Co-owner of WeHarlem Sergio Lilavois, 35, is connecting small business owners and residents in Harlem through a hyperlocal social networking site. (DNAinfo/ Carla Zanoni)By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HARLEM — When Internet junkie Frank Tate moved to the WiFi desert of Harlem in March, he was lucky enough to have a friend show him a little café where he could connect to the Internet on his iPhone.
Unlike neighborhoods below 125th Street in Manhattan, where WiFi signals beam from countless neighborhood shops, Harlem residents can go blocks without finding a spot to plug in their laptops and connect to a signal.
But once Tate found WeHarlem, a hyperlocal social media site similar to Twitter, the sky became the limit. He now knows of countless places he visits throughout his uptown neighborhood.
A screen shot of the WeHarlem user page. (DNAinfo/ Carla Zanoni)“My friends know certain places,” Tate, 23, said, “but WeHarlem is taking me deeper into the community.”
Tate is one of hundreds of site users that are learning about new WiFi venues in the neighborhood so that they don’t have to trek downtown.
“I think Harlem is more connected than most people think,” said Sergio Lilavois, who co-owns the site with his brother Newton, 37, and Lorraine Dixon, 35.
Sergio says the WiFi project grew out of the site’s larger mission, which is linking residents and small business owners online and in person.
Artist and Harlem resident Lynn Lieberman, 61, said that although blogs help her keep up with what’s going on in the neighborhood, WeHarlem is her main source for feeling connected to the community.
“With WeHarlem we are the story,” Lieberman, a native New Yorker and Harlem resident, said. “People are encouraged to be who they are on the site.”
“And we can all learn from each other,” she added.
According to co-owner Sergio, learning about the community from your neighbors is exactly what the site is about.
“I don’t know everything about Harlem and I don’t think any one person can know about everything,” he said. “But I know that I can throw a question out to the crowd and they’ll tell you.”
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