Be strict about your Facebook friends

The two sides of Facebook were neatly captured in Issue 505. In News (page 7) you reported on the rise of the so-called ‘social seniors’. Meanwhile, in her Star Letter Margaret Anderson lamented the dominance of “spiteful” people on Facebook.

I’m one of these ‘social seniors’, having come late to Facebook. For years I thought it was populated by younger people discussing pop music, clothes and so on. I made this observation to my teenage granddaughter, who laughed and said that her friends had long since abandoned Facebook for “cooler sites that old people don’t use” (her words!).

It was my daughter, in her forties, who suggested Facebook as a good way to keep in touch with our extended family. I have lots of cousins overseas who I now keep in touch with. I’ve seen photos of relatives I’ve never met. All in all, I’m glad I joined. My advice to Margaret and others who are dismayed by how vitriolic people can be on Facebook is to be very strict about who to be friends with. Rachel Lyndhurst