It's no secret that Michigan's Upper Peninsula is often considered to be isolated from the rest of the world. Life, it seems from an outside point of view, tends to be slower here.
Technology has helped speed it up, however, and now the largest city in the Upper Peninsula is leaping forward and putting both feet right into the future of social media thanks to the founders of
Marquette Social. It's a new social media site, like
Facebook or
MySpace, that focuses solely on the U.P. social scene, allowing its members to blog, post photos, create profiles and connect with businesses, artists, musicians and local events.
"Larger cities have tools that enable their residents to network and leverage technology to enhance face-to-face exchanges," notes
Layla Wright-Contreras, co-founder and publicist of the website. "Marquette Social does this for our community."
The idea of an Upper-Peninsula-centric social media site was one that co-founder
Jason White had considered on multiple occasions. Each time he approached the subject, he came to the conclusion that the area just wasn't ready yet. Then, on March 20, the computer fanatic had just been up all night working on a project for a client when the thought of a U.P. social media site crossed his mind again.
"(Marquette Social started) about two hours before I instant messaged a few friends about it at 7:30 a.m. on March 20, 2010," says White. "I had some energy left after a forensic all-nighter." White's day job is as a freelance computer consultant, including programming, business networks, database solutions, and digital forensics.
That energy led Wright to develop the networking site and introduce it to the world. Within the first 30 days, Marquette Social achieved over 60,000 page views, 2,000 unique visitors, 2,000 image uploads and 300 users and almost an hour of combined videos.
And it's not just tech-savvy college kids who are seeing the benefit of having a locally-based site like this, but businesses, too. Currently, more than 40 local businesses have created their own pages. They've advertised drink specials and events, all to a very local focus group.
Local artists and talent have taken an interest, too.
Amber Johnston, who contributed video and photos instantly to the site and has been featured on a local news segment regarding Marquette Social, and musician
Christopher "Detta" Karnack are just two people who instantly took note of what the website offered. In fact, Marquette Social is already creating ties to the local music scene, as Detta celebrated his newest album release party in conjunction with the site's one-month anniversary.
With an impressive growth in the first 30 days, one has to wonder what the future of the site holds.
"I think the future of Marquette Social will depend on its users," says Wright-Contreras. "Unlike other social networking sites, here we have a local-focused site with a hands-on administrator. That means users' feedback is actually incorporated."
When one user commented via blog that the colors—initially green and gold—were a bit much, White agreed. Within the day he had changed it to a more subtle scheme.
Just don't go asking him to throw applications and games up on the site like other social media offers.
"I find that many sites suffer from 'feature overload' and intend to keep the site fairly focused on what it is now -- a place for our community to share images, music, videos and ideas," White says. "(People can expect) no spam, viruses or game updates. You will only get contacted by users of our site, which we keep free of spammers and non-U.P.-associated people. All of our applications are tested for privacy and security. We keep the site free of games and other things which cause useful information to become lost in a sea of other people's entertainment."
Marquette Social -- which takes just a minute to set up a profile for -- is more than just a place for people to connect with their friends, says Wright-Contreras, but rather a place where you can meet and network with your neighbors, classmates and fellow Upper Peninsula residents.
"I really like to think of it as our private peninsula on the Internet," she says. "Large social networking sites remind me of New York, or walking down a big crowded city street with lots of lights, sounds and people. Residents of the U.P. live here for a lifestyle, and MarquetteSocial.com embodies that."
White, who has been writing his own computer code since he was a kid and has worked as a freelance computer programmer since 1996, says that the aspect of Marquette Social he is most impressed with is how quickly it has been embraced in the Upper Peninsula.
"I would really like to stress how much I value our users and, most especially, the early adopters and media that has been kind enough to take interest in, support and contribute to our site," he says. "It's very humbling to know that I've touched so many lives in a positive way with this already."
Sam Eggleston is the managing editor of the U.P. Second Wave and a full-time freelance writer. He was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula.