Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Plant Necessities: Water, Sunlight and...Facebook Interactions?

Back in college I got a plant for my dorm room, but unfortunately it died because I spent all my time on Facebook instead of taking care of it.

But there's a new garden/artwork/social experiment in Brisbane, Australia that would've solved my social media-related plant negligence: a real garden that relies entirely on Facebook interactions.

The garden, called Meet Eater, has two pots containing herbs, that require water and sunlight like all plants do. However, those plant essentials are rigged to a system that distributes them based on the interactions Meet Eater recieves on its Facebook page. Meet Eater even replies to Facebook posts with messages of its own. The mind behind Meet Eater, Bashkim Isai, created the project with the hope of re-establishing the connection between humans and plants.

I like this idea because it is a new take on combining the online world of social media with the traditionally-offline world of gardening.

More importantly, the success Meet Eater has enjoyed so far can be largely attributed to the fact that it responds to posts and interacts with those who post on its page. This illustrates how important personality has become in the social media space. Because with so many different voices on so many different networks, you need authentic and genuine interaction if you want to truly engage with your audience.

This is a lesson Meet Eater has thrived on, and is why I give this project two (green) thumbs up.