Whether they're feeding fish on Happy Aquarium or checking up on their kids at college, moms everywhere are taking advantage of the various Facebook features that allow them to stay connected to their families and friends.
We at Facebook couldn't be more excited to have our own mothers be some of our most enthusiastic and active supporters. But as everyone who has a mom on Facebook knows, their messages and postings can lead to some comical interactions. As a tribute to all of the moms who have wholeheartedly embraced Facebook and in honor of Mother's Day being celebrated in dozens of countries this Sunday, we wanted to highlight some of the more amusing stories of sharing—and, sometimes, oversharing—between Facebook employees and their moms.
Parenting from Afar
My own mom was hesitant to join Facebook a few years ago because she figured that it wouldn't offer her any sort of utility. Little did she know that Facebook would give her the opportunity to keep a watchful eye on her two 20-something children who both live across the country.
My mom, wanting to see what I'd been doing recently, was browsing through my photos and stumbled upon one of me in a large group. She decided to add a comment: "Olive! You look so skinny!"
She didn't realize that all 12 others tagged in the photo would be able to view the comment, and that all of them were various coworkers, superiors and clients who had attended a convention with me.
Keeping tabs on my weight is just one of the ways that my mom uses Facebook to parent from afar. Growing up, my younger brother and I were taught that expletives were unseemly and shouldn't be uttered. The other day my brother posted a status update emphasizing how livid he was about one of his favorite sports teams losing a game. My mom, while unable to wash his mouth out with soap, reprimanded him with a status comment urging him to, "Watch your language, David!"
Blaise DiPersia, a Facebook designer, is known throughout the office for having quite an extraordinary beard. His mom had been browsing through photos of him, when she decided that Blaise's famed beard was getting a bit unruly. Because of his busy schedule, she figured that the only way she'd be able to get in touch with him would be on Facebook.
So she updated her status: "Blaiser, you are sporting some serious beard fro… might be time for a trim soon. Just saying!" Now Blaise is better known for a trim mustache.
Motherly Matchmaking
Brion Spensieri, a member of the Facebook Platform operations team, has a very close relationship with his mom. He typically tells his mother when he has a special someone in his life, so one day he was chatting with his mom when he mentioned the name of a girl he had just started seeing.
Around the same time, Brion's mom signed up for Facebook and was eagerly sending friend requests to many of Brion's childhood friends. Her friending didn't bother him—at first. Then, a few nights after talking to his mom, Brion was on a date with his latest love interest when her phone started vibrating with one Facebook notification after the other.
Not only had the young lady just received a friend request from Brion's mom, but minutes after accepting, she also got a slew of Wall postings on her profile sharing scanned photos of baby Brion.
LOL is So Last Year
Many of us assume that our moms don't keep tabs on the latest celebrity gossip or spout new digital slang. A few of our Facebook employees discovered just how wrong we can be.
Ashoke Chakrabarti and Sasha Rosse, two Facebook user operations specialists, have a playful rapport with one another on Facebook. Ashoke recently posted the following on Sasha's Wall: "Zac Efron told me you aren't cool. And then he made out with your mom."
Unbeknown to Ashoke, Sasha's mom is an active Facebooker, saw the post on her daughter's Wall and snarkily retorted to the Wall post with: "Eh, he's not my type."
One of our account managers, Pete Marler, assumed that his mom didn't even know what "BRB" stood for. (It's online slang for "Be Right Back.") Turns out she is quite adept at speaking in colloquial lingo, using one of the more nuanced Internet acronyms in one of her recent status updates: "Just cooked Boef Bourgogne. NBD."
That's "No Big Deal," for those of you not as hip to the lingo as Mrs. Marler.
We're thankful that Facebook gives us the opportunity to stay in touch with our moms—when time zones and texting prove to be hurdles. We don't even mind that Facebook helps moms to do borderline embarrassing things to their kids, because we know it's all done out of love. After all, as more of our grandmothers sign up for Facebook our moms will understand what we're going through.
Olivia, an analyst on the Facebook Platform operations team, wishes her mom, Judith, a Happy Mother's Day and hopes she writes an embarrassing comment on this blog post.
