By Chris Cassidy
SALEM — You may not know Joey Colomba, but he has tens of thousands of followers.
Local businesses are turning to him for exposure, and even the city's tourism director is in awe of the audience he can reach.
Colomba is 24 years old, fixes computers as a side job and, in his spare time, runs a Salem fan page on Facebook that has grown to more than 10,000 users in just the first four months.
He has a similar Salem Willows fan page with more than 8,500 followers and two unrelated and even more popular Facebook sites. In all, his Facebook audience totals about 80,000 users.
"It just happened so randomly," Colomba said. "I never expected it to be so popular so quickly."
The "Salem, MA" Facebook page is a place where Salem enthusiasts can post photos, ask questions or comment on items that Colomba himself posts, ranging from an old photo of a "mystery street" in Salem to a video clip of a "Daily Show" segment filmed in the Witch City.
For the last week, members have also been exchanging photos from Halloween night.
It's quickly become the most popular Salem-centric fan page on Facebook, drawing a base larger than similar pages for Destination Salem, the Peabody Essex Museum, the Hawthorne Hotel and the Salem Waterfront Hotel — combined.
"He has a lot of power with this page now because it has a huge audience," said Kate Fox, executive director of Destination Salem, the city's tourism office.
Although Colomba started the page for fun and runs it mainly as a convenient, online meeting place for Salem lovers, local businesses have started to take notice of his large following.
A few months ago, when the Salem Waterfront Hotel was building its own Facebook fan page, area sales manager Daniel Whitehead tapped Colomba's fan base. The hotel organized a drawing to give away a pair of one-night hotel stays to fans of Colomba's page who joined the hotel's fan page.
"We were able to reach the 1,000-fan mark within one day," Whitehead said. "His network is pretty amazing."
All for free
Businesses like to have a lot of fans, and not just because it makes them look popular. With Facebook fan pages, businesses can send out messages about new products or promotions directly to its fans, knowing they're reaching the group that will be most receptive to them.
"Joey plays a huge part in this, even though he didn't probably think he would," Whitehead said. "Facebook and Twitter and MySpace — any type of social media — have become a huge outlet for businesses to reach a mass audience. I think what he does is incredible."
Colomba is the one with the ultimate say over what appears on his page and what doesn't. Yes, he has turned down a few Salem businesses looking for a free plug. He focuses mainly on posting about attractions, special events, restaurants and retail outlets — anything he thinks his readers might be interested in.
Amazingly, Colomba himself doesn't make any money off the site. In fact, he declines the occasional free perks he's offered, like free pizza or ice cream from local businesses. When the Salem Waterfront Hotel offered him a free one-night stay, he gave it to his mother, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer.
A local psychic gave him a coupon for a free palm reading; he plans to award that as a prize to one of his readers.
"It doesn't feel right if I take something," he said.
Even he is surprised by how quickly the page has caught on. He only started the site in July. Last week, it eclipsed the 10,000-fan mark.
"There's no limit," he said.
Worldwide appeal
Colomba has two other Facebook pages that are even more popular, both dedicated to stopping drunken driving. He dedicates one of those pages — Friends Against Drunk Driving — to his former classmate at North Shore Tech, Michael Heitz, who was killed by a drunken driver in 2004.
Those pages are a place where Facebook users from all over the world can share remembrances of friends and family members lost at the hands of drunken drivers.
Meanwhile, his Salem page also has international appeal. A list of his fans shows his followers log on from as far away as Chile, Albania and Australia. Fox said Colomba's page, and the positive tone of his posts, helps the city.
"He's about liking Salem," Fox said, "and seeing Salem thrive."
Colomba's Salem fan pages can be viewed at www.facebook.com/salemmass and www. facebook.com/salemwillows.
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salem news.com.
