Facebook is growing by the minute, and the new members range from college students to professors to yes, even grandparents.

Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science, has been a member of Facebook since the early days.

“I’m interested in being part of the discussion,” Schmidt said. “I have a lot of friends who have Facebook accounts.”

Schmidt uses his account primarily for political interests and his research into identity theft and privacy. Finding out about political news and events and participating in discussions is what he enjoys most about the site.

MySpace does not appeal to Schmidt since high school students typically use it. Schmidt also has an avatar in Second Life, describing it as “more on the cutting edge of networking and virtual reality.”

Schmidt said Facebook does not attract as many people of the baby boomer generation because they didn’t grow up with the technology and don’t feel comfortable sharing what they consider personal information.

Schmidt admits he differs from this viewpoint and is interested in the latest technology.

“Baby boomers are very concerned with their privacy,” Schmidt said.

But there are adults and baby boomers already on social networks.

Some students may be horrified their parent has a Facebook account, said Nicole Rutscher, senior in biology, but she doesn’t mind her mother being on the social network.

“I just felt it was really funny,” Rutscher said. “All it says is her name, birthday and e-mail.”

Rutscher said her mother’s profile includes five applications and a total of five friends.

“We’ll send her messages,” Rustcher said. “It’s hard for her to figure out how to send messages to people.”

Rutscher said her mother doesn’t use Facebook as a way to communicate with her.

“I don’t see how it will be as useful to adults,” Rutscher said. “It seems kind of unnecessary.”

Nicole Gassman, senior in mechanical engineering, used Facebook to keep in touch with her father and grandfather, who are both Iowa State professors, last spring when she studied in Germany.

“I thought it was great,” Gassman said. “I could invite them to groups, show [them] pictures.”

Gassman noted that she is friends with many of her friends’ parents on Facebook.

“I think, right now, there’s definitely a lot of younger people using it,” Gassman said, adding that the rise of older people using Facebook is “rapidly increasing.”

Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, said in an e-mail that parents’ and teachers’ use of Facebook is fine “as long as such use doesn’t replace other obligations, such as meeting with and advising students.”

“Parents might want to use social networks as a way to stay connected with their students,” Bugeja said. “Especially since so many are involved deeply with their children, especially through mobile technologies.”

Bugeja noted the effects of e-mail and Facebook.

“As e-mail has blurred the line between home and work,” Bugeja said, “the use of these applications by parents and teachers further erodes the line between learning and socializing.”

Schmidt voiced concern over students who spend more time on Facebook than on their schoolwork. He compared the widespread use of Facebook to the original popularity of television. But Schmidt sees more pros than cons, such as students forming study groups through the networking site.

“There are a lot of people who are critical of things like Facebook,” Schmidt said. “I want to be in there to understand the negative and positive.”