Skip to main content

How Facebook empowers rural businesses

Admit it. We love to hate Facebook. It gives us an opportunity to show off the best parts of our lives while concealing the sad moments, the everyday blah that is our lives. We can connect to friends all over the world, people we may never meet in person but have so much in common with. It's also ubiquitous, and not necessarily in a good way. Used as a login for various websites so that we don't have to create new usernames and passwords...the way we converse has even changed. Do people keep asking them to 'like' you too? Why should our affection for each other have to be so publicly on display? On the flip side, Facebook allows for ultra-stalking, like we've never seen before. It has ruined relationships, made people overly analytical about their own relationship status...is it 'Facebook official' yet?

Yet there is another angle that's talked about less, which is worth discussing. For example, how have rural businesses harnessed the power of Facebook for their own benefit? And what are the implications for losing that connection? Just six weeks of living in North Central Kansas and I have a whole new appreciation for the marketing potential that it allows small business owners, community organizers, and the like. Nearly every county fair advertises through a Facebook page, with far fewer having a stand alone webpage. Some cafes use it to share daily specials, the menu, and changes in hours. If you're looking for information about what to do on the weekend, you'll find it on Facebook.

At this point I can't imagine not having an account and knowing what's going on in the community other than through word of mouth. What did hermits ever do before Facebook, I wonder? Of course, I'm probably behind in discovering the buy-sell-trade pages, but that was a new discovery for me this week as well. For places that aren't big enough to have their own Craigslist site, Facebook functions just as well. And it's much cheaper (as in $0 expended) than posting in the local newspapers, which amazingly are one of the main sources of news and information for people around here.

So what's the point? Should we condemn Facebook forever because they sold our information to influence political campaigns? Maybe. Should we demand greater transparency and control of our data? Absolutely. But what about getting rid of Facebook forever? Would we be at a disadvantage if we lost the ability to advertise local events to a global audience? Probably.

At the beginning of the summer I'll admit I was pissed to learn about what was being done with my information. We should all be a little more conscious of what is being shared on our behalf, and voice our concerns regularly to ensure that shenanigans like the Facebook leak don't ever happen again. But having seen the way it forges stronger relationships among community members in Kansas, I can't imagine the repercussions of its absence.

Hunter, KS Population: 56

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I stay grounded as a digital nomad and modern-day gypsy

I get a lot of questions about what it's like to not have a real permanent home. Not everyone is excited about having their entire life fit into two suitcases, but somehow, that's where I find myself now. Talking with a new friend the other day, I realized that the longest I lived in one place since moving away from Kansas back in 2018 was a year and a half...and even then, that included a three-month trip abroad. I've lived in cities with several million people, college towns, and tiny towns (e.g. Vergas, at pop. 350). And each experience has taught me a lot about myself and what I'm looking for in community. It's also forced me to come up with ways to stay grounded, despite all the change. For any of you out there that find yourselves in a similar, somewhat ungrounded state, here's what I have to offer: 1) Listen to music that reminds you of home 2) Make frequent phone calls to friends and family 3) Send random text messages and emails to people to tell them h...
Post a Comment
Read more

The wonderful world of CUTCO

I take a deep breath after ringing my neighbor’s doorbell. The weight of my book bag pulls on my shoulders, filled with a rather odd assortment of produce this time around: a carrot, a potato, and half an onion. The shape of the leather bag in my hands feels abnormally unwieldy. How many others have gone through this mental battle with themselves, wanting to flee the scene before the process has even started, I ask myself. My trajectory leading up to this moment feels like a whirlwind, considering this is my fourth week on the job. Back track to mid-December. My hours in catering are pretty much zero, I’m working a few hours as an intern for a startup which gives me hope for the future, but it’s certainly not going to allow me to put anything in savings. I’m recalling the last conversation with my parents, tears streaming down my face as I try to explain why taking out a loan to cover my living expenses is in the best interest of my mental health. The monetary str...
Post a Comment
Read more

Some semi-final conclusions

As a reminder, I embarked on this journey a little over four weeks ago to ultimately assess the differences/similarities between food systems development in the state of Kansas/Douglas County and Melbourne/state of Victoria.  To make the information easier to digest, I decided to put it in table form. P.S. I found out that I've been accepted to the University of Minnesota's Masters in Urban and Regional Planning program for next fall!  :)  I've also been accepted into an internship program through KU for this summer in Singapore... The purpose behind making this table was to simplify some of the complexity of the food initiatives that I was exposed to while in Australia.  I chose maybe one or two examples for each 'shared' characteristic to give an example instead of providing an exhaustive list.  This led me to some more conclusions which require greater explanation, which follows. Kansas Shared Victoria State-...
Post a Comment
Read more