When Jen Liebschutz ’11 signed on to Facebook to see a friend request from her father, she was less than pleased.

“I was annoyed, because I felt like he was encroaching on a clearly teen only place,” Jen said.

Parents cited equally diverse reasons for creating accounts. Their motives ranged from wanting to maintain contact with their children’s high school friends to reconnecting with their own old college classmates.

Jen’s father, David Liebschutz, who teaches at SUNY Albany, had multiple reasons for the joining the site, only one of which was to catch up with college friends.

“One of the things that made me interested in it was that both my children are on it, especially Jen having a Facebook page,” David said. “Also, a lot of my students have an account. It’s a way for me to connect both with my kids, to find out what they are up to as well as what my students are doing.”

Similarly, Elizabeth Freedman, mother of Aaron Freedman ’10, uses Facebook to keep in touch with her son while he is at school.

“I don’t know of any other parents who have an account, so it’s not really to keep up with my friends,” she said. “I use it to say ’happy birthday,’ or ’great job’ on something, or ’cute picture.’ I try not to intrude too often—I don’t want to seem like I’m checking on what’s on the site.”

Aaron explained that his mother’s curiosity about his life led her to start her own profile.

“She just wanted to see my pictures mostly,” he said. “At first, it felt like she was invading my personal Internet space. It’s not a big deal that she’s on it any more. I haven’t really censored my Facebook at all. It’s a way that she can choose to see what I’m doing if she wants or not.”

Jim Rosenau, father of Miriam Rosenau ’11, chose to join the site not only to remain connected to his daughter but also to tap the site’s publishing resources. Jim soon determined, however, that Facebook did not cater to the professional networking he had originally desired.

Instead, he joined LinkedIn, which enables professionals to make connections within their occupational fields. He is, however, still a proud member of the Facebook community, though he is careful not to overstep web boundaries.

“I think it’s totally up to her how much I should know about her goings-on, short of her health and safety, finances and maybe grades,” he said. “I did not sign up to keep tabs on her. I don’t know if she is blocking my access but she has every right to a separate life, in the world and online.”

Miriam agreed, crediting her father with keeping his distance.

“I don’t think my dad has spent much time looking at my Facebook,” she said. “But I know he let my mom see it—she’s much more curious about that stuff.”

Elizabeth takes similar cautionary measures to preserve her son’s privacy.

“I feel that I’m joining in their medium, and I feel very happy that they are comfortable enough with me to allow that,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to misuse or jeopardize that trust.”

Once parents do get profiles, the first issue that often comes up is whether to “friend” their children’s friends.

“I use it to communicate with our college age friends,” Elizabeth said. “There are lots of teens and college age kids I know from Boulder [the Freedmans’ hometown] that have Facebook accounts, so I see what they are up to, the latest pictures, et cetera I consider them ’friends,’ but really they are friends of Aaron’s who have become family friends.”

Elizabeth went on to explain that she sees Facebook as a sort of honor, as it now provides an outlet for both its younger and older members to coexist in the electronic world.

“I feel it’s a privilege to be on Facebook,” she said. “I might comment to him if I saw something that could have future repercussions, but nudity, drinking, et cetera, doesn’t bother me!”

To this end, Aaron noted that having his mom on Facebook has definitely been an amusing experience.

“It’s pretty funny to see that my mom has poked me!” he said. “It’s funny to see that my friends have posted on her wall or whatever. I think it’s cool that parents are allowed or can figure out our new technologies.”

Jen agreed, though she cautioned that allowing parents to get Facebook accounts could potentially have disastrous consequences.

“I think if parents legitimately want to use Facebook for the reasons it’s intended, then it’s fine,” Jen said. “If parents get Facebook to stalk their children, then it’s not fine.”