Never too old for Facebook

Age is no barrier to Facebook membership, with more seniors signing up to keep track of friends and relatives.

Great-grandfather Jack Dawbler, 89, joined to keep track of his extended family - but he is a bit wary of the site.

"I looked on my grandson's page and there were about 60 messages on there and they were so personal it was embarrassing to read.

"That sort of thing puts me off entirely. When I want to find things out I use Google."

So why did he join? "Oh, it's just one of those things. It sounded nice."

Dawbler, who lives near Christchurch, has had a computer for about 10 years ago but insists he's an amateur. "There are lots of things I just can't understand."

Zena Hyndman, 88, joined Facebook with her the help of her granddaughter.

The Dunedin resident mainly uses the site to look at photos on her grandchildren's pages.

Dawbler doesn't know of anyone else his age on Facebook, but laughs at the suggestion he may be New Zealand's oldest member.

"Oh no, there'll be plenty of 90-year-olds - I'm just a youngster."

And he is, compared to Anne D. Krum, reportedly Facebook's oldest member. The 105-year-old Polish-American has 93 friends and a couple of fan clubs.

But Krum isn't the only centenarian on Facebook - 104-year-old Ivy Bean from the UK puts Krum to shame with almost 5000 friends.

In New Zealand, Wendy Bremner has set up a Facebook page for Age Concern Counties Manukau.

Although most of the "friends" are youngsters with relatives who use Age Concern services, Bremner thinks seniors will cotton on.

"As they see more of it, they'll see it's an opportunity to get information and make friends. At the moment, they think it's a young person's tool and don't quite understand it.

"They want to be friends with their grandchildren, but they think everything has to be visible to everyone and that freaks them out."

Do you know an older Facebook member? Email alice.neville@hos.co.nz