I have spent a little time on Facebook these holidays and have added some old friends as well as a couple of new ones. It’s great to find people I know and after the discussion I had earlier in the week, think I might use these tools to stay in touch with friends as the younger lot are.

When you are in your 40s though, many of your friends are not on Facebook, or any other social networks that I can find. Yesterday I called an old friend who I haven’t seen for around 4 years. I have a small pile of his stuff that I have uncovered in this cleaning frenzy I’ve been in. I am dropping it off to him today whilst I am in Melbourne. I have attempted to find him on Facebook. Somehow I had lost his details. Possibly a dysfunctional mobile phone that I’d been using at the time. Fortunately I found a piece of paper with his details on it. The whole experience made me realise how easy it is to lose track of friends. We all have busy lives.

Facebook has had some negative press, as have many other social networking sites. It all comes back to the individual user though really. If you are in it to get the largest number of friends or making all your details open to the public, you could encounter an invasion of privacy. I would argue it is one that you have invited.