Every Monday, I look at a person or company doing something cool online. Got an idea? Let me know about it!

A couple months ago, I noticed Larry Literal on Twitter. He had recently moved here and I saw he started following a bunch of us Twitter users in the Bar Harbor area. I sent in a few questions to see how social media was helping him settle into a new area. Here’s what he had to say:

“I moved to Bar Harbor slowly, starting in September of last year. My godson visits quite regularly and always spoke of the area fondly. I’d visited in the past but not very recently. My brother-in-law owned a vacation house in the area and I decided to go along with my godson when he invited me last summer. I had recently retired and had a lot of time on my hands. Shortly after my visit, my brother-in-law was offered early retirement. This meant he would have to sell the vacation home. I decided instead to take over the payments, he’d already paid off half of the house, I’d make the rest of the payments and we would share it. Upon another visit in September I decided to make it my permanent home. I spent the next few months living part time in Maine and New York and I only finally moved all my stuff up here a few weeks ago. My beloved wife had loved the area in her youth. I wanted to retrace her steps and live for myself the memories she had shared with me from her childhood.

Before I moved I used Facebook a bit. I tend to keep to myself and my godson set me up with a Facebook account and then my Twitter account to make sure I would keep in touch with everyone. Bar Harbor is very quiet in the winter and I love that about the area.

I haven’t met anyone from Twitter but it has helped me feel very connected to the town, and the island. I spend much of my time at home, when the weather is not at its harshest I usually go for a walk in the morning with my dog. I am an early riser, which will work out well in the summer as I do not like crowds and I imagine the summers can be quite chaotic.



There is one Twitter account, @barharbor, which updates the weather and tides each day, usually right around the time I wake up, I’ve found this to be very useful in planning my daily activities. Being here in the winter has given me a view of what the year round residents of Bar Harbor are like. I’ve gotten to know what stores and restaurants are open with some great suggestions from Bar Harbor residents on Twitter.

I haven’t made too many connections but Twitter has helped me feel like less of a stranger in my new home. Just following @danamoos makes me feel like I’m connected to everyone as I’m pretty sure that she knows everyone. There is such a wonderful mix of people, the real estate agents, the College of the Atlantic students, business owners and other retirees, I feel like most of the people here have moved here and are happy to welcome others who were drawn in by the charm of the people and the land.

People on Twitter seem to be open to meeting new friends and using the hash tag is a great way to learn about your new home. I searched for Bar Harbor, Acadia, and MDI related Twitter accounts and this helped me find quite a few resources in the area. I feel like Twitter is the best way to meet new people while Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with the people you know and sometimes get to know people better.”

I hope to meet Larry in person at some point at a Bar Harbor Tweetup or otherwise but I thought his use of social media to connect with people was not only creative but really goes to show that individuals can find the courage to take the leap to move somewhere, get a new job, or otherwise try something new by reaching out to others in this new way.

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