Too Old for Facebook?

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Weil says she really struggles with how much personal information to reveal. She recently posted a map on her profile of all the places she's been and the places she'd like to go. But she wonders if that's too personal. While most younger people likely wouldn't think twice about something like that, I can sympathize.

When I built out my Facebook profile, for instance, I expected it to be entirely personal and pretty much limited to my real-life family and friends. Now, when I get friend requests from people I barely know, I need to consider whether I'd want them to see the phone numbers in my profile, detailed information about my husband, or that one of my current TV obsessions is Scott Baio is 45…and Single. My work and home e-mail accounts are already flooded with press releases and spam, so I'm not sure I want my Facebook "News Feed" to be littered with updates from people I really don't know.

Friend or Foe?

Because Facebook requires members to approve or ignore each friend request, decisions need to be made as to who exactly qualifies as a friend. "I got a friend request from Facebook from someone who's as close to a professional enemy as I have," says Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Shirky decided not to accept the invitation. Yet there are lots of gradations between best friend and professional enemy, so deciding who makes the cut can be hard. I've only accepted invitations from people whom I know well enough to give my cell-phone number. So far, because most of my close friends are not yet on Facebook, I've only got seven friends.

It's a challenge that other thirtysomethings face as well. Tracy Lynn Deis, 38, a consultant in Chicago, joined Facebook about a month ago and wishes more of her thirtysomething friends would join. "I've made new friends on Facebook, but they're all younger than me," says Deis, who now visits Facebook every day. "It's an awesome way to talk and to share family pictures," she says.

Intrepid Facebook souls that we are, Weil and I decide it's high time we find out what actually happens when you press the poke button. Does it send some sort of X-rated message? So, she tests it out on me. Turns out, it's a harmless message in my Facebook News Feed that says, "You were poked by Debbie Weil."

Rachael King is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in San Francisco.