Parents Make Facebook Page for Unborn Child; Becomes Online Journal
Facebook's youngest member? Started as way to keep friends up to date.
June 2, 2011 — -- Marriah Greene may be the youngest person with a Facebook page. She hasn't even been born yet.
Her page was put up by her parents, Matt and Ellie Greene of Whitehouse, Texas, who were looking for a playful way to keep friends up to date on the progress of Ellie's pregnancy. They know they're having a girl, and they have a due date of June 9. As of Wednesday night their daughter had 268 "friends" -- mostly real friends and family of her parents.
"We weren't sure how to tell all our friends the baby was coming," said Matt Greene in a telephone interview with ABC News. "We'd held off on telling people -- we wanted to make sure everything was fine with the pregnancy. We thought the quickest way to tell everyone would be to use Facebook."
Matt is a nurse; Ellie, still working part-time as her due date approaches, is a nurse's assistant studying to become a nurse herself. He's 37; she's 25.
The page, Marriah's father says, is meant in fun. Marriah's education: "Studied Labor and Delivery at Tummy University." Favorite quotations: "Swimming, swimming, just keep swimming." Sports Marriah plays: Soccer ("I am quite the kicker").
"We didn't realize we'd started an online journal," said Matt Greene. "We've documented everything. When Ellie has a free moment she might go on there to tell people what's happening with the baby. We thought back to our own childhoods and realized a lot of details had been lost. Here, we realized, we've documented everything."
This being the 21st century, it has become common for parents to post family pictures on Flickr, call faraway relatives via Skype, and in some cases provide streaming video of a baby's delivery. Facebook does have a policy against children creating profiles if they're under the age of 13, but Marriah is not the one who created the profile.
Word has spread of young Marriah's online presence, and as of Wednesday she had more than 350 friend requests, which her father said he and his wife would ignore if they came from strangers. There have been a few negative comments, said Matt Greene, but "40 to one, they're friendly -- just the sweetest things."
A small sampling:
Ellie Greene originally posted about the baby, but now, with friends sending messages directly to Marriah, she answers in her daughter's voice: "Mom is doing the shopping thing again. What is she going to get me now?"
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