iCommunity

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 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.

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.

Neighborhood resident Amy Cowan, the dynamo behind Oak Cliff Mardi Gras, Cliff Fest and many more neighborhood events, says she can’t remember life before social media. A real estate agent friend tells her clients to “friend” Cowan on Facebook to stay hip to what’s up in North Oak Cliff.

“Your Realtor may have told you to subscribe to the community newspaper five years ago, but those days are gone,” Cowan says. “People want instant information.”

Cowan, who is a co-founder of Go Oak Cliff, says she thinks social media is more effective in reaching people than email or any other source. Emails go ignored, fliers are tossed, and newspapers are left unread. But social media is a way to “infiltrate” and get information to people who might not otherwise see it unless it’s in their Facebook or Twitter feed.

“Social media allows groups of people of similar interests to congregate without ever interrupting their regular schedules,” she says. Using it allows her to check the latest on city council redistricting before she even gets out of bed, and to find traffic information on Twitter while sitting at a red light, for example.

The information she shares and receives via social media from recommending a good dentist in Oak Cliff to learning the details of a friend’s job interview — is not always critical. But as a whole, it’s the fabric of community.

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