The Soapbox:  I have maintained a Facebook page for the past 3 or 4 years.  I’ve never really understood the beast of the social network.  I’ve always found it kind of bogus that the utter-nonsense postings and musings of individuals who seem to appear to have far more time than I could ever imagine really made any difference or significance.  I’ve often wondered about a false sense of connectivity that Facebook diehards have with their “friends,” who probably, in many cases would not hold the label if it weren’t for the ease of click and point.

The Situation: I have been teaching at the Green Light Academy for the past 5 years in the summer.  This year, the Academy was scheduled for Maine.  Last year, my daughters joined me and my brother accompanied us to help me out while I was working.  Good times.  This year we wanted to do it again, but to no avail, I kept struggling to find a baby sitter. “No, not available,”  “Sorry, not this year, but it sounds like fun . . . ”  My wife suggested posting on Facebook.  I poo-pooed the idea – who in my network would have the right-aged sitter?

The Surprise:  Realizing that it was find a sitter or not go, I begrudgingly made a post.  Within several hours, I had multiple responses: on the Facebook page, through the Facebook message system, and via email.  I was really shocked.  And, as I thought, my network didn’t have that “person.”

However, what I found was that my network’s network had all of the connections I needed.  By the afternoon, we had confirmed someone and everything was a go.

I didn’t expect this, but it really goes to show that even those of us might not have  “believed” can find the power and success of the network