Tom Tomori was 13 years old when Lisa Beregi, his eighth-grade girlfriend, told him her family was moving to Tennessee. For two New Jersey kids in 1978, she might as well have been heading to Tasmania. 'It was typical adolescent heartbreak,' recalled Tomori, today a real estate broker in Denver. 'We cried and kissed each other goodbye. I still remember watching the school bus drive off, thinking I'd never see her again.' But a funny thing happened. In the 31 years since that parting, the Internet arose. A free global Web site called Facebook emerged at Harvard University in 2004. With its capacity for electronic photo albums and bios, it is perhaps the most popular of the online connection services that are spurring reunions between millions of people, from former school- and workmates to long-lost relatives. Two years ago, Tomori and Beregi joined those ranks. 'Our brains are incredible things, but you totally forget about events until you reconnect,' Tomori said of their Facebook reunion. 'She sounded the same. All these memories came back of the way she spoke, her sense of humor, the way she laughed. 'It was so easy to pick right up where we left off.' That Facebook, with its estimated 200 million active users, is a popular reunion vehicle is not new. (It is joined by other Web services such as MyLife, MySpace and Classmates.) What is intriguing is how Facebook serves as a time tunnel. 'Friending' someone, the term for requesting a Facebook connection, summons the past. It can bring the mysteries of adolescence and the 'what really happened?' intrigues of a former workplace smack into the present. 'You have a level of social interaction that doesn't depend on geography,' said Jason Farman, an assistant professor and director of Washington State University's Digital Technology and Culture Program. 'You get a level of detail about someone's daily life we didn't have before. It's not like the high points of their month. It's like we're spending the day beside them.' Valere Shane of Denver began using Facebook 2 1/2 months ago. She 'friended' 10 people, thinking that would be the upper limit of her online circle. Today she has 130 Facebook pals and counting. She reconnected with Merredith Branscombe, a classmate from East High School in the late 1970s. The two had not seen each other since they worked on the campus newspaper. They rendezvoused on Facebook and met later at a party. A friendship was rekindled. 'It's astonishing,' said Shane, who has also connected with old colleagues in New York City, where she worked for the late Andy Warhol in the mid-1980s. 'You have all these friends from various stages of your life converging into one big universe. You'll be having a bad day, and someone from your childhood will get on Facebook and remind you of some big accomplishment you had in third grade. 'It's like one big support group.' Shane is involved with a Facebook circle of about a dozen women from her public-school days. They talk almost daily. 'I think it replaces the time you would yak on the phone every night with a friend,' she said. 'This way, you can talk with many friends at the same time and multitask: watch the game, help kids with homework. 'It's like being at a big party and joking around with everyone while you're in your sweats, glasses and no makeup. It's a low-maintenance way of socializing.' Shane and her new friends do enjoy face time away from Facebook. An Earth, Wind and Fire concert is on the books in July. Ditto for a fall trip to Napa Valley. 'It's been a lot of fun,' Branscombe said. Kelly Nelson of Denver began using Facebook 18 months ago. In October, on a whim, she used the service to search for old classmates at North Dakota State University, where she graduated in 1997. 'I had this mass communications professor named Ross Collins who was also my adviser,' said Nelson, who owns Citrus PR, a public-relations firm. 'I reconnected with him, and I think it was fun for him to see where I'd wound up. 'Maybe I would have caught up with him without Facebook, but the chances would be very slim. It probably would never have happened.' Facebook has also allowed her to connect with a childhood friend in Minnesota. 'We hadn't talked in 20 years,' Nelson said. 'Now we chat all the time.' Revisiting the past can be odd, especially when long-held images are altered. 'Your last vision of this person is as an awkward little girl,' Nelson said of her old friend. 'Now she's absolutely gorgeous with a high-powered job in Minneapolis.' Tomori's Facebook adventures began two years ago at his 25th high-school reunion in Edison, N.J. He fell in with some old classmates and began talking about the Web site. Upon returning home, they started using the service -- many for the first time -- deepening their friendships and making new ones. 'I reconnected with a guy who had been on my wrestling team,' Tomori said. 'We're both 'out' gay men, though we weren't then, and it was fascinating for us to talk about our high-school experiences through the prism of who we are now.' Facebook is set up for public and private posts. 'The personal messages are kind of where you say, 'This is who I am; this is where I'm at,' ' Tomori said. 'People can find out who you are, and if you're not afraid of who you are, you're fine.' Facebook is an online version of bumping into an old friend. 'Out-of-the-blue connections do happen occasionally on the street,' Tomori said. 'So why not let the Internet do it for you?' 10 tips on using Facebook: -- Facebook lets you to post as many pictures as you like, but the site allows just one profile shot. Portray yourself accurately. You'll want a good, current photo. -- In the 'interests' section, be specific. Instead of listing 'reading,' for example, go with 'contemporary thrillers' or 'political biographies.' -- Etiquette tip: It's best not to add random friends without sending them an introductory message. -- It's OK to decline pitches from random 'friends.' -- Possibly even more so than messaging, the Wall feature is the cornerstone of interpersonal communication on Facebook. That being the case, Facebook etiquette requires that you write on friends' walls periodically. -- Use the privacy settings to limit who can see certain parts of your Facebook profile. -- When posting on Facebook, bear in mind that employers often visit the site to vet a prospective hire. If you're job hunting, discretion is advised. -- Think twice about using Facebook to market your business as well as cultivate a circle of friends. Everyone is already inundated with spam, and a barrage of commerce-related Facebook pitches will be unwelcome for many people. -- Add your blog, Twitter account and more to Facebook. Many Facebook apps have been built to allow you to pull in content from all over the web. Instead of manually posting your latest blog, post into Facebook as a note to share with friends, you can set up an app to automatically share your newest posts whenever they go live on your site. -- Keep your Facebook site updated. -- Source: Facebook 101 