Social Media…For Gorillas?

We all know how social media has exploded to become an essential part of both our personal and professional lives with everything from Facebook profiles to constant feeds of information on Twitter. Well, busy moms on the go and up and coming authors are not the only ones getting in on the media buzz of social marketing, now you can use your social media addictions to follow and befriend a tweetering gorilla in Uganda (and yes I do mean the big hairy primate type, not the rebel fighters in the jungle sort). Latest efforts to save the endangered mountain gorillas of Uganda are employing the great tools of social media to let you connect to your very own gorilla friend with this unique idea.

A recent web site is taking social media to a whole new level by using it to protect endangered mountain gorillas living in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where nearly half of the total population of mountain gorilla’s are living. The hopes of the web site, FriendAGorilla.org, is to raise funds and awareness to save these amazing but endangered animals from becoming the last of their kind.

On the Friend A Gorilla web site you will be able to choose a gorilla to befriend for one dollar. In turn, you can follow your newly chosen gorilla friend via satellite tracking and watch their lives unfold before you through the modern marvels of technology. The basic idea is that not everyone who is concerned about protecting the gorillas can afford to give large donations of money to help protect them; however, with just a simple dollar at a time, everyone can pool those funds and resources that are needed and together they can have a big impact. It is hoped that the site will be able to raise at least $350,000 in its first year of operation.

The mountain gorillas of Uganda, like so many different species of wildlife, have come under threat by hunters and illegal poachers as well as habitat destruction from those who are destroying the areas for illegal logging and agricultural businesses. The funds that the Friend A Gorilla site hopes to raise with this new twist on social media will be used to promote conservation efforts to save the Gorillas and to help local residents find alternative ways of subsistence that will help the community thrive while at the same time protecting the lives of the endangered mountain gorillas. So contributing to this project is a win win situation for both the local wildlife and those in the human community of Uganda. Nothing like helping to save the world and only for a dollar, what could be easier?

While other not for profit groups and campaigns have made use of social media in some ways to get their name out, promote a particular cause, and communicate with their efforts and events to others, this is a very new take on the utilization of social media in the cause of preserving biodiversity and saving an endangered species and it will be quite interesting to see how successful this project will be. It will also be worth watching to see if other not for profit organizations or special interest campaigns will pick up on this idea in the future; if so, it could start to change the way in which we use and think about social media. Such creative ingenuity could breathe new life into social media as we know it.

So can a plan to have people pay for gorilla tweets and the privilege of listing a hefty gorilla, or adorable little infant gorilla, on your facebook as a friend really work? According to their web site they have already had over 11,000 gorillas who have been befriended as of today so it looks like they are getting off to a great start and we will have to watch this project over the coming months to see if they meet their goals of getting $350,000 within their first year or to see if other groups pick up on new twists for using social media to make a real difference in the world whether it be for animal rights, conservation, or social issues.