WEST LIBERTY, Iowa (KWQC) A social media experiment in a small Iowa town is reaching across the globe.

Its kind of crazy how many people have seen that post already, said West Liberty parent Sandee Buysse-Baker.

West Liberty, Iowa is home to around four thousand people. The community is surprised to see how far one social media post, meant to be a lesson for local students, is reaching.

I had to shut my phone off, said Chief Kary Kinmonth, the mastermind behind the lesson. My phone was just going crazy.

The idea sparked as a way to localize in West Liberty the reality of social media use.

Were talking to kids about social media stuff and we wanted to show them how quickly once you put something out there you dont get it back, Chief Kinmonth said.

He said the experiment is exceeding expectations.

Mission accomplished as far as Im concerned, Chief Kinmonth said.

Since publishing this post around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday millions have seen it.

As of [Tuesday afternoon] I think we have almost 1.2 million people that have seen it and its been shared thousands of times, he said. Its been commented on I think over six thousand times now.

West Liberty teen Maya Morales said it is great to see her little town getting lots of attention.

Its pretty cool how one little thing can become a big thing, she said.

But Morales also recognizes the dangers the reach of this post represents.

Like it could be bad at times but it really depends on what you did, she said.

But parents like Sandee Buysse-Baker feel the post also represents the positive and responsible side of social media.

As parents and as users of social media if we can use it in responsible ways and in positive ways then that kind of helps to reinforce the message to our kids too, she said.

No matter the take-away from this social media experiment, Chief Kinmonth said this lesson hits a personal note for the tight-knit community.

It humanizes it and it also kind of validates it in our eyes too, he said.

This post has made its way across the globe, seen by people from New Zealand, Australia and Mexico to name a few.

West Liberty Police are taking everything they have learned from this post and putting together a presentation. They plan to share it with students next week.

Excerpt from:

West Liberty Police Facebook post going viral - KWQC-TV6