Tully's Kennels petition shows how social media makes activism easy – but a spark can become...

[Omaha Steve]

Note the dogs are on wire bottom cages that don't support their feet properly. Just easier to clean.



SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD

Tom Westman, operations manager at Tully’s Kennels in Omaha, disputes allegations — spread through a social media campaign — that the kennel does business with puppy mills, or that it houses animals in subpar conditions.

http://www.omaha.com/money/tully-s-kennels-petition-shows-how-social-media-makes-activism/article_9207a00a-fd2c-526e-9a33-b43e0cda5ce2.html

POSTED: MONDAY, JULY 27, 2015 12:30 AM | UPDATED: 11:19 AM, MON JUL 27, 2015.
By Cole Epley / World-Herald staff writer

It took less than 24 hours for an 18-year-old Omaha woman’s petition on the welfare of dogs at Tully’s Kennels to attract 13,000 signatures calling for the 51-year-old business to shut its doors.

Now, not even two weeks after Cassandra Johnsen took on the Omaha kennel the best way millennials know how — using social media — more than 17,000 people have joined her cause.

But Johnsen told The World-
Herald that she’s reluctant to assume the role of firebrand after her spark of an idea turned into a virtual wildfire. She’s amended the petition, which now calls for the business to better treat the puppies in its care. It no longer calls for the business to close.

The reason for the change?

FULL story at link.

[LWolf]

1. Well, reading that article left me with questions

that have nothing to do with animals.

It's all about the power of "social media."

At this point, I'm not even sure what "social media" IS.

I mean, I know that there is twitter, and instagram, and other things. I don't know what they are, though, or what they do, or how people use them, or why people use them.

I know I have a twitter account I opened way back when, that I never used because I didn't find a point, and that I don't even remember how to get into it.

I know that the idea of checking, and posting to, multiple sites, short little blips about what I'm doing or thinking, sounds like a time sucker and I know that I'm not really interested in getting bombed with stuff from everybody else. I tag about 75% of my emails as spam so that they don't keep landing in my box, and delete about 90% of the rest without even reading them. Having MORE stuff to wade through sounds like a nightmare.

And I don't get the "following" part, either...what it means, what it does, what it means in the way of time spent.

I have a sorta okay/hate relationship with fb, limiting my # of friends mostly to those I don't see and talk to in person on a regular basis, and to some groups.

Social media is this big powerful thing that I don't get at all.

[matt819]

2. There should be legal recourse to this type of cyber bullying

This was a whiny teenager who lied. And that resulted in a hit to a business that, to me, seems pretty good. No, I'm not a fan of breeders like this, but it seems he cares about his animals. And yet 18000 people who don't know him gave taken potshots that have had a negative impact. Sure, great advice, get out ahead of it. But when there's an 18000 person pile on, the odds are not in his favor. This is the dark side of social media.

[Omaha Steve]

3. Read some of the comments below the story at the link

Tully’s Kennels has been under fire for well over 10 years. The OWH got some of the story wrong.