#96 What is the Front Porch Forum?

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Today’s newsletter is about the friendliest social network in America — and maybe even the world.

It’s called the Front Porch Forum, and it was designed to help residents of Vermont connect with their neighbors.

Nearly half of Vermont's adult population are active members of Front Porch Forum (FPF), which has been around since 2006. (see an excerpt from the FPF website below)

In a recent profile of the social network, Washington Post reporter Will Oremus wrote:

What do people use Front Porch Forum for: Users, who are members of local forums for particular towns and counties in Vermont, use the website for a variety of reasons:

• buying or selling goods, particularly fresh food made on Vermont’s many family-owned farms

• looking for electricians, plumbers, and other contractors

• discussing local elections or major construction projects

• sharing information about events and volunteering opportunities

One user, who said that he'd been reading FPF every day for over 17 years, said that his local town's forum is the place to go “to learn about upcoming meetings, library activities, recreation activities.”

A woman named Julia Andrews even used FPF to organize a food bank at her local church in Westford, VT.

Another user said:

FPF was founded by Michael Wood-Lewis (pictured above) in 2006.

Since then, the company has grown to 30 full-time employees.

Unlike major social networks, FPF doesn't collect and sell user data.

Instead, it makes most of its money from advertisements posted by local businesses.

Wood-Lewis explained:

What makes FPF work? For one thing, FPF is unusually dedicated to content moderation.

Most large social networks let people post before moderating content, leading to a whack-a-mole situation with toxic content and spam popping up faster than moderators can delete it.

Twelve of FPF's 30 full-time employees work as content moderators, approving every post and making sure that new posts don't violate rules against spam, misinformation, or personal attacks.

FPF Saves Lives: When Tropical Storm Irene hit Vermont in August 2011, nearly every river and stream in the state flooded. (including the picturesque Mad River in Moretown, Vermont, see below)

Across Vermont, FPF members used the forum to help their neighbors.

Some local governments even used the FPF to share official updates about the cleanup effort.

It shouldn’t be surprising that Vermonters love the Front Porch Forum.

According to a survey of more than 13,000 FPF users, more than 81% of users reported that using the site makes them feel like “a more informed citizen.”

Just 26% of respondents felt that way about Facebook.

My take: Social media platforms have been around for over 20 years at this point. We all know that they can sow division among us and ruin our attention spans.

It’s great to see a social network that is consciously trying to strengthen communities and help people build genuine connections with one another.

Let’s hope that the next generation of tech entrepreneurs try to spread the localist Front Porch Forum model across the U.S. 

Your faithful author,Dr. Daniel Smith

ART OF THE DAY

Today’s painting, The Belated Party on Mansfield Mountain by Jerome Thompson, 1858, depicts Vermont's Mansfield Mountain.