Social Media as a Tool for Building an

Alternative Economy in KRADD Communities:

A project among students, community

partners and faculty

Peter H. Hackbert

Entrepreneurship for the Public Good Program

Berea College, Berea KY

KRADD Monthly Meeting

Whitesburg, Kentucky

October 24, 2012

Small Rural Appalachian Community

Economic Development (CED)Traditional ED Strategy / Tool

Alternative ED Strategy / Tool

CD Capacity Building Strategy /

Tool

Economic Development

Approaches

Economic

Outcomes

Other

Outcomes

Direct, Short-term

Indirect, Long-term

• Industrial development

• Business retention / expansion

• Workforce development

• Tourism

• Entrepreneurship

• Downtown development

• Arts / Creative economy

• Cluster-based development

• Residential development

• Transportation

• Broadband / Internet / Social Media

• ED finance

• Philanthropy

• Strategic planning

• Leadership development

• Organizational development

1. Recruit firms from the outside

2. Strengthen/expand existing firms

3. Promote development of new firms

• jobs

• firms

• prosperity

• wealth

• social

• civic

• environmental

EPG Small Rural Appalachian Community

Economic Development ModelTraditional ED Strategy / Tool

Alternative ED Strategy / Tool

CD Capacity Building Strategy /

Tool

Economic Development

Approaches

Economic

Outcomes

Other

Outcomes

Direct, Short-term

Indirect, Long-term

• Tourism

• Entrepreneurship economy

• Cluster-based development• Residential development

• Transportation

• Broadband / Internet /

Social Media

e

1. Strengthen/expand

existing firms

2. Promote new firms

• jobs

• firms

• social / civic

• environmental

23M Small Businesses in the USA

• 90 percent of the businesses in the Commonwealth have fewer than 50 employees.

• In 2008, small businesses totaled 339,747 .

• 69,175 were employers, and they accounted for 49.2% of private-sector jobs in the state.

• Small firms (less than 500 employees or no employees) made up 96.7% of the state’s employers.

“Uneven Ground”

UK Professor of

History: Ronald Eller www.google.com/images

The growing popularity of ecotourism and

heritage tourism…contained the potential for

building an alternative economy, one that

promised greater monetary returns for local

residents, the preservation of rural traditions,

and the protection of sensitive natural

resources.

- Ronald D. Eller, Uneven Ground, The University of

Kentucky Press, 2008: 256.

EPG Service Area 2010 County Business

Patterns – Total Establishments

Madison

Breathitt

Lee

Leslie

Letcher

Knott

Owsley

Perry

Wolf

1,559

211

98

113

702

189

44

702

84

Key Question

Can Social Media be a digital tool to

develop an alternative economy in

Appalachian communities?

Case 1

They asked us.

Berea, Kentucky -

500 Cultural Assets

Case 2

They asked us to find out

Research Team

Total Expenditures for the 4,000

Out-of-Towners Knott County Trail

Riders

Items Expenditures

Entrance fees $19,492

Food and Beverage 162,435

Retail Shops 207,916

Private Auto and Other Expenses 259,896

Total $649,740

Case 3

They asked us.

Along come

cell phones

Cultural Heritage Cell Phone Tour

Case 4

They asked us

Peer to Peer KRADD Workshops

Case 5

They told us

Small Rural Town ProgramRural Populations

1,602

357

175

1,764

747

1,081

Case 6

We listened

Small Business Using Social Media in

North Carolina

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