The impact of Facebook goes far beyond the posts, updates and pictures you see on your news feed; in many cases the platform has changed the lives of many people in tangible and unforgettable ways. Facebook chose to showcase this with a compilation of stories that show the abilities of the platform to break through barriers and help people in need. These are a few of the stories that stood out for different reasons.
Twinsters
The lives of Samantha Futerman and Anais Bordier were change permanently when they discovered that they were not only related, but actually a set of twins that was separated at birth. After someone posted pictures of Futureman online and showed them to Bordier, she took the time to investigate and find out about Futureman, who had like her, been adopted from South Korea. Anais finally sent Samantha a friend request Learn How Spending A Lot on Facebook and soon the two had a lengthy conversation on Skype and they finally made the connection that they were indeed twins and DNA tests confirmed it. The impact that the story had drove the pair to write a book about the experience titled “Separated @ Birth: A True Love Story of Twin Sisters Reunited.” It’s wonderful that a something so life-changing was made possible by social media and the internet.
How a Former Flight Attendant became a Successful Mompreneur
Abbie Unger turned her former career as a flight attendant into a platform that has managed help many people understand the aviation industry so that they are better prepared for job interviews and the demands of the job. After many people asked her for advice she wrote a book which went on to become a bestseller. She used this momentum to start a Facebook group which grew to have thousands of members. These successes managed to turn Abbie into a mompreneur and today she hosts webinars and runs a highly successful coaching business which allows her to stay close to her kids. This story is powerful because Abbie managed to find a career after she thought her in flight career was over and now she gets to help thousands of people and still have time with her children, because she successfully leveraged her skills on Facebook.
The Bucket List
Kristina Chesterman tragically lost her life when she was struck by a drunken driver. Her devastated family found a way to bring some good into the world in her honour. When they were packing up her room they found a bucket list in which she wrote the many things she would have wanted to do. One of them was saving lives- which is exactly what she did by being an organ donor. When her parents saw this list, they decided to honour Kristina’s wishes by completing her bucket list, along with the people who she had helped. One of the items on her list was to be in 4 places at once- which in a way she achieved because she donated her heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas to people in need.
A Life Saved
In 2012 Fabrice Benichou was facing a particularly difficult time and an alcohol addiction wasn’t helping the matter. He began to contemplate suicide and one day he posted the status “To everyone, to all my friends, I love you but I have to go…” When his Facebook friends saw this, they alerted the authorities who managed to get to him in time and save his life. Since that day, Fabrice has managed to pick himself up and live a sober and happier life.
Facebook continues to have a great and central impact in the lives of the people who use it and these five stories show how much of a difference the platform can make. It’s important to remember that there are probably millions of lives and thousands of stories in which Facebook has played a great role. The platform even allows people to submit stories that show how their lives were changed by Facebook.
Do you have a Facebook story you would like to share? Leave a comment below.