Mistake of the Week: Social Networking Parents

Back in February I casually decided to run for USC President. Although I didn’t win, my election loss was not the biggest upset that happened to me during the campaign period. No, I didn’t fail any midterms or have my immune system collapse; something much worse happened. My mom started following me on Twitter. I had never had either of my parents on a social networking site before, and after having my mom “follow” me for a month, she then decided that she was going to continue. Therefore, the mistake of the week this week: having your parents on social networking sites.

I understand that a fair amount of parents now have Facebook, and I’m slowly dealing with this. But Twitter was ours. I could swear, say joking things and tweet at 4am because really, who was going to tell on me? As long as my transcripts came in at the end of the year with decent grades, my parents never asked questions. But now they don’t have to because they have all the answers. UGH. I refused to friend my dad on Facebook and whenever he asked why, I responded with, “Because I’m not your friend, I’m your daughter.” My brother also holds true to my Anti-Parents-on-Facebook Campaign.

However, there is always that ONE parent in everyone’s group of friends that thinks they are a “cool mom” or an “in-the-know dad” and therefore is on Facebook. When this happens, what are you supposed to do? Ignore their friend request? Not a good idea if you plan on using their pool all summer. Next option? Limit profile those bitches and get on with our Facebook agenda.

Then there is the Twitterverse. As I explained earlier, my mother now follows me on Twitter. Granted, she doesn’t really know what she’s doing or how to follow or use Twitter to its optimal potential. But, because I know there is still a chance of her seeing my tweets, I tend to tweet less vulgar and women demoralizing rap lyrics. Luckily, this hasn’t negatively influenced my follower count.

Tumblr is still pretty clear of parental invasions, and they do say pictures are worth a thousand words.

LinkedIn is Facebook without the trashy bar pics and random muploads. So like Facebook’s boring, more mature older brother.

All in all, navigating social media sites when potential job opportunities, parents and the over 30 population in general were not yet on them was so much more fun and scandalous! Luckily, Facebook does not require government documents to change your name, so the switch for many is happening.