HE’S been Geelong’s most mysterious figure of social media for the past year.
His is a faceless history buff, an unknown social commentator and a rallying point for around 8000 lovers of the city’s and region’s photographic heritage.
But the face behind Facebook Geelong – a webpage dedicated to all things monochrome, daguerrotype, glass-plate, 5×4 format and unabashedly Geelong – has remained staunchly anonymous.
Until now.
Geelong IT businessman Jason Trickey says Facebook Geelong never set out to be a deliberately anonymous site.
It just happened that way and as its following grew, he explained, and as its anonymity became a common discussion point to help propel the site along.
“The anonymous aspect of it all was never actually intended,’’ Mr Trickey told the Independent.
“The site just grew into something way bigger than expected.’’
The site now boasts almost 8000 followers and other related sites.
“Geelong isn’t the only site, you know. There are 30,000-plus viewers all up in other towns and on other topics. Almost 35,000, actually.’’
Mr Trickey said now his identity had been revealed “all we need to do is work out the identity of the Phantom Knotter”, whose existence was reported in last week’s Independent.
“Oh, and we also need to prove the existence of that often talked about but never seen Terminus tunnel.’’