It's my space...not yours

Anastasia over at Ypulse (an awesome resource) has a great post on a presentation she recently heard here. It is loaded with valuable information. Several things stood out to me, but I'll just address one here for now. Marketers are desperate to get on teens' friends lists and teens don't want them...here's what she heard in the presentation,

"She [presenter] basically told this room full of marketers desperate to get on teens' friends lists, that those teens think that's creepy and invasive. Why? Because it's THEIR Space -- even if it's public (which most teen profiles aren't anymore). She had a great analogy of teens telling their parents, "It's MY ROOM." And the parents telling teens "It's MY HOUSE." Just as teens put "keep out" signs on their bedroom doors, teens have created "structural walls" to keep everyone but their friends out on social networking sites. What are these walls? Lying about their age (though putting in real birthdays so their friends will wish them happy birthday) and only being visible to friends and not adults."

I am wondering how the students in our high school ministry feel about this. I'm thinking about it from the marketer's perspective. Does having a relationship with them in person mean that we can "be their friend" on Facebook? What about trying to "be the friend" of a student who doesn't attend our group, but is on the roster? Do they see my friend request as that of a marketer, selling them Jesus? Do they see me as someone who is not genuinely interested in having a relationship with them? Do they see me as someone who is just trying to fix them because they don't come on a regular basis? Could my attempts to be in their world be viewed as creepy and invasive? What purpose do I have being their friend?