Relationships: Whose space?

Scott Bergér has had a MySpace page for only a month, but already he's hooked. Bergér, co-owner of the Minneapolis-based wellness center Harmony for Life, has used MySpace to connect with about a dozen other "like-minded people in processes of spiritual exploration. It's a great way to network and reach out and meet people," he said.

His interest in MySpace isn't unusual; the gargantuan social networking site boasts about 68 million unique visitors. But his age might raise a few eyebrows. Bergér turns 50 next month.

So, how's that working for his 24-year-old daughter, Jaclyn?

"My aunt got one first and she's 46," said Jaclyn, a full-time photography student at the University of Minnesota. "I thought, 'She's on MySpace?' Once I got over it with her, I just thought, that makes sense [for him]. It's great for his business."

After Facebook opened its membership to noncollege users about a year ago, and MySpace launched a U.S. presidential campaign site in March, the idea of midlifers posting their profiles on the youth-oriented sites was predicted to be as welcome as the parent who signs on to patrol the high school dance.

No need to panic, though, that the 'rents will soon rack up more friends than you have. Yes, MySpace and Facebook are attracting older users, as Jaclyn can attest. The percentage of Facebook users who are 35-plus increased 98 percent from May 2006 to May 2007, said Andrew Lipsman, a senior analyst for ComScore Inc., which measures browsing behavior. But the biggest leap was among ages 25 to 34 (growing 181 percent), followed by ages 12 to 17 (growing 149 percent).

"What I've been finding in my research is that people 40-plus are using Facebook to reconnect with old friends, not to make new friends," said Brian Bierbaum, 24, who founded the Minneapolis-based Internet company Net Dynasty (www.netdynasty.com) when he was in junior high school. "It's a reconnecting tool. In the last six months to a year, there have been several executives I know in the 50-plus range that have started to use Facebook, MySpace and others. Some of them, I'm very surprised."

Jeff Taylor isn't. "Boomers want in," said Taylor, the founder of Monster.com, who shifted gears in February to launch Eons.com, a networking site for people 50 and older. "After years of watching their kids live their life around activities on popular social networking sites, they are ready to play."

But their playground often looks different; they zero in on social networking sites that better suit their needs. The Eons site, for example, features an article on flirting after 50, trivia games, obituaries and a feature you'll likely never see on MySpace: a button to enlarge the text size.

Business networking works

While socializing (make that "friending") around common interests and people is a huge draw for those in their teens and 20s, especially recent college graduates who want to stay in touch, older users are finding more pragmatic benefits to social networking.

Liz Tausner, 40, of Plymouth, for example, sends her 3 ½-year-old twins to preschool two days a week (her 5-year-old is in full-day kindergarten) and jumps onto her computer. While intrigued by the creative possibilities of MySpace, the marketing communications consultant has instead posted her profile on LinkedIn, an online network of more than 14 million business professionals.

"I really like it because it helps me stay connected professionally and personally," Tausner said. Through LinkedIn, Tausner's marketing talents are advertised to friends, former colleagues and clients, and their friends, colleagues and clients.

"It gets over the awkwardness of saying, 'Can you give me this person's e-mail?' " Tausner said. "Time-intensive steps are expedited in a friendly way."

At Meetup.com, midlifers also can find an abundance of professional networking groups, including Twin Cities Entrepreneurs, which now has an alliance with Best Buy. Founder Jim Cormican says his social networking events average 60 people a month, with "many business owners age 40 and over, including me."

This doesn't mean adults are all work and no play. Local meetup groups number in the thousands, arranged around interests such as Scrabble, biking, '60s music and avatars. Yes, avatars, also known as Second Life residents. While creating an Internet-based fantasy world might seem like a young person's game, in fact, 27 percent of avatar enthusiasts are 35 to 44, and 18 percent are 45 and older, according to data released on the Second Life website.

Julie Stone, 40, a Minneapolis consultant who travels frequently, has used meetups to start mah-jongg groups locally, as well as in Denver and Charlotte, N.C. (She's started pug-lovers and knitting groups, too). Meetup, she said, is a great way "to connect with real people in the real world. You hear all these negative stories about the Web and predators and fraudsters, but this is a good example of how to use the Web well."

Sylvia Greeney Morris, 53, says the same thing about Eons.com. Greeney Morris, who works in customer service at Massage Envy in Blaine, spends about an hour a day on the site, reading a gossip site and managing three groups she started: Eons in Minnesota, Alte Heimat (for people of German roots) and Cheaper Than Lipo (a weight-loss group).

Other older users, notes Bierbaum, are finding social networking sites a good way to support a political candidate or cause.

Social what?

Still, many people over 40 don't have a clue about how to join social networking sites or why they should. Already trying to juggle teenagers, aging parents, friends and jobs, they might wonder: Who has time for this stuff?

"A lot of people who say 'I don't understand it' haven't used it," said Dwight Silverman, who has tracked changing Internet technology for the Houston Chronicle for 14 years. "They hop on it, but haven't found other people, so it's kind of lonely and empty. But when you develop a critical mass of people, that's when you get it."

If there is something you'd really like to be doing (dating, sky-diving, working, supporting cancer research), but just don't know how to get started, it's highly likely that there is a social networking site for you. And if there isn't, you can put your name out there until those of like mind find their way to you.

"We live in a very disconnected society," said Greeney Morris. "We're so overscheduled and obligations occupy our days. Sites like Eons are a way of lessening that disconnection. It's a brave new world."

Gail Rosenblum • 612-673-7350

Gail Rosenblum • grosenblum@startribune.com