+1 for the title. - Andrew Dobrow

maybe they are just interested in what you have to say in terms of technology and stuff and social media. i follow some old dudes. and old dudes follow me back. but i'm like 23 so i'm kinda legal. - Caroline

i wouldn't know half the stuff i know if some old dude like say leo laporte wouldn't of givin me his take on certain things. - Caroline

I wrote in the comments on this post some of my experiences with smart youngsters. It's something I worry about perception wise, yes, but on the other hand, many of the most brilliant ideas in our industry come from people under 21. - Robert Scoble

Throughout history many young aged mathematicians and computer scientists have made breakthroughs. My opinion is that it may be caused by the information that they were able to build upon. Similarly, with the social sciences, I see that "friending" for young people is a form of building upon others experiences and thoughts. - Franklin Naval

I feel like an antique, using social networks and the like. I do not feel old, but my birth year says enough for some people. I am starting to tick the 'do not show age' box more often. Not because I do not like being, ehm, 40. But I do not want people to think I am some kind of peeping Tom. I am just here for the fun, conversation and information. But when age becomes a subject, I'd rather cover it up when it is not important at all. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

There are two IT groups that I regularly interact with in Singapore. SiTF is a trade association of mostly elder geeks. TDM is a fairly loose affiliation of technopreneurs, many still in University. Frankly I like TDM the best, and am most inspired by their ideas and passion. - Bill Claxton

On the other side, I enjoy talking with Douglas Engelbart, inventor of the mouse, and he's 82. - Robert Scoble

Louis, on FriendFeed I don't discriminate based on age, only based on what content is shared. On Facebook, I don't think I would friend any youngsters that I did not know in real life. - Robert Seidman

Depending upon what is being discussed, I don't give it a second thought, either in online friending or in business. - Ontario Emperor from fftogo

Argh...hate this part of FriendFeed so far. Two discussions going on for two FF posts about the same meta post. I know if you sub LG you see them all, but just in case the other one is here: http://friendfeed.com/e... - Jim Stanger

@Jim Stanger I think it would be a nice feature if we could somehow "merge" the same topic discussions. - Roland Hesz

I decided a while ago that with twitter and friendfeed I don't care who follows me, but I'll only follow back if they are saying something insightful about my areas of interest (tech/arts/politics). With Facebook I only add people I have met in real life, and think I am likely to meet again. - David Owens

It's an interesting discussion and is linked to something I was going to post about over the next day or so. It shouldn't be a problem but these are tough times we live in and we have to be seen to be making the right impressions. You've got me thinkning now. - Colin Walker from fftogo

Twittermarkerters and Friendfeed spammers are crashing every party - paul mooney

It's only creepy if you think it's creepy. For the rest of us, some of whom are older than you and grew up in the proto-digital millieu, it's just people with ideas. Stunningly bad ideas, sometimes, but ideas nonetheless. I'd add, for the true cynics, "Because segregating the wise from the foolish has worked SO well for so long." - Alexander Williams from NoiseRiver

Quote "At my old age of 31, were I to be a "real world" friend of any 20 year old girl, people should be asking questions" - Hey! Do you mind? There's nothing wrong with an 11 year age gap. I'm 35, my better half is 24. No impropriety there, and we've been together for several years. I also have friends ranging in age from early twenties to late fifties. - Sir Slippy of Slippington

All conversation of age aside, it does raise up the issue of the term "friend" in social media: is a social media friend really a friend or a contact? What is the nature of the relationship, if there really is any? As a father of two I'm thinking about this more and more... But, you know, on the flip side, I always had older friends and acquaintances when I was a teen, but mainly through postal mail and amateur press associations. No Web. - Mark Dykeman

Mark, this is a bigger issue that can't get tackled in one post. MyBlogLog and others try to differentiate between "friend", "contact" and "fan", but it all ends up getting muddled. - Louis Gray

This is like mental age - your 'web age' is around 18-23. ; ) - Erhan Erdogan

I agree with your concern and understand your reasoning, but from a mother's perspective, I would much rather my 15-year-old son be reading technology news online and friending people like you and others than doing less favorable things like have been on the news recently. - Trish R

Louis - I think the age mix is GREAT (and as you know, I'm just 'a few years' older than you :) Example: The relationship you developed with Pat Hawks (that I was just going to blog about??). It spanned TONS of websites with a positive result. When Seidman is younger than you, you're old. - Charlie Anzman

I'm mostly just thinking out loud and hoping to engage some conversation around the issue. It's clearly working, even if I have a few people thinking I doth protest too much (which I don't). - Louis Gray

I think, ultimately, it's a matter of intent. If you scour the internet for youngin's to Friend or Follow - well, that is creepy. If you're looking for like-minded individuals whose blogs, tweets, etc are interesting and provocative - who cares how young/old the subject is. In the end, we choose to follow people for the information or access to information that they provide - not if they are of legal age of consent. Or at least, I hope we do.... - George Smith

Long gone are the days when people we knew were easily categorised as family, friend, acquaintance, colleague and nemesis. Nowadays, we all sit in so many categories that social relationships benefit more from multiple "tags" than single categories. - Sir Slippy of Slippington

@slippy lane. I do like Jeremey Keith's XEN though. http://xen.adactio.com/ - David Owens

@Louis I think we need a new definition for 'Friend', or perhaps a true alternative relationship identification. I agree with the normal social concerns around befriending a younger person, but there are clearly differences between online-only (somewhat impersonal), telephone (a bit more personal) and in-person (potentially creepy!) - Jim McCusker

Does knowing that you have minors following you make you post differently? - Yolanda

Social media is disruptive on many levels, including (not surprisingly) the real-life social level. Few social mores exist, and "creepy" can be entirely in the eye of the beholder. For example, we might all think it's great for middle-aged guys to exchange ideas with 20 year old co-eds online. If that turned into a get-together at a bar, it starts to look pretty different. - Tom Cunniff

@Yolanda, it does not. I don't cuss or link inappropriately as it is. I was once guided to assume my mom read my blog, and since she does, I should keep things nice and clean, for her, or minors, or anyone. - Louis Gray

It can be creepy. I've had to monitor the friending process. @Robert does have a good point about the "smart youngsters". It would be unfortunate if they couldn't learn from the good stuff that happens here. Common sense is what helps determine our approach. Good point/questions on your post. - phil baumann

Excellent advice on assuming your mom reads. Of course, I know my mom wouldn't. She keeps referring to Google as goggle. Sometimes I feel like I can just post whatever amuses me at the moment. Then, sometimes I remember what if a future employer, etc were to find something I've said... Is there no place to be yourself anymore? :) - Yolanda

Funny, but it's not creepy. I've been a friend of people with the triple of my age since I was 15 and it only helped develop me into a better person. Indeed, it was being friends with people my age that has got me bad habits and troubles. If those kids want to have a _real_ conversation, by all means allow them to have it, Louis. Receiving real attention by really smart and interesting people is what our youth needs to get back on track. - Rodrigo Jaroszewski

totally agree, in general the internet has brought us many gifts and alot of screwed up scary baggage, an friending for as harmless as it seems does get kinda creepy - Dan Rockwell from twhirl

Good post, covering a topic which deserves more attenction. I fully agree with you: in my situation, being 44 and father of four children (or should I say "boys") the situation imay be even worse. Years ago was different, since internet was only for few people, mainly adult and working in research or industry. Besides this, people who were young when internet began, are now getting old (including myself)... attenction and responsability is needed, I think. - Marco Castellani

@Louis - yes, the issue does get much more complex when the definition of "friend" is brought into it. Having said that, I must admit that if I'm approached by a young person in social media who I know nothing about, I'm very cautious (not always sure I'd want my mom reading my social media stuff... :) because I'm so conscious of the age difference. Which really sucks, in a way, because I remember what it's like at that age. - Mark Dykeman

What would you prefer? The in-depth "acquantince?" "Friend?" "Lover?" "Dude I drank with once?" It comes down to trying to *make* friends or deciding you only want to deal with a certain group of people. I suppose it depends on the account they're trying to friend you on... i.e. Facebook (personal information) and FriendFeed (generic feed of stuff). - keif from twhirl

Louis, in some way it's like subscribing to authors of books, essays, fiction or magazine articles. I don't often think of the ages of the writers of what I read -- many are long gone. In any case, we're all on a time-based conveyer belt sliding us closer to not-being every year. In the blink of an eye, the young people who subscribe to you will be older (and probably wiser) than we older people are. On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog, or that you are 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or even 90-years-old. - David Newman

Its the people that don't ever ask themselves this question or think of it and push it from their mind that worry me. - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

i think its very valid to consider intent when adding anyone to your social grid (no matter the tool) but age should be secondary, i dealt w/ this awhile ago when a number of young college kids from the west coast started following me on twitter & facebook, i did the research and asked "why?" turns out i surfaced in one of their comp-sci classes so it became a mentoring situation, np - btw my 19 y/o son is on ff all the time - i like that he interacts w/ me & others here - age should really be irrelevant - mike "glemak" dunn

I don't get Louis's hesitation. I volunteer with tweens, and I've kept up with several of them as they've grown up through their teen years. I email them, and send them messages on Facebook, and talk to them on Skype, and their parents don't bat an eye. As long the conversations are 1) in a public place, or 2) on everyday topics in an easily accessible private place, like email, I think I'm fine. But then, that's me. - Brent Newhall

@Brent - but in the examples that you have provided, you meet the young people in person first, correct? That can give you a recognition and trust factor that you don't get when it's all virtual. - Mark Dykeman

Age should not be a factor. Being discriminated against for being young can be one of the worst things that can happen to young people. - Yuvi

I agree that we should not shut out the young, but I, er, had a friend who had experiences in real life and online where teen boys said they developed crushes on her. This very nearly made this FRIEND hide under the bed for the rest of her life. How does one avoid that? - MiniMage (FakeLifePerson)

I think the same thing about friending older people. I tend to think they usually don't know how to use the site (ie Facebook).. Sometimes I add, sometimes I don't. Facebook definitely creeps me out when it comes to this. - Liz

It can also be awkward especially when you have different groups of friends who know you from different stages of your life... they all collide in Facebook and I am not sure I really want that! Facebook is older friends and college folks who i had lost touch with over the past 10 years and i use MySpace for my friends who live right around me. - Scott Lockhart

I'm old and I'm not happy. Everything today is improved and I don't like it. I hate it! In my day we didn't have hair dryers. If you wanted to blow dry your hair you stood outside during a hurricane. Your hair was dry but you had a sharp piece of wood driven clear through your skull and that's the way it was and you liked it! You loved it. Whoopee, I'm a human head-kabob. - Thomas Hawk

As a woman in her late 50s, I'm holding a couple of tech-minority cards, and I applaud all who agree that age doesn't matter when it comes to intellectual discourse. Neither does gender or race or economic status or anything else except maybe the ability to type... I'm also a firm believer in being responsible for yourself and your own actions. That's part of being in a society. Teach your kids to speak up if something's inappropriate, and defend your privacy if you have to. Just don't hide from fear. - Linda Mills

Robert Scoble had an article on Alana Taylor.. basically (Intern/Girl Geek looking for employment in Tech), her networking is an open resume done on line in public, I think that’s kind of up front, the same for Corvida and how she got her place at RWW. - Mike Reardon

Wow. I never think about people's ages, but I guess if you are a guy talking to younger women or even men, that could look funny. Many young people follow me and I feel like I'm teaching. - Francine Hardaway