Despite 2009 belonging to Twitter, Facebook continues to make headlines as its users find creative ways to use it as an outlet.  Today, I came across a hilarious New York Times article describing how one high school sophomore is using it to petition the five-week grounding sentence her parents are giving her for “a first offense of drinking at a party and missing her 11:30 curfew by an hour.”  So far, Tess Chapin’s Facebook Group “1000 to get tess ungrounded” has 949 members since its inception on Monday, and with a story about it in the New York Times, it’s bound to meet its membership goal of 1000.  According to Chapin, by the time membership had surpassed 800, she only knew 35% of the group’s members.  Imagine from a PR standpoint how exciting it is when an announcement or product launch generates as much buzz as that …

Manhattan wasn’t the only school district that made headlines for its Facebook activity this past week.  On a more local level, parents and teachers in Framingham, MA are voicing their opinions and concerns about the reorganization of the town’s public school system through a Facebook group. With nearly 600 members (including March Communications’ own Cheryl), the page serves as a way for members in the community to communicate their views on the changes affecting the school district.  On the topic of Framingham parents turning to Facebook, Cheryl wrote in an Examiner.com article, “By voicing our opinions of this reorganization on Facebook, we’re expecting to reach a wider audience, keeping the conversation active and live.”

Twitter has certainly given Facebook a run for its money in the social media world, but Facebook isn’t about to go away anytime soon.  The number of Facebook members continues to grow, along with my fascination by the interesting ways people use it to draw attention to their cause.