Category Archives: Social Media
Help FPF land $250,000 grant!
#BTV #VT – Update 3: Click to vote, enter “Front Porch Forum” in the business name field, AND leave city and state fields BLANK. Click SEARCH button. Then, next to FPF entry, click VOTE button. That’s it! Thank you!
Vermonters, Front Porch Forum members and friends… we need your clicks today. It only takes a minute! We’re in the running for a $250,000 grant that we’ll use to improve the FPF software, add more neighbors and features, and expand to serve more local communities. Will you help? As a small Vermont business, far from Silicon Valley and other capitals of commerce, we’re a long shot but we’ve seen FPF members move mountains before. FPF serves 70 Vermont towns and 1 in upstate New York… 38,000 households participate in this free community service. Let’s see how many votes we can muster! The more votes, the better. 1. Vote for FPF today.
- You must have a Facebook account.
- Go to the contest website and click LOG IN & SUPPORT.
- Enter your Facebook information as needed and click Log In.*
- Once logged in successfully, enter “Front Porch Forum” in the Business Name box (do NOT enter state or city info) and click the SEARCH button. Or search by state.
- When you find the Front Porch Forum entry, click the blue VOTE button next to FPF… that’s it!
- While you’re at it, consider voting for other cool small businesses that you support (you can vote once for as many entrants as you like).
- Voting closed June 30, 2012.
2. Ask your friends to vote for FPF before June 30, 2012.
- Spread the word via FPF, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.
- Send folks to this blog post for details (http://bit.ly/FPFgrant) or directly to the contest site (http://www.missionsmallbusiness.com).
Wish you success. We LOVE FPF. It is the best mediumm for getting items of interest to the community.
– Barb, Alburgh FPF
- YES, to vote you must have a Facebook account and use it to register with the contest website.
- Once registered on the contest website, enter “Front Porch Forum” into the BUSINESS NAME field and leave the city and state fields untouched/blank… click the SEARCH button. Then click the VOTE button next to the Front Porch Forum entry.
*More details regarding voting… If you are logged into Facebook on your computer:
- When you click to “Support Small Business“, you will be logged into the Mission: Small Businessâ„ site via Facebook Connect
- A permissions screen from Facebook will appear
- The Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will utilize your Facebook credentials for sharing your actions on the site to the Facebook newsfeed
- No information will be posted automatically but you will have the option to share in your Newsfeed your Support, and your Vote on a local merchant
If you are not logged into Facebook:
- When you click to “Support Small Business“, the Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will prompt you to log into Facebook
- Once you log in with your Facebook credentials, you will see a permissions screen from Facebook.
- The Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will utilize your Facebook credentials for sharing your actions on the site to the Facebook newsfeed
- No information will be posted automatically but you will have the option to share in your Newsfeed your Support, and your Vote on a local merchant
Burlington community engagement survey results
#BTV #VT – Burlington’s Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO) just released the results of a new survey that shows that “sense of community” is highly valued by Burlington citizens. About 44% liked their neighborhood because of friendly neighbors and a strong sense of community. And 10% said that an even stronger sense of community would improve their neighborhood more.
The average respondent (588 total) uses Front Porch Forum, is an English-speaking homeowner age 30 to 60, lives with one other adult and no children, works full-time, and has an annual household income greater than $50,000.
Some other tidbits…
Q: How did you find out about your Neighborhood Planning Assembly?
38% Front Porch Forum
22% Word of mouth
5% Newspaper
35% Other
Q: What do you like about your neighborhood?
52% Proximity to amenities
44% Friendly neighbors/strong sense of community
Lots of other options
Q: What would you change about your neighborhood?
13% Less traffic and speeding
11% Nothing
10% More connection to neighbors
Lots of other options
Q: Are you subscribed to Front Porch Forum?
93% Yes
Q: Which (other) social media do you use?
92% Email
69% Facebook
33% YouTube
21% Twitter
17% Google+
4% None
1% LinkedIn
Several others listed
Q: How did you find out about survey?
69% Front Porch Forum
10% CEDO e-newsletter
4% NPA
4% Friend/co-worker
3% Facebook
2% email
2% Bulletin board
1% Twitter
1% Service provider
0.2% Business
Q: Languages spoken in household?
99% English
6% French
4% Spanish
16 other languages selected by respondents
Q: Rent or own your housing?
30% Rent
70% Own
Q: Number of adults (18 or older) living in household?
20% 1
66% 2
9% 3
3% 4
1% 5
0.4% 6-7
Q: Children under 18 in household?
68% 0
14% 1
14% 2
2% 3
1% 4
Q: Your age?
1% Under 18
18% 18-29
34% 30-44
32% 45-61
13% 62-74
3% 75 and over
Q: Your employment?
58% Work full-time
16% Work part-time
11% Retired
5% Student full-time
4% Unemployed
2% Self-employed
1% Disabled
1% More than 1 job
1% Attending school and working
1% Stay-at-home parent
0.4% Student part-time
0.2% Sabbatical
Q: Your annual household income?
13% Less than $20,000
12% $20,000 to $30,000
10% $30,000 to $40,000
10% $40,000 to $50,000
14% $50,000 to $65,000
9% $65,000 to $80,000
15% $80,000 to $100,000
15% More than $100,000
Winooski Girl Scout Cookies… SOLD OUT
#VT – I would like to thank Front Porch Forum and the overwhelming response to the left over Girl Scout Cookies. We have sold the remaining amount. Our troop thanks you for your support! I will be sure to post next year when our cookie sales begin.
Posted by Bonnie on FPF this week. Well done Winooski cookie eaters!
Green beans for IT help
#VT – For a while now I have been helping people in and around Duxbury with IT/computer issues. As times are tough for most of us, I trade my services for services/products… I have received green beans, maple syrup and even wonderful cakes as payment. If you need advice, repairs or a whole network set up let me know.
Posted on the Duxbury Front Porch Forum by Keith recently.
How do you find a contractor?
Indeed, how does a person find a home improvement contractor? From Greg Sterling today, a recent survey found that asking a friend is the top approach. This jibes with our experience.
“Seeking plumber/mechanic/roofer/electrician/etc./contractor recommendations” is one of the most common postings on Front Porch Forum.
New bike business in Middlesex gets traction
#VT – Last week I posted a notice on Front Porch Forum about ZoomBikes, a new business I’ve started with a friend selling e-bike kits (to add an electric motor to a bicycle). Thanks for your response! In just three days we had more than 300 hits on our website. In case anyone wonders, posting on FPF works!
Posted by Laurie on the Middlesex FPF today.
Portland Press Herald looks at Vermont innovations
#BTV #VT – From Charles Lawton in yesterday’s Portland Press Herald…
… Two election cycles ago, Howard Dean introduced us to the financial aspect of this [e-government] revolution by showing how Internet-savvy political appeals could mobilize institutionally unconnected individuals into an effective donation and voting bloc.
Since then, Internet appeals and social media have become basic tools of political campaigns.
Another Vermont innovation — Front Porch Forum — has brought the same technological capability to what used to be the town meeting, the pancake breakfast and the church bean supper. It is a virtual meeting place for neighbors to share ideas on topics as mundane as a lost cat and as controversial as ATV trails and town charters. To judge by its glowing testimonials and rapid spread to towns across the Green Mountain state, it has been a great success.
Much is simply an expression of neighborliness — the loan of a sump pump, a reference to a native French speaker, thanks for a bigger-than-average turnout for church bingo.
But other testimonials speak to the forum’s value in building community — “I look forward to reading it every night. I’m not a Facebook fan but I LOVE Front Porch Forum.” And still other comments illustrate its value as a well-utilized source for varying but always respectful, never ranting, opinions on hot-button public issues.
In this last respect, the FPF represents e-government as a reflection not of a more efficient bureaucracy but of a more involved citizenry. And that is its greatest contribution and the one we ought to seek to promote here in Maine.
Neighbors pulling together to face illegal drug use on street
#BT #VT – Most Front Porch Forum postings are simple matters of locating a babysitter or lost dog, selling a bike, or hitching a ride to Boston. We get lots of bear/moose/skunk/etc. sightings too.
Increasingly people use FPF to tackle some of the tougher challenges faced by their communities… street crime, school and town budgets, disaster recovery… and currently in Burlington, illegal drug use…
Hello Neighbors – Over the last few months, everyone in our household and that of our downstairs neighbors’ (and landlord’s) had noticed certain vehicles consistently parking on the quiet side street next to our house, and just sitting there for a long time. Of course, this sort of thing makes you wary, but we had not seen or experienced anything overtly suspicious or criminal until yesterday, when I found two used needles and bloodied alcohol swabs discarded curbside, right next to our house…
Last night, after dark, a cherry red car with a loud muffler pulled up to the same spot and sat. Our downstairs neighbor noticed this, and after a few minutes walked out to have a look/be a presence. The car quickly pulled away, turned around and took off toward North Ave. Sure enough, another pair of used needles and dirty swabs were found on the street. We called the cops, and an officer was sent over to have a look; we described the vehicle to him, and he collected one of the syringes. His idea is that people are buying on North St and then pulling back into our relatively quiet, not-much-patrolled neighborhood to shoot up.
Needless to say, this is disturbing and disheartening, and we’re hoping to help bring a stop to it ASAP. Be aware of stopped vehicles lingering at the curbside in your neighborhood, and be very careful to watch out for discarded needles, especially for the sake of children in your area (“luckily”, the needles that we have found have bright orange plastic components and are easy to spot; also, the idiot users have been thoughtful enough to cap them before dumping). Obviously, direct confrontation is not encouraged, but notice patterns and take down license plates of repeat visitors. And, of course, be very careful and wear gloves when cleaning up after these losers (the cops will come to pick them up if you’re not comfortable doing it, but they do not want them as evidence unless they are still loaded).
Be careful out there, and teach your kids the same!
Vermontivate: Town vs. Town Throwdown
#VT – Front Porch Forum is a proud co-conspirator…
Vermontivate, an intertown energy conservation challenge, is launching Monday, May 14. Set to run until June 15, this frolicsome on-line/real-world competition infuses joy and creativity into the serious and important work of energy conservation.
Players will spend the month racking up points for everything from changing lightbulbs and starting compost piles to writing energy poetry for their town paper or hosting a candle-lit raw food potluck and knitting bee.
From newbies and neophiles to over-educated energy mavens, people at all levels of awareness and engagement are invited to play! Even people who don’t live in Vermont can sign up and play on behalf of their favorite Vermont town.
The winning community will receive the Grand Prize Award, a town-wide ice cream party from Ben and Jerry’s!
“Climate change is the most significant issue we face as a culture, and energy use is at the core of the problem,” says Vermontivate co-founder, artist and activist Kathryn Blume. “But,” Blume continues, “approaching it with fear and trepidation does nothing to inspire people to action. On the other hand, we believe we can kick the Culture of Solutions into high gear with a potent combination of innovation, competition, and a little old-fashioned bribery.”
“Agreed!” adds co-founder Nick Lange, a consultant at Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. “Humanity found a bunch of black goo in the ground and figured out how to make a civilization out of it. It’s been a great party, but we happen to have seriously compromised the health of the planet along the way. So it only makes sense that we can take our idea-factory brains and opposable thumbs and turn it all around! And we might as well have a good time doing it!”
The game begins with players signing up at Vermontivate.com and following a series of weekly “Jumplines,” which offer a host of different energy-related challenges. “We’re hoping,” says Blume, “to get everyone from town energy committee members to people who’ve never changed a lightbulb in their life. So, we’ve tiered our challenges into levels of Light Green, Medium Green, and Dark Green, so that anyone, at any level of knowledge or experience can participate and earn points for their town.”
Lange adds, “When people sign up, they can also join one of our Guilds, which are groups of like-minded players who can share information and ideas. If someone likes blogging or shooting video, they can be in the Town Criers Guild. If they’re more about writing energy limericks for their town paper, they can be in the Artists, Bards, and Troubadours Guild. People who like to give each other cupcakes as a reward for great work can be in the Boosters and Bakers Guild. We’ve really got something for everyone.”
Interested potential players can sign up at www.vermontivate.com.
More hits than from Google…
#VT – Gotta love it! Click local! From a new FPF advertiser today…
We are getting more hits to our website from Front Porch Forum than from Google at this point!
Learn more and contact FPF to get your ads running in Vermont.
About Blog
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more
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