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Little Forest Hills Neighborhood Association

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Remember the dark ages? Back in the olden days, maybe a decade or two ago, when PTA members dialed phone trees to blast messages about field trips, dress codes and communicable illnesses. Neighborhood association presidents hand-delivered newsletters from door to door. And when a pet lost its way, owners plastered the neighborhood with “lost” fliers. Some of those communication methods linger on, but now, in the digital age, social media has become an easy and effective way for neighbors to communicate.

Social media, of course, is nothing new. We’ve been using Facebook and other social media to find long-lost classmates and connect with new crushes or business contacts for what seems like ages now, although it was more like 2008 for most users.

Max Davis

Little Forest Hills Neighborhood Association

easier to make a connection.

In the past year or so, however, Facebook has become the new front porch, a portal for community. Neighborhood associations, local businesses, police and schools use social media to stay in touch, spread news and stay organized.

“The only way we have of hitting every home in the neighborhood is our quarterly newsletter, which is hand-delivered to the homes,” says Little Forest Hills Neighborhood Association president Max Davis. “It comes out a week or two before our general meeting.”

That newsletter contains helpful information for about 200 homes in the neighborhood. To the other 350 or so neighborhood homes, the contents probably are old news. The neighborhood association regularly sends news by email to those homes.

Last May, Little Forest Hills neighbors started using Facebook to stay in touch. Neighbors post information about lost pets, property crimes, suspicious activity and more through the online social network. While the association has been communicating by email for many years, Facebook makes it more personal.

Glossary Twitter

Tweet (n) tweeting, tweeted (v) A tweet is the message you post to share with your followers. Tweets can be only140 characters or shorter. After you’ve posted your tweet, you’ve “tweeted” or “were tweeting.”

Follow (v) The action of clicking the “follow” button on another Twitter user’s profile. This allows you to easily view that user’s tweets in your Twitter timeline.

Follower (n) A Twitter user who is following another’s tweets.

Hashtag (n) This is the # symbol used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. For instance, if you want other Twitter users in the world to find your tweet about the baskteball game you’re watching, you might include “#nba” in your tweet. Followers who click on “#nba” in a tweet will find all the tweets on Twitter that contain the same keyword, including yours.

“With Facebook, you can share photos from neighborhood events and links that might be relevant,” Davis says.

Neighbors “see” each other on Facebook, and when they see each other in real life, it is easier to make a connection, he says.