Why have small communities like Mountainair in Torrance County embraced social networking?

Tamra Hays: Mountainair poet, writer

Torrance County is huge and not very densely populated. You can get some news by showing up at the post office at the right time of day, but that doesn't hit everybody. Social networks provide fast ways to get the news out to people who have computers. Besides subscribing to Mountainair's Twitter and Facebook sites, I subscribe to the East Mountain free-cycle group and various blogs from Mountainairheads.

Dennis Fulfer: Creative genius and webmaster

The more buzz there is, the higher the chances of attracting these folks to our town. More folks equals more economic activity. At the very least, these people will shop at the local stores. At best, these people will integrate themselves into the community and start businesses/create jobs/invest in the prosperity of the town.

Kristine Lauritsen: Uses social media for business marketing

Vanessa (Vaile) joined Facebook and helped to invite more locals — all three of us (with Dennis Fulfer) are on the chamber marketing committee and immediately saw how we could use these networks to help gather members of the community from diverse sectors and tie them together in a 'social' form that was nonthreatening, apolitical and hopefully fun — a form of communication that would become viral, without investment of huge funds. I think it's working!

How did things get rolling in Mountainair?

Tamra Hays: A critical mass of tech-savvy folks. Blogging led to other, quicker means of communication like Twitter and Facebook. Bloggers like Vanessa Vaile (at http://mountainairarts.blogspot.com/) keep pushing the idea and showing other people how to get started. I think Peter's town tweets are a real breakthrough. When Jeff Bingaman showed up with little warning, Peter was able to let everyone who subscribes know about it.

Dennis Fulfer: A handful of us have been pushing the Internet for well over 10 years. The Chamber of Commerce got its Web site around 2001 or so. There was also an Internet company that was based here, T-shirtKing.com. Along with Vanessa Vaile's arts blog, I think we all slowly demonstrated that an Internet presence would help the town's image. In 2007, I convinced the mayor to allow me to create MountainairNM.gov which I volunteered to maintain. Then recently the Facebook phenomenon finally took off here in town. That's when the whole social networking thing started moving here in town ... about six months ago.

Peter Nieto: 'Mountainair Town' billing clerk and Tweeter

It's amazing how many people in Mountainair are on Facebook and Twitter. I thought having updates for the town was a great idea, and I asked the mayor for permission, and I did it. It gets more information out there, like when bills are due.

What got you, personally, interested?

Tamra Hays: Curiosity. I live in Turkey part of the year and I like to know what is going on in Mountainair. Thanks to Peter's tweets, Facebook updates, and blog sites like Mountainair Arts I can keep up with what is going on in town. I can also get in touch with anyone in those networks if I need to.

Peter Nieto: I've had a Myspace forever, Facebook and Twitter were pretty new, but July 16 was our first Twitter post, and Facebook was a week after that.

Kristine Lauritsen: My interest quickly diverged from personal connecting to business networking. I actually still work for a living, which is not the norm for we Mountainair "transplants," so saw a new venue for advertising and basic info distribution. I discovered the business page feature of Facebook and began using it heavily to promote my vacation rental business.

Why is it beneficial?

Tamra Hays: While social networks can't replace face-to-face meetings and interactions, they do provide information and a point of contact.

My whole family (including my 80-year-old mother) uses Facebook to communicate now. When in Turkey, I am between seven and nine hours out of sync with my mother, children and grandchildren, so phone calls require advance planning. I really appreciate the quick daily updates about soccer games, school work, gardens, etc.

Dennis Fulfer: Municipalities sometimes do their best to be as transparent as possible ... sometimes not, but that's beside the point. The Internet and social networking are awesome ways for an administration to be transparent. They can regularly post the what and why of their decisions. They can also use it as a forum for citizens to provide input ...

Another is the psychological aspect of social networking. The prominence of social networking has brought folks who were otherwise disconnected hermits into contact with the pulse of the community, in a nonthreatening, uncompromising way. They don't have to "face their fears" but are able to participate, or at least be a witness to what's going on in Mountainair.

Santa Fe County: We've also embraced Twitter and Facebook with newly formed accounts. Check us out at http://twitter.com/SantaFeCounty, or search Santa Fe County NM on Facebook.