Remember me from yesterday?

There are people for whom seeing old classmates in person will never lose its appeal: sipping watered-down cocktails with the first girl they ever kissed or the first guy they smoked a cigarette with carries a nostalgic charge that status updates and digital photo albums cant replace.

But for those who always pictured their reunion as an episode of Where Are They Now?a chance to see whos done well,whos gone downhill and who would like to apologisethe entire institution feels a bit deflated now that,thanks to Facebook and similar sites,nobody really has to lose touch anymore.

Social networking has robbed us of our nostalgia, said Michael Fox,who attended his 20-year high school reunion in November. Fox,a New Rochelle High School graduate who lives in Midtown,said he attended his reunion to see the adult version of his classmates. But he was disappointed to find there was little he didnt already know because of Facebook.

Even as a borderline user of social networking,I have a pretty good grasp of where people are,what they do,their family life,etc., he said. So a lot of the mystery of the traditional reunion was missing.

This lack of mystery has changed the feel of the event,said Donna DeFilippis,who has been organising reunions for more than 30 years as owner and president of Reunions of America in Melville,New York.

Attendance and the number of reunions held have dropped in recent years,reunion organisers said. Whats unclear is whether social networks or the recession is to blame.

Attending a reunion is not cheap. Tickets typically are 85 to 125,to say nothing of flights,rental cars or baby sitters. If youre struggling to make ends meet,finding reasons to skip it isnt hard.

Organisers fear attendance will keep dropping once the economy recovers since those approaching reunion age havent lost contact with classmates. Consider Tracey Hepler,28,who was a junior in college when Facebook made its debut and decided to skip her 10-year high school reunion.

I havent lost touch with anyone,and I see the people I want to see.

Of course,how they feel about their reunion typically depends on how they felt about high school. Just as some people wouldnt attend their reunion if there were prize money involved,others cant imagine missing it,Facebook,MySpace or Google Plus be hanged.

Nothing compares to putting your arms around your classmates and giving them a big hug, said Jordan Berman,the host of the Web show Career Fist,who helped organise the 20-year high school reunion of his class from Clarkstown South in West Nyack,New York,in November in Mahwah,New Jersey. Besides,Facebook sort of gives you a taste or one perspective of a person,but its edited. I think it creates more curiosity. What does this person look like in person?

For people like Berman,the familiarity bred by social networking has enhanced the experience.

Jodie Lasoff-Licata,a stay-at-home mother from Forest Hills,Queens,who attended her 20-year reunion in June,said she was able to skip the small talk with classmates because were far more intimate with each other now than when we were in high school thanks to Facebook. You just get to hang out with people and have conversations.

But for some,the passing familiarity provided by social networks makes things more uncomfortable. It was very awkward trying to reconnect with someone in this environment of forced camaraderie where you havent seen them in 20 years,but you kind of already know about them, said Amy Nutig,an unemployed medical biller who called her recent reunion anticlimactic.

Tell me exactly the circumstances of the photo you posted online, she said,mocking the strained conversation from the event. How was that restaurant you tried last week? And for sheer social awkwardness,its hard to beat finally seeing those people you never liked in high school but for some reason are friends with online. Must you say hello? If Facebook sometimes feels like a party filled with people you recognise but never say hello to,the reunion can feel painfully like that party come to life.

Robin Schiff,the writer and director of Romy and Michele, in which two former high school outcasts try to fabricate enviable lives for themselves before their 10-year reunion,said that her movie couldnt be made in the age of Facebook. It would wreck the story, she said.