When the thick envelope arrived with Jenny Temple’s acceptance letter to the National High School Institute Journalism program, she immediately wondered who else would attend.
Temple, a cherub from Punta Gorda, Fla., wanted to connect with people she did not know at all. She had no names, no phone numbers and no idea how to contact people she would soon be living and learning with at the five-week program.
Then she thought: Facebook.
She created the group “Journalism Cherubs 2007” and waited for others to join her.
But no one came.
“After I made the group, no one else joined for a couple of days,” Temple said. “I was kind of worried no one would come, but eventually one did, then two, then three. It all snowballed from there.”
Temple was surprised by how many people found the link.
“By the time we arrived, I think there were about 60 people in the group,” Temple said. “It was cool to have at least seen a picture of most the people.”
The group has grown, and nearly all the program’s cherubs have joined.
“I didn’t want everyone to show up the first day and be really uncomfortable with each other,” Temple said. “I figured if we’d talked a little bit we’d at least know people’s names and faces.”
Gabe Debenedetti, a cherub from Princeton, N.J., joined the group. He said it made initial greetings easier.
“I recognized people’s faces which made things less awkward,” Debenedetti said. “But I didn’t go up to people and assault them. Be like, ‘Hey, you were in the Facebook group right, right?’ I’d bring it up eventually though, once I knew people better.”
Debenedetti said he was not an avid group member, but he did get to know some people.
“After I joined the group, I wrote on the wall once,” Debenedetti said. “After that a bunch of people friend requested me, and I had short conversations with a few of them.”
The group provided a medium for acquaintances to form, according to Debenedetti.
“It was nice to know some of the people I’d be spending half my summer with,” he said.
However, Micah Farver, a cherub from Portland, Ore., said he doesn’t feel like he’s missing anything from not being in the group.
“I don’t even have a Facebook,” Farver said. “But you can’t get to know someone over the Internet anyways so it’s still chill.”
Farver isn’t against the group, but said he just doesn’t want to be a part of it.
“It’s cool if other people want to do it,” he said. “It’s just not for me, and it’s not like I was ostracized for it.”
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Click here to hear a podcast about how cherubs made facebook friends real friends. Producer Elisabeth Dion. 