Hey, Mark Zuckerberg: Angry Staten Islanders want to have a word with you
The Staten Island Ferry, the cheapest booze cruise in town!
(Credit: Creative Commons/Wikipedia user KMF164)And no, it's not about their names.
A group called the Richmond County Young Republicans has issued an open letter to Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, asking them to check up on their geography.
Richmond County, after all, is the same entity as the New York borough of Staten Island, and if you're creating an event on Facebook, you apparently can't list the location of the shindig as "Staten Island." The closest location, reportedly, is "Staten Island Junction, N.J." (And there's nothing that a New Yorker hates more than being associated with Jersey.)
"This hits a sore spot with us and our members," the letter to Zuckerberg read, "as Staten Island has a reputation as the 'forgotten borough' of New York City." Come on, that is totally not true, guys! Everyone in New York knows that the Staten Island Ferry doesn't charge for the ride and sells some of the least expensive beer in the city, making it the cheapest booze cruise in town!
Additionally, Facebook doesn't totally ignore Staten Island. The social network does operate a "regional network" for the borough, as well as regional networks for New York itself and the neighboring boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx; several cities within the remaining borough of Queens, like Long Island City and Astoria, have their own regional networks.
Facebook representatives do not appear to have issued a statement in response.
(Full disclosure: CNET News.com's Caroline McCarthy lives in Manhattan, where yes, we make fun of Staten Island, but not as much as we make fun of Boston, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut, or Williamsburg.)
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
Anyways, I blogged you.
http://blog.silive.com/ferry/
- Incorrect Information
- by nyaj83 November 19, 2007 6:54 AM PST
- In this posting you make a rather notable error in stating that facebook "does operate a regional network for [Staten Island]." In fact, there is no such regional network. The closest network is for the College of Staten Island (CSI), which might I add, facebook also made an error by mislabeling the College. All other City funded universities are give the title of "CUNY-________(School Name). For some unknown reason, facebook chose not to do the same for the College of Staten Island. This should not then be seen as a regional network. One cannot join the "Staten Island" network unless you have attended CSI and have an e-mail address to prove it. I would appreciate it if you would post a correction to this story.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(3 Comments)Warm Regards,
Anthony Reinhart
President
Richmond County Young Republicans