How We Feel (Sometimes) About Social Media

There are times when I love it and times when I loathe it, but social media is probably here to stay. Sometimes I long for the good old days when we talked to people face to face or called them on the phone. Now it seems most of my news comes to me with zero personal interaction. Of course, depending upon who brings the message, (insert the name of your least favorite person here) that might be a good thing.

So do you FaceBook or Tweet?
 
I borrowed the above picture from a website called Daily HaHa. Check it out for a giggle or two. 

A Dollar for Your Tweets

Mubwindi, a gorilla infant available for sponsorship

Ever heard of tweeting gorillas?

I just read about a new fundraising initiative for the endangered gorillas of Africa. Uganda's Wildlife Authority is using social networking media to help fund preservation efforts for the gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

It is estimated that only about 720 of these majestic gorillas are left in the wild.
For a minimum donation of $1 per year, you can choose and sponsor one of the animals. The gorilla then becomes your "friend" through Twitter or Facebook. You will receive regular updates that track the animal's movements, and be able to view videos and photos of your furry "friend".

You can get information about the effort and find a gorilla to sponsor at the nonprofit's website, Friend A Gorilla.

It appears that people are fascinated with the concept of helping endangered animals while getting up close and personal (in a virtual way, of course) with their chosen gorilla.

This is a clever use of the ever growing popular social websites, and I can see other organizations launching a similar effort. Makes me feel sort of inadequate, though. Gorillas can tweet and I can't? That certainly underscores my technical inadequacies.

Anyway, I'm considering signing up.

Because who wouldn't want to have a gorilla for a friend?