As the saying goes, "Wyoming is just a small town with long streets," and a Gillette couple has embraced that sentiment by creating an app that helps people - residents and non-residents alike - feel connected with their local community.
"All the geolocation is built in so that I can see the events here in Gillette. And then when I'm in Cheyenne, I can see the events in Cheyenne. And when I'm in Casper, I can see the events in Casper. And so it follows you wherever you are," said Molly Wiesner, who owns the I Love Wyoming app with her husband Marcus. "Whereas Facebook or Yelp, or all those kind of things, just kind of blast you with information, and whoever's gonna target you is gonna target you."
According to Wiesner, the app has a local events calendar, a newsfeed, a classifieds section, and ads for local businesses. She said helping local businesses was a big reason why they decided to launch the app.
"It's no secret that small businesses really have a hard time advertising and being seen on these platforms because they don't have these big budgets," she said. "They don't have the budgets that Google and Facebook, and Walmart, and these places have that they can just [use] unlimited resources for advertising and marketing."
Wiesner said they also have a patent-pending device about the size of a hockey puck that businesses can use to send out push notifications to people with the app who come within about 210 feet of it.
Another main component of the app is the classifieds section. Wiesner said they allow the sale of things like guns, ammo, and livestock because they know it's important for the local community.
"We're just trying to help the communities. And I think it's important that we live in Wyoming too. We're not just some app people who just decided to move in and start something and then leave," said Wiesner. "We own a home in Gillette, and we live here. And right behind my head is all of my child's toys and our lawn. And we live here, play here and work here too, and we're small business owners here too."
The Wiesners have licensed the app for the whole state. I Love Wyoming is available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. It can also be found online.
