The administrator of a Facebook group serving the residents of a central Israel neighborhood caused uproar and confusion on the platform earlier this week after changing the group's name to match his new address.
More Stories:
The group, originally named "Kiryat HaSharon Neto Letoshavim" (Kiryat HaSharon Solely for Residents), was established about five years ago and has over 4,000 members, most of whom are residents of the neighborhood in the central city of Netanya.
One day, group members woke up to find out that the group’s name changed to "Kfar Yona Neto Letoshavim" (Kfar Yona Solely for Residents), after another city located to the east of Netanya, without prior notice.
One angry group member who protested the unusual move received an unusual explanation from the group's admin for the sudden name change
"I am the group's administrator and no longer reside in Kiryat Hasharon," he said, implying that he had moved to Kfar Yona and decided to "move" the group together with him.
The amusing ordeal quickly became viral and spread on social media, inspiring countless sarcastic posts and memes.
"I don’t live in Kfar Yona, but the dramas in this group are on par with those of a Netflix series," one commenter joked in the group.
The bizarre incident is shedding light on the power Facebook community administrators hold. After gathering users, often for years at a time, to create a community around a specific topic, they can change the purpose of the group with a few clicks and without consulting its members and without any intervention from Facebook.
On Monday, the group administrator posted a message clarifying that he had no intention of "dragging" the group together with him to Kfar Yona.
According to his statement, once 28 days will have passed after the group's recent name change - a period during which Facebook does not allow further changes - he will restore the group’s original name.