diff --git a/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb b/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
index 726835961..21c72711b 100644
--- a/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ class StatusMessagesController < ApplicationController
   def create
     params[:status_message][:aspect_ids] = [*params[:aspect_ids]]
     normalize_public_flag!
+    
+    # ensure services is an array since .map doesn't work on a string for ruby 1.9
+    params[:services] = [params[:services]] if params[:services].is_a?(String)
 
     @status_message = current_user.build_post(:status_message, params[:status_message])
 
diff --git a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
index c851d9acd..e7e9ef7de 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
@@ -72,6 +72,14 @@ describe StatusMessagesController do
       post :create, status_message_hash
     end
 
+    it "works if services is a string" do
+      s1 = Services::Facebook.new
+      alice.services << s1
+      status_message_hash[:services] = "facebook"
+      alice.should_receive(:dispatch_post).with(anything(), hash_including(:services => [s1]))
+      post :create, status_message_hash
+    end
+
     it "doesn't overwrite author_id" do
       status_message_hash[:status_message][:author_id] = bob.person.id
       post :create, status_message_hash