I have 117 friends. Yes, it is true. The way I know is the new way to build your self-esteem. It is called Facebook.

Facebook has been around for a few years, but it has just started to reach people who are 40 and older.

I joined Facebook a couple weeks ago because people kept asking me if I was on Facebook, and when I said no they would look at me in disgust and say, “Oh,” and then quit talking to me. Now normally that happens when they find out I am a publisher, but this was crazy.

Is Facebook a cult? Well sort of, but it is fun. I did not know I even knew 117 people but have since realized the people I forgot I knew. Facebook is basically a Web site that literally plays the game seven degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Facebook has many avenues that you can explore.Warning: These avenues can be an extremely huge waste of time and can suck you into a vortex of lost time.

You lose time doing the following:

1. Finding friends from long ago that are on Facebook. You can see what old classmates look like, see how many kids they have and just generally catch up.

2. Posting your own information or photos for people to look at.

3. Looking at photos of people on your Facebook.

4. Joining groups that people send you.

5. Laughing at things you totally forgot you did in your earlier life as a fun person.

Now wasting time is not all bad and actually catching up with friends is fun, and in this era of increased pressure with the economy down, Facebook can actually be a stress reliever.

Some other fun things that you can do on Facebook are:

1. Join groups, some fun and some serious.

2. Poke your friends.

3. Write on your friend’s wall.

Well, you might think that Facebook does not have a downside. It does. There are three big downsides to Facebook:

1. Guilt. When a friend of yours asks you to join a group that you might not like, say “The Vikings fan club” if you are a Packer fan. You hit an ignore button, but you do not want to upset your friend so you have to explain that you were only ignoring the group and not that person. The downside is the guilt part and also the huge waste of time that you need to spend explaining yourself.

2. Posting pictures of you partying too much: I have noticed on most people’s Facebook pictures that, if you are 24 years and under, most of your photos of are you at a party either drinking, drunk or about to be both. You need to remember this is the World Wide Web and any person might be able to see those photos — future employers, future mates, and your future children. Be smart and do not post dumb photos of yourself.

3. Addiction: Facebook can be addicting because it seems that some people just want to have like a billion friends and with that comes the addiction of looking at everyone’s notes, photos, groups, and poof, seven hours later, you have just wasted seven hours on Facebook. It is crazy, but I think you need to keep this in moderation. Don’t become addicted.

So now that I have summed up Facebook, you can go and check it out for yourself. Feel free to make me your friend as it will be cool to see how many people I can actually get to be my BFFs.

If you need to have it explained to you, find any person who is between 18 and 24 as that seems to be the main age of people on Facebook, although us old timers are starting to catch on.

United Way

Congratulations to Ann Austin and everyone in our community for reaching 93 percent of goal for United Way. I became involved in United Way a few years ago and after finding out about all the agencies that rely on the money raised by United Way I have become a huge believer in the good it does. In this tough economy, making 93 percent is simply amazing. Kudos to all.

Attention parents: The internet needs to be a media source that is always monitored to make sure nobody is taking advantage of your children. Keep your computer in a central area of your home and always communicate with your children what they are doing online.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer’s column appears every Thursday.