WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE

Social networking websites for younger people (high school, college and beyond) like Myspace and Facebook, have been huge successes for the entrepreneurs who created them. They became fertile advertising venues, and sold for giant profits. Now the phenomenon is coming to the senior crowd. Are you ready for it? I’m really very nervous about recommending websites. There are millions of them out there, containing probably billions of ads and offers---most no doubt legit, but the flaky ones are well disguised. You can visit a hotel, eat at a restaurant, open an account at a bank and in all these cases you can give a pretty clear and brief opinion about your experience. But a website? It can take months just to visit all the ads and links, and you’ll be on overload before you know it. I’m the skeptic. The watchdog. The scam-scanner. Websites are great places for Snake Oil Sam to hide, to entice and to make fortunes from unwitting victim. Thus it is with great trepidation that I’m going to describe social networking sites for seniors and boomers-approaching-seniorhood. I have spent hours reviewing a random sampling of these sites, and I come away with mixed feelings. On the plus side they do offer material that can be of value to readers. And I trust that the people who created the sites are honorable and upstanding citizens. (The fact that they may hope to make a bundle of money does not make them bad people.) On the minus side there is, indeed, an abundance of ads, both directly from the sites and indirectly through the search engine’s advertising program. Most, no doubt, are legitimate. But I have difficulty assuming that all of the ads are from 100% trustworthy entities. There are some that definitely warrant avoidance, such as those seeking “actors for auditions to be in movies with….name your favorite celebs.” And “Writers wanted….” These are vanity ads---they appeal to your ego, and your ego tells your pen to sign a check and send it to these people, who will laugh all the way to the bank with your money. There are ads offering the services of financial advisors whose backgrounds, which require checking, are not checkable. There are ads offering travel, work-at-home plans, get-rich-quick schemes. The list goes on and on. Caveat Emptor---Seriously Just as with any advertising medium---newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, etc.---it’s impossible for the media to check, let alone verify, the integrity of every advertiser. All too many folks see an ad, in whatever medium, and assume that the product or service being sold must be legitimate because it appears in an otherwise legitimate medium. That’s why someone invented the important warning, Caveat Emptor---let the buyer beware. Caveat Emptor falls into the same category as the Law of Gravity and the Law of Supply and Demand in terms of eternal and universal validity. Websites differ from the standard print and broadcast media in one critically important way---anyone can create one. There is no license required, or to worry about losing, as with radio and TV. There is no community credibility to have to establish or worry about losing, as with newspapers and magazines. Anyone means anyone. That opens the door very very widely to anyone who wants to do some flim-flam. Add to that the fact that a lot of web advertising can be very cheap, and you have the ingredients for Snake Oil Sam to whip up some tasty enticements. What disturbs me even more than the open door is the fact that you have to divulge personal information in order to do business with an advertiser. And once that information is out there, you have no control over where it can go. Mailing lists are sold at premium prices, and if you give your personal ID one time it can show up on countless mailing lists---particularly if you have paid for something. And sooner or later, one of the nasty pitches on one of those mailing lists is liable to hit you for some big bucks. If your curiosity compels you to explore this phenomenon, simply search “senior social networking” and you’ll have more to choose from than you can imagine. Scan them for yourselves. They may be wonderful outlets for some folks. And they maybe minefields for others. Heed the old saying, “Trust everyone---but always cut the cards.” In no way should you construe this referral as my recommendation that you have any commercial dealings with any of the advertisers on these sites. You’re big boys and girls now. Exercise the sound judgment that comes with your years, and choose wisely. This article supplements Chapter 4 in Personal Finance. Access the textbook by clicking on the box in the right column.