Entries Tagged 'Facebook Groups' ↓

Facebook Group Looks to Set Guinness Record

I remember when I was younger I would always read through the latest edition of the Guinness book of world records. I was fascinated by all of the weird records folks had set and I always wanted to break a Guinness record. While I may never set a Guinnes record myself, at least I can now hopefully be part of one.

Right now there is a group on Facebook with one goal in mind: to set the Guinness book of records for the most people in one group. The group has officially applied for the record with the Guinness book. According to the group, they need 3 million members in order to qualify for the record. As of tonight, they currently have just over 1.3 million members.

I still remains to be seen if the group can get enough members to break the record, but if they do, every member gets their own world recorder holder certificate. Maybe there is still hope for me to be a Guinness record holder?

Have you ever heard the name Josef Stawinoga? If so, you’re probably one of the 7,316 members of a Facebook group with the somewhat unwieldy name “We Love u Wolverhampton Ring road Tramp!”

The group was formed in tribute to Stawinoga, a homeless man living in a tent on a grassy island in the middle of a road in England. Stawinoga, whose tent fixtures included a live chicken and a satellite dish, reportedly believed WWII was still going on. He had become a local fixture, receiving daily presents of food from his neighbors and sometimes being approached as a holy hermit.

Stawinoga died this week at 87 years old, after living in the middle of the road for over 30 years. The Facebook group that followed his movements is currently raising money to erect a memorial on the spot where Stawinoga’s tent stood.

SmallBizPod is a leading podcast series in the UK hosted by Alex Bellinger.It is UK’s first small business podcast. It consists of interviews and practical advice for startups and businesses of all sizes.The show is heard by listeners world-wide and list of famous interviewees include Lord Billimoria, Guy Kawasaki and some popular global entrepreneurs.

Alex has formed a SmallBizPod Facebook group and since its launch the group is serving as a meeting place for startup wannabes, experienced entrepreneurs and everyone else who is driven by interest.

The group consists of some famous names like Surinder Siama from Research Talk, Taylor Marek from Taylor Marek Podcast,Patricia Mata and more.

Do checkout the SmallBizPod Facebook Group right now and don’t forget to listen to SmallBizPod podcasts.

Applied Language Solutions, a leading Translation Services Company has created a Facebook group to create interest in the Company. The group has been created by the Marketng and PR head at Applied Language Solutions, Richard Michie. The group is named as ‘Are you a translator or interpreter?. The idea behind the tool is to to attract more translators and interpreters to the company’s already extensive database talkbase.net.

According to Richard Michie’s comments, “We are continually searching for new Translators and Interpreters to compete with the levels of demand for our services. Presently, Facebook is a worldwide craze so we thought what better than to use the resource to both increase awareness of our services and to also target new translators and interpreters.”

Applied Language has shown rapid development during last 4 years and today boasts of presence in England, France, India, Spain, Bulgaria, US, Guatemala and Hong Kong. It has over 15,000 translators who translate all kinds of documents from simple letters to large technical documents.

To join the group click here.

Since Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s stunning announcement that Dumbledore was gay, there’s been a lot of muttering — delighted, horrified and confused — on this here world wide web, and Facebook is no exception.

Facebook has always been a haven for the Harry fans. You can install applications like The Sorting Hat that let you cast spells on your friends, out yourself as a Potter trivia buff with Harry Potter Photos, Quotes and Trivia, or visit Leaky News for updates on The Leaky Cauldron, one of the largest Potter fan sites out there. And Facebook being Facebook, it is also the home of some enjoyable anti-hype movements, like the Level-Headed Harry Potter Fans.

And now there is this business with Dumbledore, giving rise to a group called If Gay Marriage is Good Enough for Dumbledore, it’s Good Enough for America. This was really the only thing the Potter legend was lacking: a connection to inflammatory American political issues. Check out the awesome photoshopped People Magazine cover, featuring Dumbledore and including teasers like “Gandalf Gay Too?” and “Harry Reacts!”

Politically motivated or not, this group still conforms to the requirements for a Potter groups: rabid fan members. Just look at this discussion thread, entitled, in the spirit of the JFK assassination or discussions of 9/11, “Where were you when you found out?”

(I was in my living room, on a call with my mom, who called me as soon as she heard. In case you were wondering: yes, I am completely a rabid fan.)

Facebook is a useful site, but it can also be a glorious, luxurious waste of time. And isn’t that why we love it? For those of you who, like me, revel in fun, useless stuff, I present a brief list of some of my favorite time-wasters:

Actually, I think your tattoo is hideous

This group contains, at present, 730 photos of truly horrible/dumb/strange tatts, with more coming all the time. As someone who is often tempted to laugh at peoples’ tattoo choices, but can’t because it’s politically incorrect, I was delighted to find this photo archive. Because I am a horrible person.

1,000,000 Strong for Stephen Colbert

Unlike the other “1,000,000 Strong” political groups, this group actually has more than one million members. And they passed the mark in their first five days. Why? Because Colbert is awesome. Though I am still going to vote for Jon Stewart, because what he did on Crossfire made me dedicate my life to him like a Jon Stewart-worshiping nun.

Cities I’ve Visited

Wow, is this one ever a time waster for me. It’s like Countries I’ve Visited, but I prefer this because I find the cities more memorable than the countries I’ve seen. I can sit here all day clicking cities and drifting off into dreamy, pink-washed memories of trips I’ve been on. And once you’ve filled out your personal map, you can write guides for your friends, rate your favorite burghs…really, this application is extremely bad for my productivity.

Sudoku

Sudoku is the numbers game that is sweeping the nation. I am really, really bad at it. Most of my numbers skills are lost to me at this point, actually. The other day I realized I’d actually forgotten about half the multiplication tables and had to spend about an hour repeating them to myself before they came back to me. So my Sudoku scores are pretty embarrassing. But playing this is still more fun than working, except of course when I am working for Facebook Observer.

Got more time-wasters? Drop ‘em in the comments. Come on, folks: waste my time.

Facebook has a group called The Matthew Shepherd Act (Against Hate Crimes) rallying folks together in support of anti-hate crime legislation that has been passed by the Senate (but probably won’t make it past President Bush’s big red veto stamp).  The group’s discussion board is a nice counterpoint to the online space that was unveiled this week, Matthew’s Place, where LGBT youth can access services and interact with their peers.

The upcoming presidential primaries have not neglected to make their mark on Facebook as well, with dozens of groups focusing on Clinton’s campaign alone, like Hillary Clinton for President - One Million STRONG. This group has about 7,900 members, so I guess that’s not a literal million. By contrast, Stop Hillary Clinton: (One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary) has about 490,000 members. Still not a million, guys. My personal favorite, though, is Dennis Kucinich (27 Strong for Dennis). This group actually has 60 members, so of all the groups I would say they’re doing the best at setting expectations low and then exceeding them. Say what you like about Kucinich, he’s a sincere man who can still laugh at himself. I challenge you to find another candidate with both qualities.

Politics not your thing? This guy will donate $1 to Darfur for every thousand people who join his group. I don’t know how you can monitor his honesty, but then again, how much does it really cost you to join a Facebook group? Or you can enjoy the tongue-in-cheek group, Anti-War, Pro-Kittens. Interestingly, I myself am both anti-war and anti-kitten, so this group isn’t for me. Maybe it’s time to start a group of my own.