Columbia Citizens

Truth be told, this Citizen has resisted the siren song of social media, suspecting facebook, myspace and their ilk might turn out to be just so many more online obsessions. And they are. But the lure of the neighborhood's internet-work is strong, and there's a rush of new interest in Columbia City connecting.

Christo de Klerk kicked off a Columbia City group awhile back, and this week it's breezed past 200 members. If you're a facebook member in the "Seattle, WA" network, you can join and invite your neighbors.

This seems to be another good way for Citizens to self-identify and share information. Facebook isn't a wiki, so it won't replace what we're doing here. But facebook might make it easier to connect with the friends of our friends — a useful tool in this neighborhood. So let's see if this helps with the community building we do here — check it out.

When it comes to clicking with neighbors, Columbia Citizens have choices. We've got our wiki, a bunch of email groups, and a long list of personal and neighborhood blogs.

Now add facebook to the mix. In the Columbia City group, Citizens can share links, start discussions, and post bulletins to the group's wall. Group members receive occasional invites to neighborhood events, like BeatWalk.

The wiki's also on facebook. The Columbia Citizens page draws directly from our discussion board. It features Wikli alerts and the first post to any new discussion thread. If you're a "fan", you'll see occasional items posted by Citizen moderators in your regular news feed. This should be a casual way to share new and interesting stuff that neighbors have tucked into the site.

Wherever you log on — from a Columbia City coffee shop, from work, or from the comfort of home — let's use these facebook tools to help us connect in that original local-living medium: face-time.