It was such a silly and simple idea. Not everyone is on Facebook, but there’s a lot of islanders who are. Many of them have formed groups. Cool. They may be official or informal or both, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to list them. Right? That way folks who want answers have another set of resources to check out. Much, much, copy & pasting later is the list below.
It isn’t comprehensive. It only involves Facebook. These are only ones with ‘Whidbey’ in their name. It doesn’t include the private groups. It doesn’t include other businesses, organizations, causes, interests, and people. Some local celebrity probably has more followers. But, it is one view of how many different things islanders care about. The heartening thing is how many of the groups are about each other, sharing news and help that may get skipped by TV stations, radio stations, podcasts, newsletters, and blogs.
That’s 65 groups. The small ones may be new, or forgotten, or the members moved to another group. The largest contain about a third of the island’s population. As long as Facebook is around there will be changes. New groups will be added. Interests change.
Facebook is not everything, however. There are other social media sites. There are also these things called ‘meetings’ where people get together in person and meet. (Shocking!)
Thanks to everyone who contributes useful things and support. Good luck to anyone who tries to follow all of them.
BTW Whidbey Island Rocks has the most members. They’re not a rock band. They are a band of people who like painting and distributing rocks. We found common ground! Er, common rocks, at least.
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