Being a parent of two teenaged boys presents an ever-changing set of challenges for an old fart like me. I don’t play Nintendo (though I can still beat their butts at Golden Tee Golf), my texting skills are pre-historic and they have something like 15,000 combined songs on their iPods.
I could probably get by perfectly with two albums (“Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” and Bob Marley’s “Legend”). In short, I’ve waived the white flag in the technology war and surrendered to the little monsters.
That is, except, in one area. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you might have heard of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace (and 50 others I’m sure I should know about, but don’t). Like many parents, we knew our kids had put up Facebook pages that we had no clue about and couldn’t access.
So, in a rare bout of responsibility, I signed up for Facebook and put up a page of my own (http://www.facebook.com/people/Pat-Jones/1456192902#/profile.php?id=1456192902&ref=name ). I then promptly ordered both boys to become “friends” with me so I’d have access to their pages as well.
I checked their pages out and, much to my relief, their pages were mainly harmless teenaged jibberish. I was relieved and figured that I could check occasionally and would otherwise not have to worry about Facebook anymore.
Wrong.
Pretty soon, I started getting these Facebook e-mail notifications from people asking to be my friend. Old friends from childhood, high school and college came out of the woodwork. I reconnected with people I hadn’t talked with in 20 years. It was fabulous! Suddenly a parental responsibility became something fun and interesting. Go figure.
A few golf folks have also found me. You’re welcome to do the same and visit my lame page. But, what I’m curious about is how you might be using Facebook, MySpace or other social networking sites for your career or your other activities.
If you're curious about Facebook and other social networking sites like we are, be sure and check out the May issue of Golf Course Industry. Our cover story will be on social networking and how superintendents can use these popular vehicles to advance their careers.
