Focusing on UK investment immigration and UK life: How many friends do you have on social media? How many have you met in person? Daniel Shaw, a British man, loves making friends from around the world on the social media platform "Facebook," with some friends located as far away as Australia and Japan. He plans to meet at least 730 online friends in person within a year to raise funds for charity.
Meeting Online Friends
Daniel, 38, lives in Stoke-on-Trent and is an ordinary office worker. He started his plan to meet online friends in August this year, hoping to meet at least 730 friends in a year, which means meeting an average of two people a day.
Daniel has already met 129 of his "Facebook" friends. The first friend he met was his wife, Emma Shaw. He then reached out to old classmates, alumni, and friends he hadn't seen in years, traveling from his hometown to Manchester and Birmingham.
Daniel takes photos with each online friend he meets. In the photos, Daniel wears a custom T-shirt that says "Facebook Friend." Meanwhile, his friends hold up a sign with a number like "Friend No. 007."
After the joy of meeting friends, Daniel begins to worry about travel costs, as some friends on his list are located in Japan and Australia.
For a Bet
Daniel's plan to meet online friends originated from a bet. One day, Daniel's cousin bet him that he could not meet each person on his friends list one by one.
"He told me, 'You have so many friends on social media, but I bet you don't know them all.' So I started thinking about it and turned it into a challenge," Daniel said.
"It feels great to travel around, meet old friends, and prove my cousin wrong," he said. "I started with local friends and met one in Birmingham last week, but soon I will have to take time off to travel and meet other online friends. I know there are one or two in Devon, and a cousin in Germany, but they might come here to meet me; otherwise, it could be quite expensive."
"I also have some friends in Australia and Japan, and meeting them might be challenging right now."
Raising Funds
Daniel's wife, Emma, said that implementing this "crazy" plan is to raise funds for the charity "Motor Neurone Disease Association."
"I think this is definitely a crazy idea. I have noticed that since he started this plan a few months ago, the cost of gasoline has increased, but the good news is that he has raised quite a bit of money," she said. "My stepfather has motor neurone disease, and I know part of the reason he is raising funds for this organization is for me, which touches me deeply."
Emma said that Daniel loves charity work and has done a lot for charitable organizations in recent years. Once, he grew a beard for an entire year to participate in a Christmas fundraising event, and it looked terrible.