Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook.

When social media becomes popular enough that it begins to span generational gaps, discomfort and hilarity spreads. Then it spawns meta-sites like Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook. Here Facebook users - almost exclusively the son or daughter - can submit screenshots of the questionable tresspasses. It's no ICanHasCheezburger or FailBlog, but it's worth a few of your precious time-wasting minutes.

The mix of social media and familial relationships is very interesting, but not without real-world correlations like your parents walking in on a party and trying to be cool, not only embarrassing you but changing the dynamic of your own behavior, as though a sanctuary had been violated.

I'm looking forward to that level of awkwardness coming soon from both ends: I've probably less than a year before my parents get interested enough to join and I get liberal enough to let my daughter open an account. Then it's weird all over.

Incidentally, I'm currently dealing with my own Facebook snafu: my account has recently been deleted. Entering my own vanity URL results in an Account not found and my login no longer works. I think I've traced the source of the problem, but am awaiting response from the Facebook Support team. I gain only slight encouragement from positive comments about the help folks I've come across. Wish me luck.

And let me know: do you have or know of cross-generational accounts on Facebook? How's that working? No big deal or out of control?