In the beginning....

In the beginning, I was not very impressed with Facebook. To be honest, I thought why waste my time reading about someone's lunch...unless of course that person provided a restaurant recommendation or a recipe. But no, people were posting such inane trivia as "I ate a salad for lunch."

Over the past year, however, I've become a fan. I had to learn as much as possible about social networking for the work I do - marketing communications. Every client and potential client I come into contact with wants to know how they can use social networking to further their message delivery. But, that's for another day. Today, I want to begin telling just a little about Facebook's (FB) "good works."

I'm an animal rights advocate - so much of my FB time is spent encouraging rescue and adoption and ending animal abuse. Last week I received the following post on FB:

URGENT DUMPED SENIOR DOLLY NEEDS A HOME!!!! QUEENS,NY
MARCH 15, 2011 Queens, NY *Senior Declawed Girl Dumped in Dumpster* PLEASE, if anyone has room or can help this kitty, contact: Valerie voula@nyc.rr.com It just Doesnt End... ***Over the weekend, this cat was found after having been locked in a cat ...carrier & dumped in a commercial dumpster in Long Island City. Luckily a man found her & pulled her out of the dumpster where she would have been compacted & killed. She must have been in the carrier for a long time. When she was rescued, all she could do was drink water because her stomach had shrunk. Despite all that she had been through, the second she was let out of the carrier she climbed into our arms & started purring. We have named her Dolly. She is 12 years old, declawed & in great health. She has a slight eye infection that is being treated now with antibiotics, but other than that she is in perfect health. She's got many more years left. She loves to be held and is a purr machine. She is extremely gentle. She made no fuss at the vet's office, not even when they drew her blood. She really is the sweetest girl! Because she is healthy & seemingly well-taken care of, we think that her owner had died & Dolly had been put in carrier & dumped with the rest of the trash. She is living in a crate in a hallway because the people who are caring for her are allergic. She really deserves a loving home. Please if you know someone who can give this old girl a warm, comfortable home & the love she so deserves, she's worth it. Unlike the inhumane person, who considered Dolly, worthless trash to be squashed & compacted, we know she is a sweet, gentle soul who deserves to be a treasured lap cat, living her golden years in comfort. She wasn't really into getting her picture taken because she was so busy trying to get us to pet her! If you know someone who can foster or adopt Dolly, please email me: voula@nyc.rr.com Please help as well by forwarding this email. Thank you!

There are many "animal people" on FB - and the response was terrific. We all wanted to find a loving home for this sweet kitty.

And now the good news.

The following note greeted me first thing this morning:

Hello all

Dolly wanted me to let everyone know that on Sunday, 3/20/11 at 1PM, she will be heading to her new home in Jersey City!!!!! Her new brother will be home to welcome her!

Thank you again for all your emails & all your concern & especially for wanting to help save this sweet girl. Dolly sends you all giant purrs. Dolly's new dad is thinking maybe a Facebook page for all her new fans! Will let you all know. Please update any Facebook links & such - Dolly is going to a loving home!

Have included a pic of Dolly's gorgeous little sweet face on the night she met her new dad!

Giant purrs.
Dolly & Valerie

I'll share more animal advocacy information and success stories as time goes on. For the moment, I'm thankful that in 2011 we have a tool such as FB to help make good things happen.