In June, our Facebook page had 143 followers. This week, it reached 20,000. We’re surprised too.
We’re pleased, of course. But mostly we wanted to say thank you—and explain how a travel page we barely updated ended up here.
A page we mostly forgot to update
We started Frances and Francis in 2019, while living in Australia, to share our travels with friends and family. We’ve visited 52 countries, but for years our posting schedule was best described as “a few times a year, if we remembered.”
View our early post on Instagram.
We moved to New York in 2024. This June, the Knicks gave Francis a reason to pick up his phone more often.
The videos that got us going
During Finals week, Francis waited outside the Pendry Manhattan West, near our apartment, for the Knicks to arrive. It was well past midnight when the players came off the bus. He filmed about 12 seconds of Jalen Brunson and 15 seconds of Patrick Ewing, then posted them on Instagram.
When one video reached 20,000 views, he told Frances and suggested a bet: would it reach 40,000 by morning?
From memory, Brunson reached around 800,000 views within a day. Ewing passed roughly 200,000. We had underestimated that one.
Watch our original Jalen Brunson reel on Instagram.
The Knicks went on to win the championship, and Francis kept sharing across our channels. He had followed these players for years. Now he could film them in our neighborhood, and other fans wanted to watch.
The part that takes longer than 12 seconds
Since then, we’ve covered Fanatics Fest, the US Open, NBA games, celebrity appearances, and our first hockey game.
A short clip can involve a fairly long afternoon. For a premiere starting at six, we arrived at two. For the Knicks’ Jimmy Fallon appearance, Francis was there hours before filming. Apparently, our hobbies now include standing outside buildings.
One of those afternoons brought us this moment with Zendaya at The Odyssey premiere.
Watch our Zendaya video on Facebook.
There were times Francis felt like giving up. The waiting can be tiring, and there’s editing to do afterward. But he enjoys the sports, knows the players, and has plenty to say about them. That helps.
We have a system now. Mostly.
Frances’s biggest surprise has been watching Francis, who was never particularly into social media, become the one planning what to film. On our Amtrak trip to Philadelphia for the Sixers, he was already thinking about player entrances and moments to capture before we reached the arena.
Francis handles sports. Frances covers more of the food and travel, and looks after the website, drawing on her software development background. We sometimes spend our breaks editing together. AI helps speed things up; we’ve shared some of our favorites on our Software for people on the go page.
We experiment, check the analytics, and try again. Different things work on different channels. TikTok remains a work in progress.
A nice surprise in the messages
After we posted footage of Roger Federer signing autographs, people recognized themselves and asked for the original videos. They had the signature, but nobody with them had filmed it happening.
Watch the autograph reel on Instagram.
We’ve had similar requests after filming Djokovic and other encounters. It’s a nice feeling to have caught something someone wants to keep.
So, thank you
When we reached 20,000, Francis was at home and Frances was at work. He sent a screenshot, she opened it in the office, and we celebrated over text.
We’re proud of what we’ve built over these four months, especially the work Francis has put into filming and posting consistently. We certainly didn’t see it coming when the page had 143 followers.
Thank you for watching, commenting, sharing, and telling us what you’d like to see. Your encouragement has helped us keep going.
There’s more sports, food, and New York life to come, plus a backlog from those 52 countries. We’ve been better at taking the trips than uploading them.
Thank you for following along,
Frances & Francis
