5. Challenges in Wisbech
Socio-economic, rural deprivation
Large migrant worker population
Digital exclusion – IT skills and access
Hard-to-engage groups (migrant workers,
youth, older people, disabled people, time
pressured 25-40’s)
6. And engagement challenges
Poor attendance at Neighbourhood Panel
meetings
Attendees not representative of the wider
community
No way to record results of engagement
activity and make them visible
7. Project objective
Improving community engagement using
social media tools
Helping improve community cohesion
“It’s another tool in our community
engagement toolbox”
Dan Horn, Fenland District Council
13. Everyone heard of
it and one regular
user
Only use
Facebook for
communicating
with family
Don’t log in so can’t
see it being useful
Don’t belong to any
fan pages or groups
Could have an anonymous
Facebook for complaining
except for topics like
school crossings which
wouldn’t need to be
anonymous. Well used, but not
for complaints
Use it for everything
chat, games, forum
Favourite site
on the net
Nacro Urban 25-40 Older people
Perceptions of social media
14. Get stakeholders on board
Use fun, participatory games e.g. the
social media game (Wilcox and Kanter)
Define clear processes, but be open to
regular review and change
Enthusiasm can get you a long way!
19. Top down or bottom up?
No existing hyperlocal sites or groups
People can be uncomfortable discussing
civic issues on social networks like
Facebook (preferring anonymity)
Co-production and moderation by
community centre volunteers
Share feeds with hyperlocal sites
20.
21. Reaching the hard-to-engage
Use community networks and volunteers
Video can be more accessible when
literacy is a problem
Tie-in with offline engagement methods
Schemes to help build community skills
and capacity
Auto-translation features on the website
23. Lessons learnt
Involve Councillors / practitioners early
on
Use familiar terms e.g. ‘Facebook’ not
‘social network site’
Moderators need CRB checks
Unexpected issues will arise after go live
Update content frequently
Identify a lead partner to respond
Keep it simple!
25. For more information
Michele Ide-Smith
Web Strategy Manager
Cambridgeshire County Council
Phone: 01223 699710
Twitter: @micheleidesmith
Blog: http://www.ide-smith.co.uk
michele.ide-smith@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Hinweis der Redaktion
No hyperlocal websites in Wisbech area
Parish Council sites lacked social features
Facebook and Gadu-Gadu the most popular social sites (community survey)
No hyperlocal websites in Wisbech area
Parish Council sites lacked social features
Facebook and Gadu-Gadu the most popular social sites (community survey)