The Foreign Service Journal, June 2009

wrote to me. The attraction of social networking for her was being able to reconnect with former classmates and friends. “The school I attended, in Caracas, folded the year I graduated. There was no alumni organization, no records, no way to get in touch with anybody,” she explained. “Somehow, a network began — one person reach- ing out to another — and suddenly there was a site on Facebook, and there were these faces that one might be able to recognize (I graduated in 1971, nearly four decades ago!). I am a total convert.” My own experience with Facebook has been fairly typical of global nomads and, probably, most other people over 30. Since I set up my account, people from my past and present have been finding me. We engage in a flurry of back-and-forth e-mails catching up on news — then, after a few months, the private messages stop. It is as if the Facebook relationship defaults to what it actually is in real life. But that is fine with me. I like getting the next chapter in someone’s story, but I wouldn’t want to be required to keep up with everyone daily. Facebook One of the fun elements of Face- book is photo sharing. I check my Facebook account every few days to see if anyone has scanned and posted photos of me; some that have turned up online are from decades ago. I feel slightly queasy about this exposure of my private life, but it can be very amusing. On Facebook it is possible to “flag/delete” photos of yourself that the poster has tagged (labeled) with your name. But you can’t protect against photos that aren’t labeled. Privacy can be an issue for those who do not feel that all their Facebook “friends” are actually friends. This is, at least in part, a generational thing: I find it weird to read about what my friends were thinking 34 minutes ago from their Facebook status updates, but again, I’m over 30. For one 18-year-old I corre- sponded with, however, this ability to have one’s friends do the keeping-up is precisely what is so great about so- cial networking. Instead of having to tell, e-mail or write a letter to others about new developments in your life, you can post news on Facebook, write a Tweet on Twitter, or add a video on- line. Then those friends who care to “follow” you can participate in your virtual life. As the 18-year-old put it, “Facebook is like a yearbook that con- stantly refreshes itself.” There are many groups on Face- book that one can join. Some are based on common experiences, like school attendance. As the groups are user-generated, many of their names are crude: Third culture kid — You wouldn’t understand ; You know you went to an International School when …; I went to an International School, bitch! ; Global Nomads (the one under Common Interests — Beliefs & “Social networking has had a tremendous impact on my life as a global nomad. Finally a way to keep in touch with my friends all over the world — and in real time too!” 54 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 9 S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT Selected Glossary App – application – a computer program designed for a specific task Avatar – an online persona used as a virtual identity Blog – Weblog; a Web site used like a journal Delicious – a bookmarking social network Digg – a news-sharing Web site based on voting on news stories IM – instant messenger PM – private message PPC – pay-per-click – a method of generating revenue Podcasting – digital files of audio and video information RSS – Really Simple Syndication – frequent updating of news stories SEO – search engine optimization – moving Web sites to the top of the search function Skype – service that enables phone calls using the Internet Social Networking – a social structure made up of nodes and ties Twitterfeed – service that pushes your twitter to RSS Vidcasting – also vodcasting; video on demand Viral video – a video that gains popularity through sharing via the Internet, usually via e-mail or IM Virtual Worlds (Second Life) – computer-based world Web 2.0 – second generation of World Wide Web usage, including social net- working and blogs