metro >> Jews in the digital age
High School Reunions
In The Age of Facebook
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16 August 18 • 2011
e love to play Jewish
geography, know who
married whom, and keep
up with the latest gossip (uh, I mean
news) about our high school class-
mates.
In the pre-Web 2.0 era,
that meant attending a
high school reunion each
decade to get reacquainted
with everyone's lives.
Today, with just about
every human being using
Facebook, times have
changed.
But, what has Facebook
done to the high school
reunion?
Sharon Landau Levine,
57, of Oak Park attended
her 40th high school reunion earlier
this summer. The 1971 graduate of
Oak Park High School made certain
to attend her 10th, 20th and 30th
reunions as well, but this summer's
reunion was different.
"I think Facebook enhanced this
reunion a million times, and a lot of
my classmates would say the same
thing," she explained. "The planning
of the reunion was much easier with
Facebook and so was staying con-
nected after the event. The planning
committee launched a Facebook
page to publicize the reunion and
later added a second Facebook page
that has become an ongoing discus-
sion group."
In fact, after Levine's reunion,
posts began appearing on the
Facebook page announcing regular
get-togethers for classmates to catch
up in person and for out-of-towners
to join in using Skype — the video
conferencing application.
Jason Klein,
38, of Bloomfield
Hills used his
Facebook clout to
publicize his recent
20th reunion and
encourage class-
mates to register for
the
event. The 1991
Klein
West Bloomfield
High School graduate didn't help in
planning his 10th reunion, but when
it came time for the 20th reunion
Klein stepped forward.
"In today's world with Facebook,
how hard can it be?" Klein fig-
ured. "So we made the decision to
solely market our reunion through
Facebook. We had to hire a company
for our 10th reunion, but the world
was so different then. This time
around, we said Facebook must be
a more efficient way to do this. We'll
save money on postage, and we
won't have to pay an exter-
nal company."
Through his company,
Medtipster.com in Troy,
Klein solicited the help
of his web developer to
create a website that pro-
moted the reunion and
accepted paid registra-
tions. Klein posted weekly
updates on his personal
Facebook profile and on
the reunion's Facebook
page listing the names of
classmates who had regis-
tered and encouraging other class-
mates to follow suit.
While Klein attributes the good
attendance at the reunion to his
Facebook publicity campaign, he
also sees the downside of Facebook's
effect on the high school reunion.
"I believe Facebook has killed the
reunion. I've only been on Facebook
for a few years, but I already knew a
lot about my classmates before the
reunion. It took away the surprise
factor."
Ken Bertin, 65, of West Bloomfield
is no stranger to planning reunions.
He's planned six of them so far and
sometimes for two classes at once.
While he is quick to acknowledge
that his cohort is not the most active
demographic on Facebook, he con-
cedes that the social networking site
has been helpful in locating "lost"
classmates.
The Mumford High School alum
recently planned a Hampton Junior
High reunion too. "Facebook has
given me contact with people so I
get their email address, and I can
then contact them without paying
for postage:' he said.
Bertin estimates his "35-year-
old daughter has 80 percent of her
classmates on Facebook, whereas my
class has 25-30 percent." However,
recent studies have shown that the
fastest-growing demographic on
Facebook is the crowd older than 60.
One major change Bertin has
noticed is that now his classmates
are expecting him to post photos
from the reunion immediately
after the event. "Many people who
won't be able to make the Hampton
reunion contacted me asking if I