With 53 Facebook friends, 20 photos, and an abundance of wall posts, Pickles Jones is one of the pets that fills Staples students’ news feeds with entertaining status updates and posts.
Pickles’ owner, Sam Jones ’13, said she created the account in the spring of 2011 for comedic reasons. “People always make fun of me because I’m so obsessed with my dog, which I am. I thought it would be funny to make him a Facebook,” she said.
Ryan Kirshner ’13 also has an account for her dog, Molly. “My dog came to Florida with me and my friend and we did it sporadically while we were there,” she said.
Kirshner said that she rarely updates Molly’s account. “I never really go on the account unless it’s to upload a new profile picture or comment on something as a joke,” she said.
Jones, who updates Pickles’ account every couple of weeks, said that she has noticed some differences between managing her own account and managing her dog’s. “The biggest difference is that on Pickles’ account I’ll post statuses as if he’s actually saying them, but I very rarely post statuses on my own account,” she said.
Leigha Gruskin ’13 made a Facebook account for her dog, Boris, to prove a point to her father. “My dad and I were joking around about how socially awkward Boris is and my dad bet me that if he had a Facebook account no one would be his friend. I thought otherwise, so we made an account to settle the bet and people friend-requested him,” she said.
After Grushkin received Sergio, a pet turtle, for her birthday, she created an account for him as well. “The night I got Sergio, Boris kept staring at the tank and my friend said, ‘What if Sergio had a Facebook and he and Boris were in a relationship?’ We made him a Facebook just to be in a relationship with Boris,” she said.
Boris and Sergio are not the only two pets to be Facebook official.
According to their accounts, Pickles and Molly are dating. “Pickles and Molly are in a relationship on Facebook because I’m good friends with Ryan. They unfortunately have never met, but have been ‘dating’ since Pickles first got a Facebook,” Jones said.
During the summer before her junior year, Blaney Rotanz ’12 created a Facebook account for her dog, Ruby. “One of my guy friends said it would be a good idea as a joke because I had just gotten my puppy and was obsessed with her,” she said.
Rotanz said that at first, she only sent friend-requests to about 10 friends and family members. “After a while, my dog got some friend-requests from random people and even other people’s pets,” she said.
Rotanz, Grushkin, Jones, and Kirshner all agree that making a Facebook account for a pet can be a fun experience. “I think that if you have a pet that you love and always talk about then you should make an account. It’s so funny to comment on your friends’ pictures from your pet’s account and say ‘Woof!’ It’s a great joke,” Rotanz said.
