The role of social networking websites in the modern lifestyle is expanding. Business deals bloom through LinkedIn. Bands form followings on MySpace. Celebrities skip the press to express themselves on Twitter, while friendships are found, fostered, and refreshed through Facebook.

They’re practically unavoidable. Chances are you have an account on one of the four aforementioned sites, and chances are you use the site for more than its chief function. Three dissimilar North Haven establishments have done just that in finding success through Facebook – a chain salon, an animal shelter, and a church.

The Chain Salon

The Paul Mitchell Partner School Washington Avenue, at 97 Washington Ave., uses Facebook to promote their fundraising initiatives and to educate those currently enrolled or considering enrollment in their beauty school.

“We want to have a presence online for people to find out quickly how to come to school and what events are at the school,” said Rebecca Sardinskas, Paul Mitchell School admissions leader.

Like all three establishments detailed, the Paul Mitchell School has a fan page, different than a personal profile, as a fan page is self-contained: once setup, it can only post updates and collect fans. A fan page cannot actively friend other pages, cannot post on other pages, and cannot access a news feed, which is alright since fan pages exist to educate.

“We want to communicate in a way that’s simple and in a way that people want to be communicated with,” Sardinskas said of the Paul Mitchell School’s fan page. “That’s the bottom line. If people want to use Facebook, we want to be there so they can get information.”

Paramount to their purpose, posts by a fan page onto its wall will show in its fans’ news feeds, the long list of updates that appear when you first log into Facebook. To become a fan of a fan page, navigate to that page by searching for it or clicking through to the page on another profile, and click on the page’s “Become a Fan” button.

Paul Mitchell School North Haven has accumulated 506 Facebook fans. “Within a month of setting up the page, we had 100 fans,” Sardinskas said. “Within two and a half months, we had just about over 500 fans. I’m very excited about that.”

Fan pages are also a great cross-promotional tool. Paul Mitchell School frequently links to their website through their Facebook presence, and also links to school photos posted on Flickr, a picture-sharing site.

Sardinskas said Paul Mitchell School employee Alyssa Pfluger has been key in updating the fan page, and between the two of them, they post something new almost every day. The most recent Paul Mitchell School fan page post urges its fans to purchase tickets for its April 14 hair show fundraiser. On March 29, the fan page posted links to its dog show fundraiser, complete with Flickr pictures, simultaneously promoting the store and its causes through Facebook.

“It seems to be the way things are now,” Sardinskas said of Facebook. “And it’s not just for the millennial generation, but for everyone. It’s a great place to learn the most up-to-date information.”

The Shelter

In their efforts to board and adopt out homeless pets, North Haven Animal Haven, 89 Mill Road, uses its Facebook fan page to raise donations and locate foster families. The page has already paid dividends.

“A person from Milford found the page and emailed us,” said Animal Haven volunteer Craig Zacarelli, who oversees the shelter’s page. “He said ‘I want to do a little thing for you. How’s 600 pounds of food for a starter?’ That was just through Facebook.”

“When we have special drives, we put the word out through Facebook,” Zacarelli added. “We recently put the word out that we needed cleaning supplies. The response was pretty good. The stuff came in.”

At present the shelter’s fan page wall includes information on fundraising for a sick cat named Tilly, details for joining the Animal Haven’s adoption events committee, photos of adoptable cats and their applicable information, and even a post from a fan thanking the shelter for its hospitable ways.

“Facebook is really good for getting the word out,” Zacarelli said. “People notice your posts when they use the site, folks who probably otherwise would not have heard of you or would not have acted.”

Zacarelli said he set up the page one night last summer, and about a year later, the shelter has amassed over 660 fans. “It was mostly word of mouth,” Zacarelli said. “People go on our page and invite all their friends. Everybody wants to be involved with animal rescue and welfare.”

Zacarelli has learned an important fan page lesson – that posts must be constant but varied. “Even if we don’t have an event or a need, we just post something about one of the animals or a picture,” he said. “We try to keep something up there to be interesting to somebody.”

“You’ve got to keep people interested,” Zacarelli continued. “You can’t have the same thing every single day.”

Above all, Zacarelli hopes the shelter’s fan page is a source of awareness and connection. “We hope to use it more for the purpose of people knowing we’re here,” he said. “If you’re looking for a pet, or if you know somebody who is, direct them to us. People see our pictures on Facebook even if they’re not interested in adopting.”

The Church

St. John’s Episcopal Church, 3 Trumbull Place, has found a novel use for Facebook: besides general information, the church’s fan page also posts a daily Bible verse for their followers’ consideration.

The idea came from a Lenten resolution. St. John’s rector, Rev. Mathew Lincoln, decided to make an extra effort in meditating on Bible verses throughout the pre-Easter period. Lincoln, described by a St. John’s parishioner as a technology whiz, wished to share the verses with his congregation during Lent, and asked the church’s webmaster if St. John’s website could carry the verses.

“I asked if I could do it every day, because I didn’t want to make him do it,” Lincoln said. “And I said it would be nice if it could be a little bit interactive, so people could make comments. I said I’d like it to be like Facebook, and he said how about a fan page.”

Lincoln set up the fan page the Friday before Lent and went public with it on the following Monday. He invited everyone on St. John’s email list and announced the page in church on Sundays. The quotations began going up, and almost immediately they were being ‘liked’ and generating discussion.

“Very quickly it became clear that it could be very useful after Lent, not only for promoting events, but it could have this dimension of sharing reflection on our Christian life together,” Lincoln said of the church’s fan page.

St. John’s daily Bible verses are received by 135 fans, some of who have no connection to North Haven. “There are a few people who seem to have no connection with St. John’s that I can figure out,” Lincoln said. “They’re just friends of St. John’s. A couple of them have posted on the page. One said, ‘I have an operation on Thursday. Please keep me in your prayers and I’m thankful to have this as a lifeline.’”

The Facebook verses have continued beyond the end of Lent, stimulating all sorts of St. John’s parishioners to reflection. On April 15, tax day, the fan page posted, “Jesus said to them, ‘Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.’ And they were utterly amazed at him.” – Mark 12:17. The post was ‘liked’ by three fans and generated two comments, including one fan’s take on the verse: “It's ok to give the emperor what belongs to him, but when the emperor wants the things that belong to God as well, then I have a problem with it---if you know what I mean.”

On April 13 the page posted, “Jesus said, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.’” –John 14:27.” The post was ‘liked’ by five people and generated three comments, including “Thanks, I needed this today,” and “It was what my almost sister-in-law needed today. I sent it to her. Thanks.”

“I know of parishioners with work schedules that interfere with going to church on Sundays,” Lincoln said. “They’ve stopped by and said ‘having daily contact with the church through the Facebook Bible verses helps me get through work if I can’t make it Sunday.’”

Lincoln and several other parishioners of St. John’s update the fan page daily. Lincoln said he is considering posting links to podcasts of his Sunday sermons. Additionally, Lincoln, a self-described shutterbug, posts church photographs, as well as promotional items.

“A couple of weeks ago, our young people here held a world hunger awareness and fundraising event,” Lincoln said. “I took a bunch of photographs, and within a couple of hours of posting them online, the kids started to tag themselves and to repost them to each other.”

“A couple of people said to me that they had been kind of interested in our Bible class,” Lincoln added. “They said they recently became fans of the page, and it helped them decide to go to class.”