Monthly Archives: January 2011

Gmail user not receiving your FPF e-newsletter? Fix it now…

Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 by No comments yet

Are you a Gmail user who has stopped receiving your Front Porch Forum e-newsletter?  Regrettably, your Gmail may be marking items from FPF as spam.  Here’s the solution!  Please take steps A, B and C below to assure that you stay in the loop.  Sorry about the hassle and thanks for setting it straight.

A. Designate FPF messages as “Not Spam”
1. Go to http://mail.google.com and sign into your Mail account.
2. Click on “Spam” in list on left to see contents of your spam folder.
3. Select any Front Porch Forum messages listed in the spam folder.
4. With these selected, click “Not Spam” above the message list. This will move any checked messages into your Inbox, and train your Gmail not to mark these as spam.

B. Add FPF’s addresses to your Gmail Contact List
1. In Gmail, go to “Contacts” in list on left to see your contacts.
2. Click on the “Add to ‘My Contacts'” button and add the email address neighbors AT frontporchforum DOT com. Hit “enter.”
3. Repeat Step 2 with members AT frontporchforum DOT com
More info: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8933

C. Create filters to keep FPF messages out of your spam folder
1. In Gmail, click “Create a filter” (to the right of the search bar).
2. Put the email address neighbors AT frontporchforum DOT com in the “From” field and click the “Next step” button.
3. Check “Never send it to Spam.”
4. Click “Create filter” button.
More info: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6579

Taking these steps will help you and thousands of other Vermonters stay connected to their neighborhood news as you help train Gmail’s filter.

P.S.  Did you miss some postings?  Go to http://frontporchforum.com and click Log In, then click on “Archive” to browse past issues.

Local businesses buying lots of social media advertising

Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 by No comments yet

eMarketer predicts that U.S. marketers will spend $3 billion on advertising on social media in 2011…

With a great portion of that flowing to Facebook

And most of that ad money seems to be coming from small and medium-size businesses.  From Greg Sterling

AdAge reports and rounds up some of the Facebook ad revenues data that have come out in the wake of the Goldman investment in the social network. However here’s the interesting part of the article:

[W]hat is surprising is the majority of revenue, 60% or $1.12 billion, was earned from smaller companies in 2010, those more likely to be using self-serve tools rather than work through a media agency. That’s greater than the $740 million coming from major marketers like Coke, P&G or Match.com.

Local small and medium-size businesses continue to snap up Front Porch Forum advertising space.  Many are repeat customers, eager to reach FPF’s active audience of neighbors.

Coyotes in Suburban South #BTV #VT

Posted on Monday, January 17, 2011 by No comments yet

Traditional media frequently uses Front Porch Forum for story leads.  Today it’s the Burlington Free Press covering coyotes in suburban South Burlington

In the wake of a rabid coyote attack last year on several people in Westchester County, N.Y., coyote-spotters have maintained a lively dialogue on the Butler Farms Front Porch Forum.

Chuck LaBombard, who has lived in the Oak Creek development for 11 years, is one of them.

“The coyote population has continued to increase during the past decade and I get it. We live in their territory,” he wrote in a January post.

“To occasionally see them on the golf course or in back of the development is one thing. To routinely see them on our sidewalks is totally another,” he continued. “Imagine if a child s pooked them or a lone adult was in the wrong place at the wrong time. My 11-year-old daughter is becoming afraid to play in her own yard… front or back! I am not a house-on-fire kind of person, but I am concerned!”

LaBombard and other neighbors have found no easy fix, and Police Chief Trevor Whipple has cautioned them against frontier justice in a crowded neighborhood: Firearms discharge is illegal within city limits…

FPF available in 60 #VT towns

Posted on Monday, January 10, 2011 by 4 comments

Don’t miss this Vermont-original community-building opportunity.
Another dozen Vermont towns can now benefit from Front Porch Forum thanks to e-Vermont, the Community Broadband Project, and the Knight News Challenge.

Front Porch Forum (FPF) was created in 2006 in Burlington and now more than 23,000 households subscribe across 60 Vermont towns.

If you live in one of the towns listed below, SIGN UP for your community Front Porch Forum today at: http://frontporchforum.com.  Join in the conversations that are already happening in your community.

Also, please let friends and family in these Vermont towns know that Front Porch Forum is available, and encourage them to sign up!  Only through more participation, will these towns realize the full community-building benefits of FPF.  To sign up go to: http://frontporchforum.com

Why join Front Porch Forum?
FPF hosts online neighborhood/town forums where nearby neighbors connect and get involved in their local community.  In this era of busyness and individual isolation, where it’s hard to find volunteers for local committees and people increasingly don’t know their neighbors, Front Porch Forum helps people meet those around them and talk about issues.  And it’s free to residents in any of the Vermont communities below.

What if your town is not on the list?
Interested in bringing FPF to your community?  Please add your town to the waitlist at http://frontporchforum.com/join

– Alburgh
– Arlington
– Averill
– Avery’s Gore
– Bloomfield
– Bolton
– Bridgewater*
– Brighton/Village of Island Pond
– Bristol
– Brunswick

– Buells Gore
– Burlington
– Calais*
– Cambridge
– Canaan/Village of Beecher Falls
– Castleton*
– Charlotte
– Colchester
– Dover*
– Essex Junction Village

– Essex Town
– Fairfield*
– Ferdinand
– Grand Isle
– Hardwick*
– Hinesburg
– Huntington
– Isle La Motte
– Jay*
– Jericho

– Lemington
– Lewis
– Ludlow
– Middlesex
– Middletown Springs*
– Milton
– Moretown*
– Morristown*
– Newport City
– North Hero

– Norton
– Poultney
– Pownal
– Richford*
– Richmond
– Sandgate
– Shelburne
– South Burlington
– South Hero
– St. George

– Starksboro
– Stewartstown, NH
– Sunderland
– Underhill
– Vergennes*
– Warner’s Grant
– Warren Gore
– West Rutland
– Westfield*
– Westford

– Williston
– Winooski

* e-Vermont communities newly participating in FPF