Become a ‘Friend’ of the Friends

Charity launches on

A CHARITY has tapped into the world’s biggest social networking site to keep in contact with local people.

The Friends of Kinneil – which promotes Kinneil Estate in Bo’ness – now has a dedicated section on Facebook, allowing local people to easily follow its activities.

Just visit www.facebook.com/kinneil and “like” the group.

Maria Ford (pictured), the chair of The Friends of Kinneil, said: “Our main website – at www.kinneil.org.uk – has had more than 38,000 views since it was re-launched in 2007. But we want to make it easier for people to stay in touch, particularly non-members who ask us regularly for information on open days at Kinneil Estate. Facebook helps us easily do that. Simply go to www.facebook.com/kinneil and ‘like’ us – to become a ‘Friend’ of the Friends!”

Facebook – launched in 2004 – now has more than 500 million active users. The web company says that half of these people log onto the site in any given day, with an average user having 130 friends. Facebook devotees include everyone from stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger to media organisations like The Journal and Gazette.

Maria said: “A key part of the charity’s work has been to promote the estate and encourage more people to visit. Using different websites and social media has been crucial to that strategy.

“So you’ll find Kinneil pictures on photo-sharing sites like Picasa and Flickr. You’ll find our videos on YouTube and Vimeo.com – and you’ll even find audio excerpts of a tour round Kinneil on the podcasting site, Audioboo. We also post links to our stories on the micro-blogging site Twitter. Links to all these sites can be found on the homepage of our main website.

“We think Facebook will be a useful addition to this portfolio, particularly as it encourages interaction with users and extra chances for people to hear about our work – and easily share it with their network on Friends.”

To find out more visit, www.kinneil.org.uk – or go directly to www.facebook.com/kinneil