It takes an e-village
Toolbox
By SUSAN ALLEN, Times Argus Staff Writer - Published: September 6, 2009
A docile moose living on an elk farm in remote Irasburg and marked for slaughter found mercy in an unusual place. On Facebook.
Pete the Moose, who lives in violation of state regulation with other moose and white-tailed deer among imported elk, got global attention when Beth White of Morrisville turned to the online social network.
Pete now has almost 5,000 "friends" on Facebook, from Vermont to Saudi Arabia — many writing, calling and e-mailing state officials to demand that Pete's life be spared. Their nationalities (some of their Facebook pages are not even in English), people who have never met (most have never spoken) are working in concert toward a common goal.
And it worked.
Gov. James Douglas granted Pete a reprieve, and the state is looking for a solution to the Irasburg moose problem that allows Pete to live.
It's a new era when a moose living in one of the state's most remote regions can find clemency by asking for help from the farthest reaches of the globe.
"It's a real community effort. It's like what communities used to be," White said of Facebook. "It's like a village now."
No one was more surprised than White at the reach of Facebook.
"I knew my skills as a Web designer were limited and I needed somewhere I could go where I could upload some pictures and some video (of Pete)," said White, who created and maintains the Pete the Moose Facebook site. "I thought, if I can get 250 people to be aware of this, that would be wonderful. Now I'm looking at 5,000."
She said the site has been critical in not only getting the word out about the plight of the moose, but in pulling together experts to help with the effort – expertise in scarce supply in rural areas like Irasburg.
"Especially when you're living in an area like this and you don't have access to a Web designer, wildlife biologists, lawyers — there are real people out there with real jobs, with real careers," White said of the Facebook crowd. "It's not just kids."
Middlebury College Bookstore manager Bob Jansen has become somewhat of an expert on Facebook, after discovering that about 95 percent of the students have pages on the site. He set up his own personal page on Facebook that now has more than 1,900 friends, and then created a business page for the bookstore that has been recognized nationally for its creativity and marketing potential – not just locally, but around the globe.
"The viral interaction with people is a critical element," Jansen said of the "viral" concept, in which one person links 10 to the site, who then each link another 10, and so on, until large numbers of people from around the state, nation or world have joined.
Jansen launched an online recycling project, urging students to return used textbooks to the store and promising them – via Facebook – a shot at a $50 gift certificate for their effort. From that sprang a broader, environmental message for the bookstore's Facebook members.
"I've partnered with indigenous vendors who try to provide sustainable living in parts of the world," he said. "I really believe at the end of the day I could affect things on a global level. I couldn't have had much success if it wasn't for Facebook."
Online communities have in recent years been critical in national politics, with former Gov. Howard Dean using the Web to court young supporters and bring in campaign donations for his unsuccessful presidential bid.
And other networks, including MySpace, Twitter and You Tube also have sprung up to host online communities — sites that rise and fall in popularity, and are replaced by new formats as the technology evolves.
Today, Facebook and the other online social networking sites are linking tens of thousands of people who both support and oppose federal bailouts of the banking industry, health-care reform proposals being debated in Congress, and other issues. Users of the networks connect as friends, as groups, as members of causes, on business pages, and other specific online designated locations.
On Friday, millions of Facebook users around the globe were posting a health-care reform political statement as their "status" for the day, and encouraging others to do the same.
They are communities of people in virtually every country across the world based not on geography, but who gather electronically in support of issues or causes or shared interest.
In Iran, which only unblocked Facebook for its citizens in February, one site already has 47,000 members supporting adding the Iranian new year to the United Nations calendar.
Facebook is not the only online network enabling people in the remotest parts of the world to join forces toward a common goal.
Kiva.org describes itself as "the world's first person-to-person micro-lending (Web site), empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe." Members can browse the stories of people across the globe seeking an investor, then decide who – if any – they want to loan money to. The hope is that those lenders will continue to make loans to others when the money is repaid.
For example, a photograph and brief description of Toefuataina Collins of Samoa on Kiva details her desire to borrow $750 to purchase harvesting equipment for her small agricultural operation. She's hoping someone, perhaps in Vermont, will loan her $25 or the whole amount, which she promises – in a contract – to repay. Kiva also has a site exclusively for borrowers from the United States for those who want to keep their dollars closer to home.
In its nearly four years of operation, Kiva has coordinated loans of more than $86 million from more than 500,000 investors around the world.
Another is DonorsChoose.org, where "public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org. … Then, you can browse project requests and give any amount to the one that makes your eye twinkle. Once a project reaches its funding goal, we deliver the materials to the school. … We call it citizen philanthropy."
For example, Mrs. J's high poverty classroom in Indiana needs 20 stopwatches for timed reading assignments, for a total cost of $274 (as of this week, one donor had pledged some funds to the Mrs. J's classroom project).
Last year's American Idol runner up Adam Lambert has used Twitter to urge his fans to donate to DonorsChoose.org, and recently tweeted that more than $86,000 has been raised at DonorsChoose.org/Adam Lambert.
At the moment, however, Facebook remains one of the most popular networks.
One Facebook group site called Brian Dubie for Governor sprang up recently and has nearly 500 members – including folks from Denver, North Carolina, Utah, Quebec, Florida, Missouri, and other areas – with the stated mission to "encourage him to run for Vermont Governor in 2010, plan fundraising and speaking events for him, and coordinate our efforts on his behalf." (For his part, Dubie has not said whether he plans to run.)
The premise all these sites are built upon is that people from all over the globe will form an online community in support of something they care about – a moose, a candidate, a low-income entrepreneur. The sites also give voice to people in remote, isolated areas like Vermont.
Participating in social networking sites is not without risk, however. Although not involved in a "cause" site, a Missouri woman was caught in a Facebook scam recently, believing she was sending money to help a friend when, in fact, police believe someone else took over the friend's site to set up the scam.
And for those relying on the "causes" sites to raise money, a Washington Post story published this spring indicated that the Facebook causes sites, at least, don't raise as much money as other fundraising methods, such as direct mail campaigns.
But for Pete the Moose, living behind a fence on an elk farm in Vermont, social networking technology and some 5,000 friends from across the globe just might save his life.
"I sent a letter to the governor and asked him to leave Peter alone. I live in Virginia Beach. Hopefully if he sees that the issue is reaching people in Virginia he will stop his plans to move Peter," posted one friend of Pete's. "Good luck Peter. Your (sic) in my thoughts and prayers."