My Trip to Facebook HQ

Y’all, last week was something I’ll never forget. I was invited to go San Fransisco for an event at Facebook. WHAT?!?

 A few weeks ago I got a DM on Instagram and it was someone wanting to talk to me about how I use Facebook Marketplace. I first thought ‘SPAM’ but I also thought, ‘why not?’. I sent her my blog post with tips for finding furniture second hand and got on a couple calls. At first they were talking about finding a local station that might want to do an interview.

On the second call, with one more of my new Facebook friends, they casually mentioned a trip to San Fran. Spoiler alert, I coolly (not so coolly) said YES!

I was so thankful that one of my besties (that I also lovingly refer to as my unpaid business manager) Melissa, came with me. We left early Tuesday morning and did some San Fran sight seeing.

Sightseeing and hill climbing. My legs are shaking again just thinking about it.

We stayed at a fancy hotel in Menlo Park, about 40 minutes south of San Francisco. It’s called Hotel Nia and I’m pretty sure it’s the nicest I’ve ever stayed in.

….and crashed because waking up at 1am Cali time, flying and sightseeing is no joke. I’m not as young as I used to be, you know?..

The next day it was go time.

We arrived at the offices and broke the ice with a totally relaxing thing. A SOLO VIDEO INTERVIEW… I feel like I bombed it but maybe with the magic of editing, they’ll get a few seconds of usable footage.

photo courtesy of Facebook

After that I took a few still shots that could at some point be used in marketing for Marketplace. You might see my camera ready hands scrolling away in your Facebook feed someday..

We ate a fancy lunch and took a tour of the newest building.

fancy Facebook fruit water.

this is the rooftop of their newest office building. It was so beautiful.

The work spaces were open areas with clusters of desks but there were lots of small rooms for video conferences. Each one had a fun name. Some were punny. Some were from movies. There was a group of offices named after Disney villains. They were fun to read.

After lunch was the main event. This day was called Lifestyle Press Day. There were producers and writers from press outlets like Real Simple, Apartment Therapy, Good Housekeeping, Good Morning America and The Today Show. (MIND BLOWN). Our group, invited by the Marketplace team consisted of an awesome High School teacher named Pamela, a motherhood blogger named Diana from The Gray Ruby Diaries and me. We all use Marketplace for different reasons and were there to talk about our experiences.

photo courtesy of Facebook

We sat on a panel lead by the VP of Marketplace. She asked us questions about how we use Marketplace, what we’ve found etc. That was way easier than my video interview. I’m glad I had time
to warm up AND talking to humans is way easier than to a camera.

photo courtesy of Facebook

After the panel part, they played a video of a story with sweet people I’ll never forget. The lady on the end in the picture above is Kristy. Her and her dad (the lone man in this pic), Ron were there because FB made a video about their bluebird houses.

Ron started making birdhouses to keep himself busy after his wife passed last January. His daughter listed a few of them on Marketplace with a little backstory and their page got shared and followed and liked all over the place. They’ve sold 1,500 birdhouses and things keep building momentum. There were tears shed and hugs had. They are the sweetest people. It’s so much more than the birdhouses. They use it as a way to heal, as a way to honor her memory and they’re ministering to people who have also lost ones they love. Plus they give most of the proceeds back to the hospice facility that cared for his wife. It’s a story of hope and I’ll just go ahead and call it, you’ll see them on a morning show.

After the panel we took a tour of the Facebook Campus. There are a bunch of different buildings. Employees can take bikes or uber-like rides from building to building.

Employees can design posters that were hung all around. There was a printshop, a laundry service, an arcade, a woodshop, an orthodontist (j/k on that last one, probably.)

 We visited Instagram.

Sorry your eyes were closed, Pamela but this is all I got.

And the Market Place building.

photo courtesy of Facebook

We got snacks at their Micro kitchens and dessert at the sweet shop. Um, free food. I’m a fan.

The whole day ended with a cocktail hour and some fun.

photo courtesy of Facebook

It was a trip I’ll never forget. I can’t even believe I got to do it.

I’m so thankful for my sweet husband and Momma who were willing to pick up the slack while I was gone. The Marketplace team was such a blast to get to know. It was truly something I’ll never forget.

Actually, I left with a renewed fondness for Facebook. For what it’s intended to be. Not a place to complain and fight but a place to bring people together and tell stories. I’m excited to start putting a little more effort into my House Homemade page on Facebook. I’d love if you’d click here and go follow me there. I’ll be working to share there more often. It’ll be different from what I post on Insta so you can follow me in both places.

I’ll make sure and keep you up to date on anything else that comes from this trip. Seriously, if nothing else did, it was the best. Thanks to all of you who cheered my on while I was there.

Thanks for reading, friends!