This past weekend was my tenth high school reunion, and I kind of went back and forth on whether or not it was good enough excuse to go home for a few days, but finally concluded that, yes, it was worth the trip. (This was partially due to Minnesota’s tax free shopping, the change in season, and Banana Republic’s cute fall collection, but MOSTLY it was about the reunion.)
I think Facebook and other social media has changed the mystique of class reunions. For the most part, I have a basic idea of what my fellow classmates are up to, what they look like, where they live, etc., even if it’s just an occasional twitter update or status message; I wasn’t sure I needed to fly back to the Midwest for the experience. In some ways social media is like a continual high school reunion — on Facebook you give people the version of yourself you want them to see, just like you do a 10 year reunion.
If Facebook has taken some of the mystique away, I didn’t feel cheapened; if anything, knowing people’s particular logistics (“Oh hi. You live in NYC, are married, and just had a baby. Congrats”) gave the opportunity to talk more in depth about the tone and tenor of people’s lives. One classmate I hadn’t seen in ten years opened the conversation about how she liked my wedding pictures (posted on Facebook) and from there it was an easy conversation about wedding planning, marriage, life, instead of “Oh, are you married?” I felt connected to people that I wasn’t necessarily close to in high school (Hi Jolawn!), and have found that through Facebook, blogging, twitter, etc, I’ve established a common ground and continued a connection that started, in some cases, back in 4th grade.
Of course, some of the familiarity has to do with the fact that I graduated with less than 100 people, so keeping track of everyone? Not that hard. And I know that a lot of people wouldn’t think that a continual high school reunion is their idea of a good time, and don’t see the benefit to the onslaught of social media and overall life transparency. But I have fond memories of high school, and I found it comforting to see that people, including myself, are basically just a refined version of who they were back in the day. And it’s been nice to get to know each other as adults, one tweet at a time.
InnerTeub 
Hi Liz! I don’t think you realize how great it was for me to see you. As you penned it, it’s great to get to know each other as adults. Cheers!
that’s interesting to think about because when i went to my high school 10 year, no one was using facebook or twitter or anything, and it would be so different now. i just saw some friends from h.s. here in colorado and we’d be like, “oh did you hear so and so had a baby” and everyone would say, “yes, saw the photos on facebook…” i like how you said it made it easier to jump into conversations with more depth. i guess i’ll try that out at my….um…twentieth 😦