Are you looking for an online community to be a part of? Become a member of Facebook’s ant colony.

Facebook has hundreds of groups in which users can join. Many people can join groups of similar interests or make one of their own. Just recently, one of those Facebook groups rose to popularity with many news sites and media fascinated with their colony.

This past week, I was scrolling on Tiktok and I came across a video where a user shows the famous Facebook group known as, “A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony”.

The group was created on June 26, 2019, by Tyrese Childs. Since the beginning of March, the group grew from 100,000 members to a whopping 1.8 million members.

The group is an open and family-friendly community. The original creators and admins implemented rules to keep the group balanced and free for people of all ages to join. Political or global issues aren’t allowed to be posted in this group, keeping it respectful and fun for all members.

In the article, "A million people are pretending to be ants on Facebook-and it could be therapeutic", the writer, Jareen Imam, interviewed Tyrese Childs about his sensationalized Facebook group, and Childs said,

"We have so many user requests and pending posts that this has become a job for me,...I think people are searching for something to do right now. You can only scroll so much on social media."

I chose to join the colony and see what it’s about and I was surprised, to say the least. When you first join to be a member, you have to answer a short questionnaire and read the rules before you submit your “application”. It took me a few minutes until I was accepted into the group, so the response was pretty fast.

The purpose of this group is shown exactly in their name: they act and pretend like they’re ants. Members make posts on the page acting like ants and serving for “The Queen”. Commenters would usually comment responses such as “LIFT” or “DIG” to assist their fellow ant companions in bringing in “food”, building their colony, or “fighting” off other creatures that pose as a threat.

At first, I thought that this online community was very bizarre. It wasn’t something I expected, but the internet is full of wild surprises. There’s nothing negative to critique or nothing to hate about this group. It is a safe space for anyone to be a part of and a sort of escape from the outside world. After spending a few days as a member, it was wholesome and fulfilling to see so many people come together as a community, even if it is in the form of ants.

If you are bored or just tired of social media, consider joining the ant colony. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much fun it is being a part of such a large community--of ants.