"Mommy, Is Facebook Like Instagram for Parents?"

From the "Kids Say the Darndest Things" Department -- my nearly 10 year old son, Luca, said the funniest thing the other night.  As my wife, Luisa, was checking her Facebook account, Luca asked the question in the post title above -- i.e., "Mommy, is Facebook like Instagram for parents?"

And, think of it -- it's kind of true (or, at least it is getting truer and truer).  Luca knows about Instagram not because he uses it (he doesn't -- we don't let him), but rather because his 13 year-old sister, Hunter, does.  He knows that essentially all the kids are doing it (using Instagram, that is).  We let Hunter use Instagram (although we monitor it), but we don't let her use Facebook (she has no interest in Facebook anyway).  (Separate question -- is allowing her to use Instagram but not Facebook logically inconsistent?  In any way, kids definitely know that Instagram is a Facebook "loop-hole" for them with their parents and that has been at least part of the reason for Instagram's success).

In any event, Luca's hilarious question points to a larger point -- Facebook certainly is getting stale in the minds of the young ones and may be more the province of we older folks (parents) on a going forward basis.  For the young ones, Instagram -- and other social networks that have not yet seen the light of day -- is where the new generation is going.

Facebook undoubtedly saw this writing on the wall -- and, rather than become marginalized over time by Instagram, it gobbled it up.