Facebook is Getting Old

[This was originally published on Examiner.com.]

Check out these stats from research firm Hitwise:

• Since May, the market share of visits to Facebook increased 22 percent.
• The number of users age 18 to 24 was about 39 percent last year—now it’s only 19 percent.
• Facebook visitors ages 25 to 44 account for more than half of Facebook visitors.

In March, the number of Facebook users over 35 doubled in 60 days, as reported in the blog ReadWriteWeb.

Bill Tancer of Hitwise writes: “Where are younger Internet users flocking to today?”

Maybe they aren’t going anywhere; the party is just getting larger. The most recent data I found from February reports that 18- to 25-year-olds accounted for about 19.3 million Facebook users, according to the blog Inside Facebook. In September 2008, the same site reports the number as about 17.1 million. So, that is two million new people.

Basically, younger users aren’t going anywhere, but they are growing at a slower rate than everyone else. Whether they ultimately decide that they need a cooler hangout than Grandma’s house is yet to be seen.

5 Tips about Personal Finance for New Adults

As I turn 24 (my, how I am getting old!), I am evaluating adulthood so far and thankful for some of the financial decisions I made (and annoyed about others, of course). For the most part, I think I've done the best with what I've had.


When I was in high school I got a lot of lectures from my older brother all the time about finance, for which I am thankful. If there was an 18-year-old out there listening, here are the tips I’d make you listen to if you were my little sister:

Get credit. Everyone talks about credit cards like they are the plague, but think of it like alcohol: You should learn how to use it responsibly when you are young. Not only is it helpful to learn how to use those things without going crazy, it is also the way to build up credit. FYI: They check your credit score when you are looking for an apartment, especially in New York City. (Of course, the credit markets are not what they used to be, but build up credit when you can.)

Go to a cheap school. Particularly if you have to pay for a lot of your own college, try looking for a state school that is renowned in your major. For instance, Ohio University has one of the best journalism schools in the country, so I’m glad I went there instead of paying way more for a private college with a worse journalism school. (However, please note private schools will often give more scholarships, so the cost can sometimes come out even.)

Pick a real job. I am a very creative person and I have a lot of creative dreams. However, I have chosen to channel those through a normal career that pays (albeit a field that isn’t doing so well at the moment...). A lot of times you can pair a “career” job with a “creative/academic” job. I earned my undergraduate certificate in women’s studies. The point is, journalism is a career, and women’s studies is more academic—but the two work very well together. Then on the side I specialized in dance—which I really knew I had no hope to pursue as a job. Maybe it will work for you to major in studio art, but for most people it really doesn’t.

Start saving ASAP. The minute you have a job and pay off those high-interest credit cards from buying Ikea furniture for your first apartment, force yourself to put aside money from every paycheck into your 401(k) and also into a savings account to develop an emergency fund—yes, even while paying off student loans. You can afford it; do not accept a “no” from yourself.

Quit smoking. And now, a message from our sponsor... I don’t really regret having smoked, as addictive personalities could do a lot worse. But in addition to the health benefits, quitting will probably save you hundreds of dollars every year. Just sayin'!

How to Be Friends with Co-Workers on Facebook

[Originally published on Examiner.com:]

Back in the day when Facebook was a friendly place for college kids to advertise beer-guzzling expeditions, we never knew it would someday be a pan-generational professional tool. The first co-worker friend request—or, even more shocking, the first boss friend request—can put one into a panic about the content of her page.

It’s not just the people with scandalous lives who have to worry about their Facebook pages; it’s also the people with normal lives—normal lives previously kept from their co-workers. In some ways, those days of channeling and choosing the professional image we portray is over; our image now extends to our social networking page, and we just have to deal with it. On the other hand, we don’t have to lose control of our image. Here are a few tips on how to be Facebook friends with co-workers:

1. Sanction them. In your privacy settings, make a group called "colleagues" and put your co-workers and/or professional contacts into it. That way whenever you want to limit your privacy, you can easily select the whole group.

2. Choose limits. What limits you choose might depend on your field and how you use Facebook in it. A good rule is to make sure co-workers cannot see things you do not moderate. For instance, you can’t control what your friends write on your wall; even if it’s not “bad” it becomese a reflection of you and therefore fodder to be judged on in your professional life.

3. Check your limits. Facebook has a useful tool that allows you to view your profile as another person. Unfortunately Facebook can still be tricky—sometimes you have to work hard to make sure you find the privacy controls for things like applications.

4. Don't discriminate. We all have people at work who we think are great outside of work, but that doesn’t mean you should allow them to see more of your profile than other co-workers. What if that person brings up your Facebook status to another co-worker who can’t see it? All the sudden you are in awkward digital office politics.

5. Notice office Facebook culture. Observe how other co-workers and your boss handle Facebook (and other social networking tools). You don’t necessarily have to follow their lead, but it gives you a good idea of what is considered appropriate (as many companies have yet to form policies about it).

6. Don’t get too comfortable. Even when you have the privacy controls, that doesn’t mean you should put photos up of yourself dancing on tables. I don’t allow anyone in the universe to see tagged photos of me or my religious and political views.

I live my life on Facebook so that if one day all of the privacy controls were gone, I’d feel like the world saw me grocery shopping in my sweatpants, not as if I was caught dancing in my underwear. In the mean time, I have less anxiety about what my colleagues think about me if I don’t let them see my wall posts from 2005.

Check Out My New Social Media Column

I am now a Social Media Examiner at Examiner.com, writing about social media trends as well as tips for marketing yourself via social media. My perspective of social media is that we should all use it, but we should all have real lives too ... And I think that's possible, believe it or not!

In fact, I loved what Heather Shoenberger, my fellow Social Media Examiner, had to say about how active social media uses often have the most active social lives:

Frequent updaters are the likeliest candidates for the "lack of social life due to an addiction to social media" -- however, if they weren't out "living" and taking pictures of that life, they wouldn't be on Facebook posting so often.

I hope you will check out my latest commentary about how to be friends with co-workers on Facebook and let me know what you think.

I plan to continue Y-rd as a hub for all things Generation Y, including finance, new media, career and lifestyle. I might slow down a bit while I get my new site up and running, but please stay tuned.

Digital Communication: Who's in Charge?

A recent survey found that more than half (54%) of corporate communications professionals say that digital communication is having a significant impact on their organizations' overall communications plan.

Who are these other 46%, and do they live in a hole? Apparently that group says the digital impact on their strategies is “fair” (36%) or “not much” (10%).

So why are so many corporate communicators not convinced of the impact of digital communication? I doubt it's because digital communication might not have a big impact. Rather, corporate-communications folks are not necessarily in the loop about digital efforts. Digital communication at companies might be brewing in the tech department or marketing, for instance.

According to the survey (by Heyman Associates Executive Search), here's who corporate communicators think are most responsible for digital communication:

• 53% - corporate communications
  
• 27% - marketing
  
• 8% - IT
• 12% - other
  

Those results illustrate how many companies do not have a handle on their digital communication strategy and have allowed various departments to do their own thing in this area. On one hand, it's been beneficial for the digital self-starters (many of them Millennials) given the go-ahead. It has also been beneficial for companies, who obviously need to have a digital strategy, regardless of who promotes it.

However, the downside is that the digital strategy could lack cohesiveness if various departments in a company do their own thing. Or, even worse, digital communication could be isolated to one area that lacks broader knowledge about the company. Digital strategy requires all areas of a company to work together.

For instance, for those 8% who say it is mostly IT's responsibility to get the digital message out, would you also say it is mostly the printer's responsibility to get your print materials out? I didn't think so.

The 'Secret' of New Media: Keep Video Simple

It's better to keep things simple and do video than to not do video at all. Don't get me wrong, I think video should have quality content, but a large corporation might have a more fancy video player on its site than a small one. And everyone needs to jump into video.

I have been know to convey a sort of elitism about new media, for instance, by scoffing at YouTube as a professional video platform. There's no real cut-and-dry rule: In some instances, YouTube can be kind of cool and grassroots. I think it all comes down to one's audience and content.

I expect Improv Everywhere to use YouTube (displayed nicely), and I expect an investment firm like Vanguard to use a fancy flash player. The federal government incorporates video on some sites: I was impressed to find recently that the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging features a pop-up player. (No, they aren't shelling out tons of tax dough for it; I recognize it as the affordable JW Player.) Do I expect the same from my city council? No, but in NYC they happen to be pretty kick-ass with the YouTube.

For editorial purposes, the same things apply. The NY Times has a variety of fancy video journalists and tools -- but local papers can do video too. As Ann Derry, the editorial director of video and television at The Times, recently wrote:

As you can see, the way The Times produces video can be technically and creatively demanding. But we are also encouraging reporters to shoot video with small cameras— like Tina Kelly, who reports for The Local. Most reporters can learn to shoot with a small camera then upload video to YouTube — that’s how my daughter’s high school newspaper produces video for its Web site! So video is a useful and accessible tool for even the smallest newspapers.

The world is having trouble enough coming up with a revenue model for video. The last thing we need is to make making video more costly. Spend time and money on good content befitting your audience -- not on a video platform.