A social media fan has challenged himself to meet every single one of his 730 Facebook friends – in PERSON.
Dedicated Daniel Shaw, 38, has pals in all corners of the globe and has vowed to meet each one face-to-face.
The youth worker has set himself the challenge of meeting at least 730 within a year – meaning he needs to meet at least two per day to hit his target.
Since he launched the ambitious plan in August – reminiscent of a TV series by comic Dave Gorman – Daniel has already notched up 129 ‘meets’ with a range of people.
After wife Emma, 36, volunteered to be the first friend on his list, Daniel has reconnected with former colleagues, schoolmates and other long-lost pals thanks to the project.
He has even started carrying his custom-made ‘Facebook Friend’ t-shirt with him everywhere he goes – after people started stopping him in the street.
So far Daniel, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs., has travelled to Manchester and Birmingham to hook up with his pals.
But he could face a hefty travel bill – as his friends list stretches all the way to Japan and AUSTRALIA.
Daniel embarked on the wacky challenge after his cousin bet he hadn’t met everyone on his friends list.
Daniel said: “He said to me ‘you’ve got so many Facebook friends, but surely you don’t know them all?’ so I thought about it and then it turned into this challenge.
“It’s been great going around and meeting up with old friends and proving him wrong.”
“I’ve started with my local friends first, and I met one in Birmingham last week, but I’ll soon have to book some time off work to travel around and meet others.
“There’s one or two people I know in Devon and I’ve got a cousin in Germany, but hopefully they’ll be able to come here, otherwise it might start to get very expensive.
“I’ve also got some friends in Australia and Japan, who might be too difficult to meet for now, but that’s why I decided to set the number at 730 – two friends a day is still a very good rate.”
Daniel’s wife Emma said the ‘crazy’ scheme hopes to raise funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MDNA) after her stepfather suffered with the condition.
She said: “I think it’s an absolutely crazy idea, and I have noticed that the petrol expenses have been going up in recent months since he started it, but it’s brilliant that Dan’s doing such a lot of fundraising.
“He’s done quite a lot things for charity over the years – one year he grew a full beard for Christmas, and he looked awful – but this one tops the lot.
“It’s also for a cause that’s very close to my heart – my step-dad suffered from motor neurone disease, so I know he’s raising money for MNDA partly for me, which is a really lovely gesture.”
