my cousins online, but when my sister and my dad both came online with profiles inside of a matter of days, I knew the tide had turned.
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All of a sudden Facebook was elevated to a true communication platform in my family. It has unleashed a plethora of new relatives and the researching of our family tree. It appears we have family all over the world, clumped for the most part in the U.S. and Australia, all of which have routes back to Sicily (that clearly explains my bad temper).
Facebook is now a daily term in my family! Now if I could only explain the news feed and the targeting of the advertising on the site, they'll truly understand what we all do for a living!
The second event was more of a statement than an event. A member of my family said, and I quote, "It's OK if I miss that show. My DVR should catch it and if it doesn't, then my back-up will be online."
The concept that the DVR is fallible, and it's OK, because all these shows are available online, is what threw me for a loop. This was not the tech-savviest person I was speaking to. This was a "mass consumer" by definition, but this person was savvy enough to have online video as a daily part of life.
Both of these are what Malcolm Gladwell calls tipping points, though on a smaller scale: tipping points in my family. These are the experiences that allow my job for the last 15 years to make sense to them, and I love the fact that it's happening!
I know these may seem like trivial occurrences to you, but they are profound to me. The world is in a recession, at least the U.S. is, and advertising is feeling the effects.
Still, with decreased consumer confidence comes a behavioral introspection -- a chance to focus inward and take advantage of downtime by using the tools you have in front of you that are free and fun. The Internet is just such a tool and this economic climate poses opportunities for these rapidly expanding sites and services to reach a mainstream audience who is now at home, on their computer and finding ways to spend their time. Facebook and Hulu (as well as the other video sites) are benefiting -- and you could be, too.
Happy holidays, everyone!
A 40-something with kids on Facebook, I'm one of those who has a Facebook I never look at. The page is there so people can find me, but please oh please don't expect me to dive into that time-sucker. I would like to keep my job, thank you, and occasionally get a few chores done at home.
Great post - I can very much appreciate the brain cramp that comes with that kind of tectonic shift... Last year, when my family was forced to come together for the last days of my grandfather, I was given a not-small amount of crap for my involvement in Twitter, Facebook, and the like. Fast forward a full year - now on Twitter, my Dad let's me know what he's grilling on the stern of his boat, my sister is the director for a tech group with hundreds of twittering members, and my brother (the loudest detractor in 2007) is one of the "Top 200 Lawyers to Watch on Twitter"... My Mom (a classic Luddite, complete with the flashing "12:00" on the VCR) just got an iPhone, and insists on now limiting our written correspondence to the "cute bubbles in SMS".
A corner is, if not already being turned, just before us. Ubiquitous computing, global village, ambient awareness, anyone?
Great post, great comment K Phillips Dane....I have been on social networks strong for almost three years now and the growth I have seen in the last six months from friends who are not active digital has been off the charts. Almost all of that growth has been on Facebook. I also have noticed that Fb has engaged people who might have opened a page on MySpace or Friendster in the past and not been active. It has engaged many people...I am 37 years old so I speak mostly of people 30+ years of age. It is indeed an amazing moment....
My Dad literally just Twittered me moments before I read this post. Awesome!
Great post, Cory. I've noticed a stampede in the past couple of months. And don't forget Skype....
Thanksgiving opened up the same conversation at my house this year. I found myself rambling on about twitter and then migrating over to the computer to show them lolcats. For some odd reason everyone was interested this year. A week later they were all on facebook. and obsessed with it. Interesting to see how things catch on.
I'll add to the chorus of "great post" if a little late (get off my back, it's the holidays!). I've had many of those same moments, being in computer publishing since 1982, the Internet since '88, and an early TiVo Series 1, 2 and 3 adopter. Changed my parents lives when I bought them a Series 1 many Xmases ago - and, of course, installed and configured it for them!