The role of online social media in enhancing volunteer engagement.

Kingston University London
“Social media can’t provide what social change has always required.
The instruments of social media are well suited to making the existing social order
more efficient. They are not a natural enemy of the status quo.”
Malcolm Gladwell
Date: 6th
January 2012
Supervisor: Kent Springdal
Author: Helen Jeffrey
Student ID: K0852634
Word count: 19,997
This work is copyrighted to the author.
The role of online social media in enhancing volunteer engagement.
A case study on the use of online social media to support the campaign for Next
Generation Access broadband services to rural communities in the Eden Valley in
Cumbria; both a Big Society Vanguard area and Broadband Delivery UK Pilot.

Copyright © 2012 Page 1 of 175
Abstract
The UK government have stated that the UK should have the best superfast
broadband network in Europe by 2015. There are areas of the UK, rural, remote
and sparsely populated, where broadband is currently poor, unreliable or non-
existent. The government have allocated £530 million to help achieve this aim.
Four rural ‘superfast pilot’ projects have been set-up to explore how to effectively
deliver broadband into rural areas where it may not be commercially viable.
Cumbria is one of the pilot areas. The Eden Valley in Cumbria is also a Big Society
Vanguard area; a test-bed for increased power and responsibility being held locally
within communities.
To further the campaign for improved rural broadband in Cumbria a community
website, broadbandcumbria.com, was set up in December 2010 providing online
social media tools to help local communities come together and develop their plans
for improving local broadband. This study explores the role of online social media
in enhancing volunteer engagement using a case study approach focusing on the
broadbandcumbria.com online community.
This is a relatively new research area. A broad, deep set of data from different
sources was collected and used to examine in detail the activity, behaviour,
opinions, perception and experiences of members of the online community and
users of the website. The literature, whilst providing a number of related themes
and frameworks, did not provide a prescriptive theoretical model to replicate, but
instead gave a valuable sense of direction for the research.
The online community show many positive predictors for online engagement and
are highly participatory offline. They use social media and communicate widely
online. The perception of the community is that the website has had a positive
impact on the campaign for broadband in the Eden Valley, and individuals feel that
the website has enhanced the campaign.
It is recommended that additional case studies exploring similar online communities
would be useful in helping to develop models that are more generalisable.

Acknowledgements
I would like to take this opportunity to thank:
• My family and friends for their patience and support over the last year.
• My supervisor Kent Springdal who has been supportive throughout my
project.
• The people who gave up their time to be interviewed, and those who took
the time to complete the questionnaire.
• Louis Mosley for supporting my research project and allowing access to
archival data.
• Mike Kiely for his vision.
• The community campaigning for rural broadband, particularly those of the
Eden Valley, who have always been warm, welcoming, and inspirational.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents 3
1 Introduction 6
2 Context 7
2.1 What is the story so far? .......................................................................................... 7
2.2 Commercial/Technological Context ......................................................................... 9
2.3 The Changing Relationship Between Citizen and State ........................................... 9
2.4 Broadband Cumbria Website..................................................................................11
2.5 Summary: So what is the problem? ........................................................................12
3 Literature Review 14
3.1 Overview ................................................................................................................14
3.2 Volunteer Engagement ...........................................................................................15
3.3 How is Volunteer Engagement measured?.............................................................16
3.4 What is Engagement? ............................................................................................20
3.5 Online Social Media................................................................................................21
3.6 What are Online Social Media?...............................................................................22
3.7 How is the impact of online social media evaluated? ..............................................25
3.8 Who uses online social media?...............................................................................28
3.9 Online social media and volunteer engagement......................................................30
3.10 Cumbria and the Eden Valley ...............................................................................32
3.11 Evaluation and Summary......................................................................................35
4 Aims and Research Questions 40
4.1 Overview ................................................................................................................40
4.2 Research Objective ................................................................................................41
4.3 Research Questions ...............................................................................................41
5 Research Design Methodology 43
5.1 Overview ................................................................................................................43
5.2 Research Philosophy..............................................................................................43
5.3 Research Approach................................................................................................44
5.4 Research Strategy..................................................................................................45
5.5 Research Paradigm................................................................................................45
5.6 Data Collection Methods.........................................................................................46
Archival Data ................................................................................................................46
Small-scale Questionnaire............................................................................................47

Interviews .....................................................................................................................49
5.7 Ethical/Privacy Considerations................................................................................50
5.8 Limitations ..............................................................................................................50
5.9 Summary ................................................................................................................52
6 Results 53
6.1 Archival Data ..........................................................................................................54
6.2 Small-Scale Questionnaire Data.............................................................................62
6.3 Interview Data.........................................................................................................67
6.4 Summary ................................................................................................................77
7 Discussion 78
8 Conclusions 87
9 Bibliography and References 89
Appendices
Appendix A Maps
Appendix B The Eden Declaration
Appendix C Google Analytics Data
Appendix D Wordpress Data
Appendix E Small-Scale Online Questionnairre Questions
Appendix F Small-Scale Online Questionnairre Results
Appendix G Semi-Structured Interviews Proforma
Appendix H Semi-Structured Interviews Transcripts
List of Figures
Figure 2-1 Eden Valley In Context ...........................................................................8
Figure 2-2 Old Paradigm .......................................................................................10
Figure 2-3 New Paradigm......................................................................................10
Figure 2-4 A conceptualisation of data as a bridge between communities and local
government. ..........................................................................................................11
Figure 2-5 Broadband Cumbria Website Homepage..............................................12
Figure 3-1 Project keywords graphic produced using www.wordle.com.................14
Figure 3-2 A summary of some of the key developments and drivers affecting
participation ...........................................................................................................16
Figure 3-3 A Cultural Map, Source: Inglehart (2005)..............................................17
Figure 3-4 Ladder of Participation..........................................................................20
Figure 3-5 The Conversation Prism .......................................................................23
Figure 3-6 Classification of Social Media by social presence/media richness and
self-presentation/self-disclosure ............................................................................24
Figure 3-7 The Rule of Participation Inequality ......................................................25
Figure 3-8 How good would you say your organisation is at measuring return on
investment (ROI) from social media activity? .........................................................26
Figure 3-9 ‘Social Technographics’ typography .....................................................27
Figure 3-10 Online Community Life Cycle..............................................................28

Figure 3-11 Online Behaviour of EU Countries ......................................................29
Figure 3-12 Social Influence: reach vs affinity........................................................31
Figure 3-13 Citizen-led Local Online Ecosystem Overview: High level model........32
Figure 3-14 Cumbrian websites by Type................................................................34
Figure 3-15 Cumbrian websites by Campaign .......................................................34
Figure 3-16 A conceptualisation of the individual as an engaged actor in different
contexts.................................................................................................................35
Figure 3-17 Ingleheart’s Cultural Mapping Overlaid on the European Commission’s
Internet Activity by Country Data............................................................................38
Figure 4-1 Conceptual mapping of the use of online social media in terms of levels
of volunteer engagement .......................................................................................42
Figure 5-1 A conceptualisation of the Pragmatist approach ...................................43
Figure 5-2 A conceptualisation of the Research Approach.....................................45
Figure 5-3 A conceptualisation of the Data Collection Sources..............................46
Figure 6-1 Visits per month Source: Google Analytics ...........................................55
Figure 6-2 Analysis of Sources of Visits Source: Google Analytics Data................56
Figure 6-3 Twitter Account Page Source: Twitter.com ...........................................57
Figure 6-4 Facebook Account Page Source: Facebook.com .................................58
Figure 6-5 Facebook Insights ................................................................................58
Figure 6-6 Activity analysis ....................................................................................59
Figure 6-7 Activity analysis by type........................................................................60
Figure 6-8 Blog Posts per Member ........................................................................61
Figure 6-9 Blog Comments per Member................................................................61
Figure 6-10 Word-cloud representation of all blog comments ................................62
Figure 6-11 Reach: Number of people communicated with online .........................65
Figure 6-12 A example of the transcript analysis process ......................................68
Figure 6-13 Word-cloud frequency representations of the interview transcripts .....69
Figure 7-1 Conceptual mapping of the use of online social media in terms of levels
of volunteer engagement, including the broadbandcumbria.com website ..............84
List of Tables
Table 3.1 Individual, Social and Political Participation............................................15
Table 3.2 Levels of civic engagement....................................................................18
Table 3.3 Typical participants in activities..............................................................19
Table 3.4 Three dimensions of psychological empowerment.................................21
Table 3.5 Categories of Content and Online Behaviour .........................................33
Table 3.6 Summary of Participation as explored in this literature review................36
Table 6.1 Results for Individual, Social and Political Participation..........................64
Table 6.2 Interview Subjects Summary..................................................................67
Table 6.3 Selected responses to interview questions.............................................70
Table 6.4 Selection of unexpected and strongly felt interview extracts...................75

1 Introduction
Towards the end of 2010 in the USA a public debate ignited in the media between
Malcolm Gladwell and Clay Shirky on the potential for social media to affect social
change (Gladwell 2010, Shirky 2011). This project proposal is a direct result of that
debate.
Gladwell (2010) disputes the suggestion that “with Facebook and Twitter and the
like, the traditional relationship between political authority and popular will has been
upended, making it easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give
voice to their concerns” and concludes that the ‘weak’ ties of online social networks
are unlikely to support change that has any significant impact.
Although this project proposal does not explore the overthrow of governments and
authoritarian regimes, but instead focuses on a small rural area of the UK, in many
ways the social, political, and technological outcomes of the struggle for rural
broadband are quietly revolutionary.
The issues are still playing out, the story is ongoing: if online social media are
playing a part, how significant is it?
“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its
success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” Niccolo Machiavelli

2 Context
2.1 What is the story so far?
The Eden Valley in rural Cumbria is both a Vanguard area for the Big Society
(announced 19 July 2010) and in one of the original four Broadband Delivery UK
(BDUK) rural Broadband Pilot areas (announced 20 October 2010). As such there
are a number of interested and involved parties with different agendas to be
considered. Figure 2-1 is an attempt to summarise the context; many eyes are
focused on the Eden Valley. A map showing the location of Cumbria and the Eden
Valley is included in Appendix A.
The Big Society Vanguard areas are an initiative of the Department for
Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and part of the government’s drive to
support localism. BDUK is a department within the Department of Culture, Media
and Sport (DCMS), created to deliver the government’s broadband strategy:
“Broadband is one of our top priorities. We took office earlier this year with a clear
vision of what we want for Britain – we should have the best superfast broadband
network in Europe by 2015.” (Broadband Delivery UK, 2010). Both, then, are
manifestations of central government.
The Eden District is the only rural vanguard area and includes 31 parishes in three
groups: Upper Eden, Lyvynnet Valley, and the Heart of Eden. The Eden District
has a very low population density with less than 99 people per square kilometre in
2009 (ONS). Each group has a community plan that addresses local needs and
priorities. The boundaries of the local districts and parishes are shown on a map in
Appendix A. The Upper Eden District’s community plan (UECP)1
(Kirkby Stephen
Town Council 2011) is a key element of the Big Society Vanguard focus in the Eden
Valley; the approaches and energies of local communities are being taken as ‘role
models’ for effective community engagement elsewhere. There is an intention to
use the UECP to identify legislative blockers, planning issues, and other barriers
communities face when championing their own projects.
1
http://www.kirkby-stephen.com/upper-eden-community-plan.html

Figure 2-1 Eden Valley In Context
Similarly, the BDUK Broadband Pilot is intended to highlight and focus attention on
barriers (legislative, regulatory, technical and commercial) to the provision of super-
fast broadband to rural communities. Responsibility for commissioning of
broadband services lies with Cumbria County Council.
In terms of online social media the Broadband Cumbria community website2
is
educating, supporting, and engaging local communities with the project (Cumbria
Broadband Rural & Community Projects Ltd 2011). The website has provoked a
vigorous debate over many options and issues. A number of local Broadband
Champions have been appointed and great energy is being harnessed within
communities to drive change. The Eden Declaration web-page (see Appendix B) is
a testament to the commitment of the communities.
2
www.broadbandcumbria.com
The UK’s Rural European Match Funding
Internet Delivered Services “Final 2/5ths”
Digital Agenda for Europe
Hyper-connected applications
FFTH Council of Europe
Hyper-connected Cumbria County Council
communities research Hub co-ordinators
Eden District Council
Parish
Councils EDEN VALLEY D C M S
Big Society Digital Britain
BDUK Broadband Pilot Race Online
Big Society Bank Big Society Vanguard BIS UK Online
Big Society Network Britain’s Superfast
Communities BDUK Broadband Future
NESTA Participatory & Broadband
Budgeting Champions Rural Broadband Pilots
OpenData OFCOM
Telecomms Companies D C L G APPGs EURIM (ICT) & DeAct
Big Society Vanguard Areas
Independent & New Build Installers Barrier Busting Localism Digital Scotland / Digital Wales
Community Installations VOA Grassroots activists for NGA/FTTH
INCA BSG Nominet Trust JON ISPA

The key question as to whether it is possible to transform community engagement,
knowledge, and commitment into concrete technical and budgetary decisions
remains to be answered.
In the face of cuts to budgets and services, budget-holders’ attention is turning to
more engagement with citizens in terms of the tough decisions to be made, as well
as increasing delivery of services over the internet. As defined by Bowers and
Blunt (2010), the BDUK Pilot project can be considered an example of ‘participatory
budgeting’. Also, according to Bowers and Blunt (2010), “local authorities in some
places have already launched e-participatory budgeting processes,” and several
examples are given (Bristol, Redbridge, Croydon).
2.2 Commercial/Technological Context
Anecdotally the UK telecoms industry can be perceived as ‘corrupt’, or at the very
least beset by vested interests, with the regulator Ofcom often described as too
close to the existing big players to be effective. The anxiety articulated online by
some members of the local Eden communities, and others, suggests a concern that
‘big business’ will cash in on the Pilot projects, as a loss-leader for the £530m
potentially available (and possible European match finding), and they will end up
with a less than optimal technical solution. The wider implications of decisions
made by the Pilot projects for the UK as a whole are significant.
BDUK (2010) have committed to providing an “overall strategic steer” and to
seeking “the most efficient way to ensure public or community investment is spent
on solutions that are future proofed and which are able to connect to national
infrastructure”.
There is also a powerful opportunity to allow communities to push demand for new
products, and to put pressure on suppliers to provide new solutions that match the
communities’ ambitions for superfast broadband, upgradability, and extendibility.
2.3 The Changing Relationship Between Citizen and State
With the advent of the ‘Big Society’ the relationship between citizen and state is
evolving. Empowerment of local government and parish councils, direct
engagement with communities and community solutions are aspects of this
evolution. This is conceptualised in a simple way in Figure 2-2 and Figure 2-3.

Figure 2-2 Old Paradigm
In this model, Parish Councils are marginalised, without legal or financial power.
Central Government and Local Authorities are large. Central Government drives
much of the agenda for Local Authorities. The community is disengaged from all
levels of government.
Figure 2-3 New Paradigm
Local
Authorities
Central Government
Parish Councils
NGOs &
Pressure Groups
Community
Community Local Government
Central
Government

In the new model Local Government, including Parish Councils, is empowered.
Central Government plays a reduced role with less ‘micro-managing’. Communities
are directly connected to all levels of government and play a larger part in shaping
services.
Although the new paradigm seems much simpler, the old cultures and norms of
working, however maligned, were well established. There is now a need to build
trust, confidence, and new methods of working together. This is particularly an
issue where budget-holders are being encouraged to devolve decision making to
communities and put trust in volunteers.
Alongside these shifts, there is growing confidence in the creative use of data and a
widening understanding of the potential value of data, conceptualised in Figure 2-4.
The Government’s Open Data policy is opening up new sources of data for
analysis. Recently announced by the Cabinet Office (2011), the new Public Data
Corporation3
is intended to help drive innovation. The use of Mapping/GIS is
growing. Tools for using data are becoming easier to use and more widespread.
Data is no longer restricted to cumbersome, expensive, IT developments; agile
methodologies are gaining acceptance.
Figure 2-4 A conceptualisation of data as a bridge between communities and
local government.
2.4 Broadband Cumbria Website
The main focus of online social media in terms of engaging the rural communities of
Cumbria in the rural broadband issue is the ‘Broadband Cumbria’ website4
(Cumbria Broadband Rural & Community Projects Ltd 2011), with an associated
3
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/public-data-corporation-free-public-data-
and-drive-innovation
4
www.broadbandcumbria.com
Communities Local Government
Energy, manpower, ideas Data giving Under pressure
No legitimacy to make decisions confidence and Responsible for decisions
Able to gather data bridging the gap Comfortable using data
Want to see progress Need to monitor progress

Facebook page5
and twitter account (@bbcumbria) used in support: A screen print
of the homepage is given in Figure 2-5.
The website was built using the popular WordPress application (free) and the
BuddyPress plug-in (also free) and provides a number of social media facilities
including blogging, commenting, membership, forums/groups, and micro-sites.
Figure 2-5 Broadband Cumbria Website Homepage
Source: Cumbria Broadband Rural & Community Projects Ltd (2011)
The website also hosts the ‘Eden Declaration’ (see Appendix B), and other crowd-
sourced content, such as a broadband glossary, help notes, and map information.
2.5 Summary: So what is the problem?
Considering the complex context described in previous sections, some questions
5
http://www.facebook.com/BroadbandCumbria

that arise are: to what can extent online social media be effective in supporting
change, particularly in an area that has limited internet connectivity? Is the
potentially strong social cohesiveness of smaller rural communities contributing to
making online social media more effective? Is the combination of communities of
interest and geographical communities a potent one? Alternatively, do the existing
connections within a rural community render the online community more or less
redundant?
There is a certain irony in attempting to use online social media in an area where
broadband connections are poor or non-existent. The issues that are being raised
involve complex technical concepts, but there is much to be gained for individuals,
communities, and businesses. What can be learned from Eden Valley that could be
applied in other rural communities and what does success look like?
In terms of online social media enhancing volunteer engagement, what actions
have been taken following exposure to social media, both online and offline?
The digital world is recognised as significant in the modern economic environment,
accounting for almost £1 in every £10 produced by the British economy (Digital
Britain, 2009), but almost one third of the UK has poor or non-existing internet
connectivity (BDUK, 2010). This is particularly the case in rural areas where
investment costs are relatively high and the number of customers low.
If online social media can be used effectively to stimulate communities to drive
progress there is potentially much to be gained.

3 Literature Review
3.1 Overview
In this nascent and evolving area, the literature review provides a broad framework
of understanding that informs the research design and methodology, extending and
deepening the themes and issues identified during the project proposal phase. As
this is an exploratory research topic, not explanatory one, the literature provides
general directions for development, rather than prescriptive approaches.
The literature review has the following objectives:
• To discover how the main topics, online social media and volunteer
engagement, have been approached by previous researchers and subject
experts.
• To understand the accepted rationales for assessing and measuring the
effectiveness of online social media and volunteer engagement.
• To identify a number of theoretical models and frameworks that may apply
or could be adapted.
• To identify and include the most up-to-date work.
A graphic representation of the main keywords identified are presented in Figure 3-
1.
Figure 3-1 Project keywords graphic produced using www.wordle.com
“The test of real literature is that it will bear repetition. We read over the same
pages again and again, and always with fresh delight“ Samuel McChord Crothers

The literature review is presented in the following sections:
• Volunteer Engagement
• How is Volunteer Engagement measured?
• What is Engagement?
• Online Social Media
• What are Online Social Media?
• How is the impact of online social media evaluated?
• Who uses online social media?
• Online social media and volunteer engagement
• Cumbria and the Eden Valley
3.2 Volunteer Engagement
In order to examine the meaning of the concept of ‘Volunteer engagement’, it
seems logical to explore how it has been researched in the past. Volunteer
engagement can be considered an indicator of ‘citizen participation’, so this is a
useful place to start.
A comprehensive study of literature related to participation has been carried out by
Brodie et al (2009) as “part of a major national research project called ‘Pathways
through Participation: What creates and sustains active citizenship?’ led by the
National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in partnership with the
Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) and Involve.” The review discusses the
difficulties inherent in working with the wide range, or continuum, of varieties of
participation and suggests distilling them into three generic categories: Individual,
Social and Political, as summarised in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Individual, Social and Political Participation
Source: Adapted from Brodie et al (2009)
Individual
Participation
Social
Participation
Political
Participation
Description
The choices and
actions that individuals
make as part of their
daily life.
The collective
activities that individuals may be
involved in as part of their
everyday lives.
The engagement of
individuals with the
various structures and
institutions of
democracy.
Includes
‘Everyday politics’ ‘Associational life’,
collective action, civil, horizontal
or community participation.
Political, civic, or
vertical participation
and/or participatory
governance.
Examples
Choosing fair-trade
goods;
boycotting specific
products; using ‘green
energy’; donating
money to charities; and
signing petitions.
Being a member of a community
group, a tenants’ association or a
trade union; supporting the local
hospice by volunteering; and
running a study group on behalf
of a faith organisation.
Voting in local or
national elections; being
a councillor; and taking
part in government (or
associated)
consultations.

Brodie et al. (2009) conclude that “participation has a rich history in political and
social thought, and continues to be a preoccupation of governments, policy makers,
practitioners, academics and interested individuals across the world,” and present a
summary of some of the key developments and drivers affecting participation as
shown in Figure 3-2.
Figure 3-2 A summary of some of the key developments and drivers affecting
participation
Source: Brodie et al. (2009)
3.3 How is Volunteer Engagement measured?
Volunteer engagement could also be considered as a measure of social capital.
Halpern’s (2005) multi-national analysis of trends in social capital from the mid
1990s, drawing in part on the work of Putnam and Inglehart, identifies two key
stories.
The first is the decline of many traditional forms of social capital such as
engagement with religious and political organisations, and a rise in ‘memberships’
that do not include social interactions, together with an increase in individualism

and an expansion of weak social ties, or networks. Halpern suggests that “this
represents a shift from the ‘thick-trust’ of the traditional community to the ‘thin’ but
powerful trust of modern society”.
The second story identified by Halpern (2005) is that in the Anglo-Saxon nations
(USA, UK, Australia) there had been a generalised rise in individualism and social
disengagement that, in the case of the USA, is potentially explained by work
intensification, suburbanisation, and mass media (television and electronic
entertainment).
Inglehart (2005) presents a cultural map based not on geographical proximity, but
on shared values and attitudes (see Figure 3-3), drawing on the results of the World
Values Survey. Inglehart suggest that as societies move from a position of Survival
to Self-expression, from Industrial to Post-industrial, there is a related shift from
Materialist to Post-materialist values and that “societies that rank high on self-
expression values also tend to rank high on interpersonal trust”. Britain is grouped
culturally with the USA, rather than with its geographically closer European
neighbours.
Figure 3-3 A Cultural Map, Source: Inglehart (2005)

A recent study by the NCVO (2011) into UK participation draws together a wide
range of figures from many sources and gives a useful overview of trends in
participation in the UK, including volunteering.
The report compares levels of ‘formal’ volunteering in 1981 and 2008 and
concludes they are broadly unchanged. The measures are in terms of percentage
of individuals volunteering formally through groups and organisations at least once
a year (falling from 44% to 41%) and household giving as a percentage of total
household spending (0.4%).
The Citizen Survey (CLG, 2010) (a household survey in England and Wales
involving 16,140 face-to-face interviews) defines informal volunteering as “giving
unpaid help as an individual to people who are not relatives”. In 2009-10 54% of
people in England volunteered informally at least once in the previous year. This
represents a drop from 64% in 2001.
The Citizen Survey (CLG, 2010) also reports that levels of involvement in civic
participation are lower at 34% (38% in 2001) and involvement in civic consultation
was also lower at 18% (between 20 and 21% previously). Levels of civic activism
remain static at 10%. The definitions of levels of civic engagement are summarised
in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2 Levels of civic engagement
Source: Adapted from CLG ( 2010)
Civic
Engagement
Civic participation:
wider forms of
engagement in
democratic
processes, such as
contacting an elected
representative,
taking part in a public
demonstration or
protest, or signing a
petition.
Civic consultation:
active engagement in
consultation about
local services or
issues such as
attending a
consultation group or
completing a
questionnaire about
these services.
Civic activism:
involvement either in direct
decision-making about
local services or issues, or
in the actual provision of
these services by taking
on a role such as a local
councillor, school governor
or magistrate.
The Citizen Survey represents a professional and well resourced data collection
process, but it could be argued that, as a measure of engagement, volunteering ‘at
least once a year’ is relatively crude.

Brodie et al. (2009) also examine in detail the available evidence regarding the
‘typical’ participant/volunteer in relation to a number of different activities,
summarised in Table 3.3, based on indicators including age, socio-economic status,
education and life-stage. The study comments on the ‘snapshot’ nature of the
existing data and the lack of work focusing on the holistic view of an individual’s
progress through different stages and levels of participation.
Table 3.3 Typical participants in activities
Source: Adapted from Brodie et al. (2009)
The voter/traditional public participant White, aged 65 and above, middle-class,
professional higher earners, both men and
women.
Local-level public participant (for
example, attending consultation
groups/meetings, completing questionnaire
about issues such as town planning, health,
transport or the environment)
The typical participants vary according to
activity, but generally are more likely to be
white, older, better educated, richer, middle-
class males.
Those living in rural areas have been
identified as more likely to engage in civic
consultation exercises.
The online public participant Well-educated, and from a marginally higher
social grade and both male or female.
The formal volunteer (for example, the
prison visitor, the conservation volunteer, the
charity shop volunteer, the school governor,
the local magistrate)
Women, of higher social grades, in
managerial positions, degree-educated, and
middle-aged. There are, however,
differences across different types of formal
volunteering.
Figure 3-4 is a representation of the ‘ladder of participation’ typology suggested by
Arnstein (1969) who defines eight levels of engagement in the civic context, with
only levels six to eight representing true citizen empowerment.

Figure 3-4 Ladder of Participation
Source: Arnstein (1969)
3.4 What is Engagement?
Engagement can also be examined from the perspectives of ‘employee
engagement’. It is interesting to consider what might be applicable to volunteer
engagement from the work done from this perspective, particularly given the recent
thinking that volunteer work can enhance employment and career prospects.
A number of factors influence employee engagement (Armstrong, 2008), and these
can be considered as falling into two areas, the rational and the emotional.
Intrinsic motivation and engagement is enhanced by interesting or challenging
work, autonomy, responsibility, the opportunity to develop skills and abilities, and
access to required resources. Armstrong (2008) also cites the work of Robinson
and the Institute of Employment Studies when suggesting an engaged employee
displays the attributes summarised below:
• Has a positive attitude to the job
• Identifies with the organisation
• Actively works towards improvements

• Shows respect for and co-operation with others
• Can be relied upon and goes beyond expectations
• Sees the bigger picture
• Keeps up to date
• Seeks opportunities to improve organisational performance
Empowerment of the individual, or psychological empowerment, is considered by
Leung (2009) in his study of the user-generated content online and civic
engagement offline. Leung identifies three dimensions of psychological
empowerment as potential indicators of levels of user-generated content online,
summarised in Table 3.4.
Considering ‘engagement’ in terms of participation, Brodie et al (2011) in their
‘Pathways to Participation’ final report conclude that all types of participation have a
number of common features; voluntary, about action, collective or connected, and
purposeful.
Table 3.4 Three dimensions of psychological empowerment
Source: Based on Leung (2009)
Control Self-efficacy Competence
Perceived intrapersonal
capacity to lead and
influence social and political
systems
Perception of skills.
Knowledge about the
availability of resources
needed to achieve goals,
development of decision-
making skills.
Role-mastery.
Includes participation in
activities and community
organisations.
3.5 Online Social Media
As illustrated in Figure 3-5, the ‘conversation prism’ by Soulis and Thomas (2008),
online social media can been seen to comprise a highly varied and complex range
of software applications: “The Conversation Prism gives you a whole view of the
social media universe, categorized and also organized by how people use each
network.” This is the third version to be produced reflecting the rapidly evolving
nature of social media.

3.6 What are Online Social Media?
Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) consider that there is a limited understanding of what
the term ‘‘Social Media’’ exactly means, and continue to provide a classification
framework that defines more specific categories: collaborative projects, blogs,
content communities, social networking sites, virtual game worlds, and virtual social
worlds. The six types of social media are classified according to the level of self-
presentation or self-disclosure, and social presence or media richness, which
predicate the social media label as shown in Figure 3-6.

Figure 3-5 The Conversation Prism
Source: Soulis and Thomas (2008)

Figure 3-6 Classification of Social Media by social presence/media richness
and self-presentation/self-disclosure
Source: Kaplan and Haenlein (2010)
Preece (2000) defines an online community as consisting of four elements: people,
shared purpose, policies or norms, and computer systems.
Chaffey and Smith (2008) acknowledge the ideas of Durlacher in that there are a
number of different types of ‘virtual’ or online community, including communities
related to purpose (for example buying a car), position (for example life stage),
interest, and profession.
Li and Bernhoff (2008) present the concept of ‘groundswell’ as “a social trend in
which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather
than from traditional institutions like corporations”.
Kurpius, Metzgar and Rowley (2010), in their examination of 10 case studies
relating to commercial hyperlocal media ventures in the USA, describe online
hyperlocal media operations as those that “focus on specific issues or communities,
but they vary widely in the type and reliability of funding that support their
operations; the training, expertise, and size of their staffs; and their ability to attract
an audience”.
On his blog Bradley (2011) builds on his analysis of 200 implementations of social
media in the commercial environment and concludes that online social media
implementations must include ‘mass-collaboration’ and ‘purpose’, as well as his six
original core principles: participation, collective, transparency, independence,
persistence and emergence.

The concept of ‘crowdsourcing’ is explored by Brabham (2008) who examines a
number of case studies and concludes that crowdsourcing “is a model capable of
aggregating talent, leveraging ingenuity while reducing the costs and time formerly
needed to solve problems,” and “crowdsourcing is enabled only through the
technology of the web, which is a creative mode of user interactivity, not merely a
medium between messages and people”.
3.7 How is the impact of online social media evaluated?
From the commercial perspective Chaffy and Smith (2008) consider the growth and
impact of online social networks on media consumption as the most dramatic trend.
The challenge of encouraging online community participation is acknowledged.
Neilsen (2006) proposed a ‘90-9-1 rule of participation inequality’ (see Figure 3-7).
This rule predicts that 90% of a community simply observe, 9% contribute
periodically, and 1% create most of the contributions.
Figure 3-7 The Rule of Participation Inequality
Source: Neilsen (2006)
Again from the commercial perspective, based on work done by Econsultancy
(2010), it seems that only 15% of companies rate their measure of return on
investment in social media as good or excellent, as shown in Figure 3-8.

Figure 3-8 How good would you say your organisation is at measuring return
on investment (ROI) from social media activity?
Source: Econsultancy (2010)
Figure 3-9 shows Bernhoff’s (2010) updated version of the ‘Social Technographics’
typography that was developed originally with Li. This is a commercial profiling tool
that reflects the fact that “people participate in multiple behaviours, and not
everyone at a higher level on the ladder actually does everything in the lower
rungs”. Interestingly the ‘conversationalists’ classification is determined by
frequency of participation as well as by type of behaviour.

Figure 3-9 ‘Social Technographics’ typography
Source: Bernhoff (2010)
Iriberri & Gondy (2009) use the framework of a life-cycle to study the distinctive
stages of an online community. The study found that measures of success
commonly used are the volume of members’ contributions and the quality of the
relationships among members. The authors present the online community as an
evolving entity progressing through distinctive stages, with success strategies
dependant on the developmental stage as well as the goals of the specific
community, as illustrated in Figure 3-10. The benefits of an integrated approach
are seen as lively and sustainable online communities with members participating
willingly and contributing actively.

Figure 3-10 Online Community Life Cycle
Source: Iriberri & Gondy (2009)
3.8 Who uses online social media?
Data presented by the European Commission (2011) shown in Figure 3-11
compares the online behaviour of the population of different EU countries. The UK
is shown to have a population where almost 80% are ‘regular’ internet users, with
over 30% of the population uploading self-created content to be shared. The UK
scored higher than the average of the 27 EU countries in both respects.

Figure 3-11 Online Behaviour of EU Countries
Source: European Commission (2011)

Correa, Hinsley & Gil de Zuniga (2010) consider personality traits as critical factors
impacting an individual’s engagement with user-generated online media. Using a
large scale survey of adults in the United States to explore a number of hypotheses,
the study concluded that extraversion and openness to new experiences were
positively related to social media use, whereas emotional stability was a negative
predictor. The results differed by gender and age; extravert men and women were
likely to be more frequent users, but only men with greater emotional instability
were likely to be frequent users. Extroversion was shown to be of greater
importance amongst the young adults, with openness to new experiences being an
important predictor among the mature segment.
In their longitudinal study of the town of Blacksburg, USA Kavanaugh et al (2005)
found extraversion and age (35-64 years), as well as education, were predictors of
participation in and the positive impact of communication technology, regardless of
localism or geographic community. The study uses a social participation path
model to analyse the effects of variables and concludes that the following mediating
variables pertain to social aspects of community life and increase overall
involvement: Collective efficacy (community problem solving), Membership,
Belonging, and Activism (as in being actively involved).
The concept of ‘Social Roles’ in online communities was investigated by Gleave,
Welser, Lento & Smith (2009) who looked specifically at Usenet and Wikipedia and
used egocentric network analysis to identify three key social roles: ‘answer person’,
‘discussion person’ and ‘discussion catalyst’. They argue that key people enacting
roles affect the productivity and longevity of a group, and postulate that a deeper
understanding of social roles online is key to moving towards a ‘PeopleRank’
approach to qualifying authors of content.
3.9 Online social media and volunteer engagement
In terms of citizen engagement Gibson (2010), in his examination of the use of
social media in local government, states that “social media are all about
communities. They connect people together, help them share who they are,
encourage conversation and build trust. They are the most powerful tool available
today for building a sense of belonging and collaboration in a virtual, or local, area.”

Gibson acknowledges the challenges of measuring the impact of social media and
the role that softer measures such as perception might play.
Brodie et al. (2009) conclude that the ability of individuals to bypass existing
organisational structures is “likely to lead to the creation of a greater number of
looser, less formal groups and networks” whilst acknowledging the issues around
digital exclusion.
On his blog Maggi (2009) discusses the importance of finding the ‘influencers’
within a community. He considers the relative merits of ‘reach’ and ‘affinity’. Reach
represents a large number of relatively weak interpersonal ties, whilst affinity
represents a network with stronger interpersonal ties, as presented in Figure 3-12.
Figure 3-12 Social Influence: reach vs affinity
Source: Maggi (2009)
Flouch and Harris (2010) carried out a study of 160 local websites in London: “The
citizen-led local online ecosystem is becoming richer and more varied.
Understanding the impacts and implications of the sites within this ecosystem
requires some framework against which each one can be calibrated and
understood.” They propose a typology of citizen-run neighbourhood websites,
including two commercially led types. The typography includes eight different
categories represented in Figure 3-13.

Figure 3-13 Citizen-led Local Online Ecosystem Overview: High level model
Source: Flouch and Harris (2010)
Based on a large-scale nation survey in the USA, Gil de Zuniga & Valenzuela
(2010) explore a number of hypotheses relating to online and offline network size,
the strength of ties within the networks, and levels of civic engagement (equated to
voluntary civic activity). They conclude that there is a positive relationship between
online and offline network size and civic engagement, that weak-tie discussion is a
strong predictor of civic behaviours, and online networks provide greater exposure
to weak-ties than offline networks.
3.10 Cumbria and the Eden Valley
Three recent relevant studies have been carried out either including or looking
specifically at Cumbria and the Eden Valley.
Roberts (2011) focuses specifically on the Eden Valley in an assessment of
learning from the Big Society Vanguard project. Published in August, just 12
months after the announcement of the Eden Valley as a Big Society Vanguard
area, the report is based on a number of interviews with key actors and looks at a
number of initiatives including Community Broadband. The report briefly refers to
the broadbandcumbria.com website and the aspirations embodied in the ‘Eden

Declaration’ (see Appendix B). The report concludes that the Vanguard project has
enabled significant or exceptional progress for a number of community led
initiatives, however not in the case of broadband which is seen as ‘at an early
stage’.
Broadband Delivery UK (2011) reports on the lessons learnt from the Superfast
Pilots; four rural pilot projects that include Cumbria. The section on community
based approaches looks specifically at Cumbria and acknowledges that ‘the
success of community based projects is dependent on community organisation and
mobilisation’. The difficulties faced by small communities when engaging with
suppliers is noted, and the suggestion is made that clustering/aggregation of
communities may improve leverage.
An analysis of Social Media by Cumbria County Council and Cumbria Police (2011)
aims to gauge the range and level of online civic activity in Cumbria: both individual
actors and websites. The research specifically identifies rural broadband as a
campaign that is ‘extremely effective with respect to creating and engaging online
community,’ although some lack of focus and direction is noted. The report uses a
typography to identify online behaviour as shown in Table 3.5.
Table 3.5 Categories of Content and Online Behaviour
Source: Cumbria County Council and Cumbria Police (2011)
Category of Content Intent / Behaviour
Informal social I use social media in order to socialise with my friends and family
– I just want to keep in touch with people.
Informal civic I use social media to connect to my local community and talk
about issues which I think are important to us
Formal civic I use social media to make sure that the views of my community
are considered by decision makers and are part of the final
decision. I want to influence things.
Formal democratic I want to be part of setting the agenda for my community – I want
to change things.
The report presents an analysis of 195 civic websites by type, as shown in Figure 3-
14.

Figure 3-14 Cumbrian websites by Type
Based on the classification used, broadbandcumbria.com would fall into the
‘Campaigns’ category; “Social media sites that are driving a specific campaign”.
Looking at the analysis of campaign sites by type in Figure 3-15, it can be seen
that, as a campaign topic, broadband has the largest number of sites.
Figure 3-15 Cumbrian websites by Campaign

The report notes that the local MP is active and effective online, as are local
communities, however the research found “very little activity from local Councillors”.
The report also surveyed a small number of active online ‘civic creators’ and found
an even gender balance, highly educated, with an average age of 61. The
respondents were also notably active offline within their communities, but not
particularly networked between themselves. The report raises some concerns
about the future of the broadband campaign websites, a ‘valuable asset’.
3.11 Evaluation and Summary
The study of online social media and their effect on volunteer engagement is a
nascent, evolving area, with a growing body of topical, recent, and interesting work
emerging.
Previous work on engagement has typically been undertaken with a focus on
participation, generally representing the interests of the sponsors of the studies
(central/local government, charities, etc), rather than from the perspective of the
individual. Volunteers are also employees and citizens as conceptualised in Figure
3.16. The ‘Pathways Through Participation’ report (Brodie et al 2011) redresses
this to some extent, but it is not primarily focussed on online engagement.
Figure 3-16 A conceptualisation of the individual as an engaged actor in
different contexts
State Market
Citizen Employee
Engagement Engagement
Individual
Community
Volunteer
Engagement

The large-scale Citizen Survey (CLG 2010) uses a crude measure of volunteering
(one a year) to indicate trends. The Ladder of Participation (Arnstein, 1969) is a
widely respected model. A summary of types of citizen participation as explored in
this literature review is presented in Table 2.5.
The exact definition of social media is still evolving and can best be represented as
it currently exists by the typographies proposed by Kaplan and Haenlein (2010),
Bradley (2011), and Flouch and Harris (2010).
The study of the impact of online social media is an area in flux as the nature of
social media technologies is rapidly evolving. Much of the work that has been done
to date relates to the commercial exploitation, or return on investment, of online
social media, and the engagement of communities and individuals as customers.
Other studies focus on the use of social media to support local government services
and citizen engagement. Digital exclusion and the digital divide are seen as issues
impacting digital engagement.
Table 3.6 Summary of Participation as explored in this literature review
Individual
Participation
Social
Participation
Political
Participation
Description
The choices and
actions that
individuals
make as part of their
daily life.
The collective
activities that
individuals may be
involved in as part of
their everyday
lives.
The
engagement of individuals
with the
various structures and
institutions of
democracy.
Formal /
Informal
Volunteering
Informal; giving
unpaid help as an
individual to people
who are not relatives.
Formal; through
groups and
organisations.
Formal; through
democratic structures and
institutions.
Civic
Engagement
Civic participation:
wider forms of
engagement in
democratic
processes, such as
contacting an elected
representative,
taking part in a public
demonstration or
protest, or signing a
petition.
Civic consultation:
active engagement in
consultation about
local services or
issues such as
attending a
consultation group or
completing a
questionnaire about
these services.
Civic activism:
involvement either in direct
decision-making about
local services or issues, or
in the actual provision of
these services by taking
on a role such as a local
councillor, school governor
or magistrate.
Key
Relationships
Individual statements
of the kind of society
they want to live in.
The associations
people form
between and for
themselves.
The relationship between
individuals and the state.
Category of
Content
Created
Informal Social:
Keeping in touch with
friends and family.
Informal Civic:
Talk about issues
with the community.
Formal Civic, Formal
Democratic:
Influence/change things.

There is an acknowledgement that the wide range of metrics available as ‘archival
data’ from internet activities can only tell part of the story. As suggested by Gibson
(2010) softer, more interpretive, data is required to give a fuller picture.
The UK population has a high number of regular internet users and over 30%
upload self-created content to share (European Commission, 2010).
It is interesting to overlay Inglehart’s Cultural Map categories onto the EU’s activity
by country data to create the composite Figure 3-17. The yellow circled countries
(including the UK) are Inglehart’s English Speakers or Protestant Europeans, and
score highly for Secular-Rational Values and Self-Expression on Inglehart’s map.
They also score higher than the EU average for regular internet use and/or
uploaded self-created content to be shared.

Copyright © 2012
Figure 3-17 Ingleheart’s Cultural Mapping Overlaid on the European
Commission’s Internet Activity by Country
Participation in social
activities undertaken, such as posting, commenting, sharing etc and a number of
models proposed (Neilsen
not generally include a time
activity has defining features as identified by Brodie et al (2011).
The concept of an online community life
an interesting one proposed by Iriberri & Gondy (2009).
The empowerment of the individual, or psychological empowerment, considered by
Leung (2009) as it relates to the creation of online content, provides one framework
for considering the individual as an act
adoption of a social role, as investigated by Gleave, Wesler, Lento & Smith (2009)
is also potentially relevant to the success of an individual in an online community.
Cumbria and the Eden Valley are rural areas wit
communities and engaged
Broadband Delivery UK (2011) and Cumbria County Council & Cumbria
Constabulary (2011).
Kingston University
Page 38 of 175
Ingleheart’s Cultural Mapping Overlaid on the European
Commission’s Internet Activity by Country Data
Participation in social media has been looked at from the perspective
models proposed (Neilsen 2006), (Bernhoff 2010). Interestingly the
not generally include a time-frame, or frequency, aspect. Participation as a generic
activity has defining features as identified by Brodie et al (2011).
The concept of an online community life-cycle and related indicators for success is
teresting one proposed by Iriberri & Gondy (2009).
for considering the individual as an actor engaged in online social media.
Cumbria and the Eden Valley are rural areas with active offline and online
engaged individual actors as reported by Roberts (2011),
Ingleheart’s Cultural Mapping Overlaid on the European
Data
media has been looked at from the perspective of the online
). Interestingly these models do
Participation as a generic
cycle and related indicators for success is
or engaged in online social media. The
h active offline and online
as reported by Roberts (2011),

The thick-trust/thin-trust concepts considered by Halpern (2005) may both apply to
rural communities as they exist in the modern online social space. The question of
reach and affinity explored by Maggi (2009) is a potentially interesting one to
consider in this context, as is the extent that network size and weak-tie discussions
act as predictors of civic behaviours, as explored by Gil de Zungia & Valenzuela
(2010).
The personality predictors identified by Correa, Hinsley & De Zuniga (2010) may
appear more consistently in the population of rural communities than the population
as a whole.
Although, in this relatively new and evolving area, no prescribed, conclusive or
widely accepted models have been identified, this literature review has identified a
range of interesting relevant concepts and frameworks that can be used to guide
and inform the exploration of the perceived efficacy of online social media in the
campaign for rural broadband in the Eden Valley, Cumbria, specifically the
broadbandcumbria.com website.

4 Aims and Research Questions
4.1 Overview
Considering the complex context of the campaign for rural broadband in general,
and in the Eden Valley, Cumbria specifically, several interesting questions arise.
• To what can extent online social media be effective in supporting change,
particularly in an area that has limited internet connectivity?
• Is the potentially strong social cohesiveness of smaller rural communities
contributing to making online social media more effective?
• Is the combination of communities of interest and geographical communities
a potent one?
• Do the existing connections within a rural community render the online
community more or less redundant?
• The issues that are being raised involve complex technical and commercial
concepts; is this a barrier to engagement?
• What are seen as the benefits to be gained from improved broadband for
individuals, communities, and businesses?
• What can be learned from Eden Valley that could be applied to similar
campaigns in other rural communities?
• What does success, in terms of the use of online social media to promote
volunteer engagement, look like?
• What actions, both online and offline, have been taken following exposure to
social media?
The literature review identified a number of broad concepts and frameworks that
give signposts and directions in which to explore the perceived efficacy of online
social media in the campaign for rural broadband in the Eden Valley, Cumbria;
specifically the broadbandcumbria.com website. These models, and the work of
previous studies, can be adapted and used as a lens through which to examine this
case in some depth.
• Propensity to engagement; demographic, social orientation, and personality
as predictors of behaviour.
• Frequency and types of use of social media and the internet.
• Engagement as Participation; Individual, Social and Political.

• Participation in terms of its identifying features; Voluntary, about action,
collective or connected, and purposeful.
• Social Influence, Reach and affinity; the size of social networks and the
strength of interpersonal ties, both on and off-line.
• The Life Cycle Stages of community websites; engagement over time.
The precise research objective and related research questions that have developed
from this preparatory work are outlined below.
4.2 Research Objective
1. To explore and conceptualise the use of online social media in enhancing
volunteer engagement, specifically as used in the campaign for rural
broadband in the Eden Valley, Cumbria.
4.3 Research Questions
1. How have online social media been implemented in the context of the
broadbandcumbria.com website and to what extent they been used over
time?
2. What are the perceptions of effectiveness of the use of online social media,
specifically broadbandcumbria.com, in terms of volunteer engagement with
the campaign for rural broadband in the Eden Valley?
The literature suggests that there is no one preferred research approach; a wide
range of approaches have been used in past studies.
Figure 4-1 presents an emerging conceptualisation of the research questions in
terms of some of the theory explored in the literature review: mapping the use of
online social media in terms of levels of volunteer engagement. How might the
perceived effectiveness of the use of social media in terms of engaging volunteers
in the context of the Eden Valley’s fight for rural broadband look when mapped in a
similar way?

High volunteer
engagement
Political
participation
Thick-trust, high
affinity, low reach,
geographic
communities
Medium volunteer
engagement
Social
participation
Low volunteer
engagement
Individual
participation
Thin-trust,
high reach, low
affinity, communities
of interest
90% ‘lurkers’
Low online social
media engagement
9% intermittent
contributors
Medium online social
media engagement
1% heavy
contributors
High online social
media engagement
Figure 4-1 Conceptual mapping of the use of online social media in terms of
levels of volunteer engagement

5 Research Design Methodology
5.1 Overview
Having developed the research objective and research questions, this chapter
considers the research philosophy appropriate to the research subject. The
literature does not suggest one preferred research approach; a wide range of
approaches have been used in past studies. Different research philosophies are
considered with a view to identifying the rationale for the adoption of the case study
as the research approach for the project. Data collection methods are detailed for
both primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative data. Limitations of the
research methodology are also discussed.
5.2 Research Philosophy
This project combines two areas of investigation that are very different in nature:
• The environment of the internet and online social media is objective,
impersonal, and highly measurable.
• The engagement of volunteers and communities, their perception of their
own response to their experience of online social media, is based in the
subjective world of human actors.
Having considered both the Positivist tradition and the Interpretivist approach, there
are merits and benefits to both in this context. The analytic, deductive Positivist
style is appropriate to the investigation of aggregated de-personalised data from the
internet, such as that available from Google Analytics. The inductive, intuitive
Interpretivist approach is highly appropriate for the exploration of individuals’
reflections and perceptions of their experiences.
In summary the Pragmatist approach seems the ideal fit for this research project as
it allows for the combination of both the Positivist and Interpretivist philosophies as
conceptualised in Figure 3-1.
Figure 5-1 A conceptualisation of the Pragmatist approach
Positivist Interpretivist
Objectivism/ Realism Pragmatism Subjectivism
Deductive Inductive
Analytic Creative
"It is the theory that decides what can be observed." Albert Einstein

As the use of the Interpretivist approach to the topic is by definition subjective, the
judgements made will reflect to some extent the life-experience and values of the
researcher. As suggested by Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2009) a statement of
personal values related to this study is included below.
The researcher believes:
• Access to the internet is, and has been, central and fundamental to their
personal development; the internet enables individuals to flourish.
• The commitment and energy that volunteers can bring to a project is
valuable; voluntary effort can achieve extraordinary results.
• The pace of technological change is rapid and increasing; individuals are
generally uncomfortable with uncertainties related to the evolutionary and
revolutionary effects of technological development.
• It is unlikely that government can be influenced by individuals; UK politics is
disempowering of the individual citizen.
• Awareness of culture is important; there are barriers to communication
between different UK sub-cultures that are not generally recognised and
these impact negatively on progress.
• There are significant issues implicit in the short-term requirement for
shareholder return on investment inherent in the structure of commercial
businesses.
• It is the duty of both citizen and state to base decisions on the long-term, as
well as the short-term, benefits to society.
5.3 Research Approach
The inductive, discovery-led approach allows the ‘story’ to be told, explores issues,
problems and opportunities, and the development of a narrative.
The deductive, theory-led approach allows the matching of data to the theoretical
model and to evaluate how well the theory applies to a ‘real-world’ application.
The research approach adopted was primarily discovery-led where insights into
perceptions of volunteer engagement were explored, and primarily theory-led when
related to the analysis of data (primary and archival secondary data).

Copyright © 2012
5.4 Research Strategy
The optimal, practical, research strategy
archival data, as well as a small
depth face-to-face semi
to examine.
The case study approach
contemporary phenomenon within a particular conte
uses varied data collection techniques
triangulation to optimise the outcomes.
The case study approach is consistent with the Pragmatic research philosophy, and
supports the combination of
terms of this project, it can be considered
described by Yin (2003).
5.5 Research Paradigm
A rich case study mixed
scale questionnaire, and archival data, is seen as
as represented in Figure 5
Figure 5-2
To explore and conceptualise the use of online social media in
enhancing volunteer engagement, specifically as used in the
campaign for rural broadband in the Eden Valley, Cumbria.
Research Question 1:
How have online social media been implemented in
the context of the broadbandcumbria.com website
and to what extent they been used over time?
Secondary Data:
•Google Analytics data: longitudinal and archival
•Wordpress Data: longitudinal and archival
•Facebook Fan page data: snapshot
•Twitter account data: snapshot
Kingston University
Page 45 of 175
Research Strategy
The optimal, practical, research strategy for the project is the case study, using
archival data, as well as a small-scale questionnaire, and a small number of
face semi-structured interviews, thus gathering a rich variety of data
approach allows a rich, detailed examination of a
contemporary phenomenon within a particular context (Yin 2003)
uses varied data collection techniques, both qualitative and quantitative,
triangulation to optimise the outcomes.
the combination of discovery-led and theory-led research approaches
, it can be considered a single, holistic case
described by Yin (2003).
Research Paradigm
mixed-method approach, combining data from interview
, and archival data, is seen as optimal for this research project
as represented in Figure 5-2.
2 A conceptualisation of the Research Approach
Research Objective:
How have online social media been implemented in
the context of the broadbandcumbria.com website
and to what extent they been used over time?
Google Analytics data: longitudinal and archival
Wordpress Data: longitudinal and archival
Facebook Fan page data: snapshot
Twitter account data: snapshot
Research Question 2 :
What are the perceptions of effectiveness of
the use of online social media, specifically
broadbandcumbria.com, in terms of volunteer
engagement with the campaign for rural
broadband in the Eden Valley?
Primary data:
•Small-scale questionnaire: cross
•Face-to-face interviews: cross
is the case study, using
a small number of in-
a rich variety of data
allows a rich, detailed examination of a specific
2003). The case study
, both qualitative and quantitative, and
research approaches. In
a single, holistic case using the criteria
approach, combining data from interviews, a small-
optimal for this research project
Research Approach
What are the perceptions of effectiveness of
the use of online social media, specifically
broadbandcumbria.com, in terms of volunteer
engagement with the campaign for rural
broadband in the Eden Valley?
scale questionnaire: cross-sectional
face interviews: cross-sectional

The data analysis is not expected to produce results that are statistically accurate
or that can be generalised to the wider population, but will contribute to the depth of
understanding of the case in question. The different data sources will allow the
study to utilise data and methodological triangulation, provide complementary
viewpoints, and look at both macro and micro aspects of the case, as represented
in Figure 5-3.
Figure 5-3 A conceptualisation of the Data Collection Sources
5.6 Data Collection Methods
The following sequence of data collection from a variety of sources was undertaken
with the intention of building up layers of understanding and depth of insight.
Archival Data
Archival data that has been collected during the course of day-to-day activities is a
valuable source of data (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill 2009). In terms of this
project access to archival online data was agreed, and is considered a useful
source of secondary data. The archival data allows an element of longitudinal
analysis to be included in the study as it was recorded over time. Data was
collected from four different sources:
• Google Analytics for the Broadband Cumbria website (longitudinal)
• Wordpress activity data from the Broadband Cumbria website (longitudinal)

• Facebook fan page analytics data (snapshot)
• Twitter account data (snapshot)
The data is anonymised and thus the privacy of individuals is protected. Access to
the data was agreed with the webmaster. An initial set of data was examined as
part of the preparation for the project proposal to ensure the approach would be
practicable.
The data was coded as required, and analysed quantitatively where appropriate
using Excel. Insights gained from reviewing the data were used to inform the
development of the questionnaire.
Small-scale Questionnaire
A large-scale survey was beyond the resources of this project; however, a small-
scale questionnaire was carried out and provided primary data.
The questionnaire (primary) data is cross-sectional. In the absence of a suitable
existing previously validated questionnaire the author designed a set of eleven
multi-part questions designed to gain insight into perceptions and behaviours, as
well as attitudes and demographic data (see Appendix E). The questionnaire data
was collected using a self-administered online survey tool (Survey Monkey). This
was seen as appropriate as the questionnaire was aimed at online social media
users.
The target population was defined as “the users of the Broadband Cumbria
website”; as at 20 September 2011 there were 452 registered members. This
decision was made on the assumption that if 7% of the members responded to the
questionnaire this approach would generate a sufficient volume of data to analyse
(30+ responses).
There were several possible approaches to alerting the members of the website to
the questionnaire, and the final approach of posting a comment on the website with
a link to the questionnaire was agreed with the webmaster of the website. In
addition a number of individuals were contacted using the messaging facilities on
the website to invite them to participate.

The design of the questionnaire was informed by the literature review, relevant
theory and models, the results of the archival data analysis, and a consideration of
the parallel development of interview questions.
Overall objectives:
• To have as few questions as possible and to utilise Likert-type ratings scales
(from one to five) where appropriate. This was to encourage participation
and completion; for speed and ease of use.
• To have a balance of questions phrased both positively and negatively.
• To include questions relating to previous studies or models included for
comparison, where appropriate for the audience and context.
• To include questions developed specifically to shed light on this case.
• To allow any question to be missed out or not answered.
• To allow respondents the opportunity to add their own comments by
including an open question.
Previous studies had demonstrated predictors of behaviour based on Education,
Income, Gender, Age, and Personality. Education and income were seen as
inappropriate for this audience and were not included. Gender and an indication of
age (young adult/adult) were included.
Personality had previously been gauged by Gil de Zuniga & Valenzuela (2010)
using a Semantic differential scale, eg. 1 (extravert/enthusiastic) to 5
(reserved/quiet). For this study the question was modified to “I am typically
reserved/quiet” 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
Questions relating to Social Orientation as predictors of behaviour have again been
used in previous studies, such as Life satisfaction, Organisational trust, Ideological
identity and Organisational membership. Life satisfaction and Organisational trust
questions were included in a modified form to fit in with the adopted ratings scale 1
(strongly disagree) 5 (strongly agree).
Questions relating to media use, specifically frequency, were based on the
European Commission’s digital agenda definitions; 1 Never to 5 Frequently (at least
weekly). Questions relating to social networks of discussion include the size of
online and offline networks, and the strength of ties.

Participation in the past 12 months, in terms of Social participation, Public
participation and Individual participation, was investigated by including two
questions that are indicators for each type of participation, again using the scale 1
Never to 5 Frequently (at least weekly).
Questions were included pertaining to the Indicators of participation identified by
Brodie et al (2011); Collective or connected, Purposeful/worthwhile, About action,
Motivation, and Collective efficacy, as well as on perceptions of Social role in the
online community again using the ratings scale 1 (strongly disagree) 5 (strongly
agree).
Additional questions relating to location, interest, internet accessibility, and level of
engagement with the broadband campaign are specific to this study. Other study
specific questions include the perception of the effect of broadbandcumbria.com on
both the campaign and the individual respondent.
The questionnaire was tested and slightly refined based on feedback before being
posted on the broadbandcumbria.com website. It was perceived that the assurance
of anonymity would encourage responses and also openness. No replies were
traceable back to the respondent.
The results data were downloaded from the internet, coded as required, and
quantitative data analysis was performed to produce descriptive statistics where
appropriate.
Interviews
Interview (primary) data is cross-sectional. The interview data was collected in one-
to-one, face-to-face interviews, using a semi-structured approach, recording the
interviews for later transcription.
Five interviews of up to one hour each were conducted over a weekend visit to
Cumbria, in the homes of the interviewees. One interview was conducted in
London at the workplace of the interviewee.
The design of the interview questions was informed by the literature review,
relevant theory and models, the results of the archival data analysis, and the results

of the questionnaire. The eleven interview questions (Appendix G) were open and
probing as they were intended to explore the individuals’ reflections and
perceptions of engagement. Again it was perceived that the assurance of
anonymity would encourage full responses and openness. A pro-forma was
developed and followed to ensure all interviews were performed to a consistent
format.
Five of the six interview subjects were unknown to the researcher and were invited
by emails or online messages to participate as members of broadbandcumbia.com.
The sixth subject (a couple) provided a Bed and Breakfast service to the researcher
during a previous visit to the region. They are not members of
broadbandcumbria.com.
The interviews were transcribed, examined in depth, and interpreted to identify
themes and patterns, highlight contradictions, and construct a narrative.
5.7 Ethical/Privacy Considerations
As the Case Study collected data from a number of sources, a number of ethical
considerations were raised and needed to be addressed with transparency.
• Informed consent and honesty when engaging with the participants of
interviews and questionnaires.
• Privacy, data protection, and confidentiality using data collected online.
• Permission to use and access online data.
• Security of data and access codes.
• Audio recording and transcription consent.
• Anonymity.
5.8 Limitations
It is recognised that there are a number of both potential and actual limitations on
the methodological approach. The relative inexperience of the author in performing
original research must be acknowledged. This has been mitigated as far a possible
by referencing other work, following best practice advice, and background reading.
The potential for researcher bias in the design of the questionnaire and interview
questions, as well as the collection of interview data, is recognised. The risk has

been managed by building on previous studies and adapting questions used by
other researchers as far as possible.
The potential for researcher bias in the interpretation of qualitative data has been
noted and a statement of personal values presented to allow the interested reader
to judge where bias may be likely to impact the report. The researcher has
received no financial reward for the work.
Reliability and validity are considerations. Archival data-sets from Google Analytics
are recognised as not 100% accurate as a number of factors can affect the
collection of the data such as: users that do not use Java-script are not counted;
‘location’ is dependent on the ISP used; a ‘unique user’ is more accurately a unique
device; and page views are likely to be underestimated if pages do not fully load.
The reliability of the small-scale questionnaire data has been encouraged by the
careful construction of the questions, testing the questions, and the voluntary nature
both of participation, and of giving answers – no answers were forced. This said,
there is the inevitable risk of misinterpretation of both the questions and the
selected answers, as well as deliberately false or unintentionally misleading replies.
The risk of mis-recording interview answers was mitigated by digitally recording
each interview; however, background noise for example, or indistinct passages,
may affect the reliability of the transcript.
There is some risk that the researcher is not sufficiently familiar with the context,
area, personalities, background, and politics of the situation to be able to make
informed judgements, avoid manipulation, or detect inaccuracies or inconsistencies.
This study is not intended, nor likely to provide, generalisable results. It is
recognised that the interview subjects and questionnaire respondents are drawn
from a small and specific audience that is not representative of the population as a
whole.

5.9 Summary
The case study approach has been supported by a variety of data collection
methods with the aim of gathering a rich, varied and comprehensive set of results
for interpretation and analysis.
The results are presented in the next Chapter.

6 Results
This section presents a selective overview of the research results starting with the
high-level archival data, then considers the questionnaire results, and finally looks
in depth at the interview data. The data was approached with an open mind, as
opposed to a rigid framework. This allowed themes to develop as the results were
explored. More detailed results are presented in the Appendices as follows:
Appendix C WordPress Activity Data for the Broadbandcumbria.com
Website
Appendix D Google Analytics Data for the Broadbandcumbria.com Website
Appendix E Small-Scale Online Questionnaire
Appendix F Small-Scale Online Questionnaire Results
Appendix G Semi-Structured Interview Pro-forma and Questions
Appendix H Semi-Structured Interview Pro-forma Transcripts
Before looking at the data, it is useful to recap how online social media have been
implemented in the specific case under investigation. Broadbandcumbria.com is a
community website built using WordPress, “web software you can use to create a
beautiful website or blog”6
, with a BuddyPress plug-in; “BuddyPress is built to bring
people together. It works well to enable people with similar interests to connect and
communicate.”7
Together these provide a number of social media facilities
including:
Blogging: This allows blog ‘articles’ to be written and posted, and the online
community to comment and debate in response.
Membership: Individuals can sign up to become a member of the site, set up a
personal profile, and create ‘friend’ links with other members.
Forums: Members can initiate forums to raise and discuss specific issues.
Groups: Members can create and join groups.
Commenting: Comments can be posted publicly on blogs, forums and groups.
Messaging: Members can send each other private messages.
6
http://wordpress.org/
7
http://buddypress.org/about/story/

Hyper-local pages: Specific pages or ‘micro-sites’ that relate to particular
parishes/communities can be created.
Crowd-sourced Content: Has been included, for example help-pages, a glossary,
mapping data, and the ‘Eden Declaration’ (Appendix B).
Associated Twitter and Facebook accounts have also been set up and used.
In terms of ownership and funding, the following comment by Louis Mosley [Roy
Stewart, MP’s assistant] is taken from the website: “Cumbria Broadband Rural &
Community Projects Ltd is the company set up to run the [rural broadband]
conference at Rheged on 18 September. It’s now using the v small surplus that
remained after the event to cover the costs of this website! Rory [Stewart, MP] is a
director.”8
The website was initially installed and set-up by Harry Metcalfe of The
Dexterous Web9
company, and has subsequently been maintained by a variety of
individuals and employees of Rory Stewart, MP. The two main purposes of the
website initially were described as;
• To provide a place for the community to connect, to find each other and
allow local pressure groups to form.
• To provide a campaign medium for Westminster Village, a place to post
information for a Westminster audience, furthering a political campaign.
6.1 Archival Data
Google Analytics for the broadbandcumbria.com Website
Looking first at the data taken from Google Analytics covering the period 1st
December 2010 to 20th
September 2011 over 25,000 visits have been recorded,
from 107 countries/territories. The United Kingdom accounts for over 23,000 of the
visits (91%). Looking at the distribution in the UK, 664 cities are identified including
many in apparently remote locations. This low-level location data cannot be given
too much weight as it is likely to be based on the location of the ISP rather than the
end-user.
8
http://broadbandcumbria.com/groups/miscellany/
9
http://dxw.com/our-work/

The number of visits per month was highest in December 2010, the first complete
month after the website was launched, with 5,757 (22%) of visits. From April to
August 2011 the number of visits per month remained fairly consistent and
averaged 1,618 visits per month as shown in Figure 6.1.
Figure 6-1 Visits per month
Source: Google Analytics
In the period 1st
December 2010 to 20th
September 2011 there were over 10,000
unique visitors reported. This number is likely to be somewhat overstated as some
individuals will be using more than one device and will be recorded more than once.
The average time on site per visit was 4.21 minutes, and the average number of
pages viewed was 3.47 per visit. In all 89,699 pages have been viewed. The time
on site and pages per visit can be considered high and a sign of positive
engagement with the content.
Investigating the source of visits can give some insight into who is using the
website. Considering the UK visits only, the source data was analysed, allocated to
a type, and summarised in Figure 6-2. While the largest number of visits (42%) are
from search engines, a significant number are direct visits (28%). Direct visits can
indicate the site has been bookmarked by users. Social media, including twitter
(792), facebook (183), and various blogs account for 7%. Local websites, visits
from broadbandcumbria.com e-mail newsletters and linked micro-sites together
account for 17% of the visits indicating a strong local audience. National websites,
such as the national press and telecoms related companies, account for 4% of
visits, which could be seen as indicating an unusual degree of national interest
given the very local nature of the website.

Figure 6-2 Analysis of Sources of Visits
Source: Google Analytics Data
Twitter Data
A twitter account ‘@bbcumbria’ reflects the community website on twitter. A
snapshot of the account taken in September 2011 is given in Figure 6-3.
Compared with the number of visits to the website generated from twitter (792), the
number of tweets is very low (35). This implies other more active twitter users have
generated activity that has created the traffic flow to the website. This account is
effectively dormant despite having 247 followers.

Figure 6-3 Twitter Account Page
Source: Twitter.com
Facebook Data
A facebook page represents the broadbandcumbria.com website on facebook. A
snapshot of this page is given in Figure 6-4, showing 112 people ‘liking’ the page.
The most recent activity on the ‘wall’ of the page is from March 2011. Facebook
generated 183 visits to the website, indicating that either the 112 ‘fans’ have
generally visited the website from a different source, or they have not engaged with
the website at all.

Figure 6-4 Facebook Account Page
Source: Facebook.com
An insight into the pattern of activity over time on the facebook page is given in
Figure 6-5. As with the Google Analytics, an initial flurry of activity following the
launch has reduced and levelled out by April 2011. It is unclear why no activity is
shown initially, but this may be due to a problem with facebook. As with the twitter
account, the activity on the facebook account is low.
Figure 6-5 Facebook Insights
Source: Facebook.com

WordPress Activity Data
The broadbandcumbria.com community website is based on the popular
WordPress application. The WordPress data presents a record of the activity on
the site. It has been analysed and provides a valuable insight into the actions of the
members of the website over time. Note private message data was not provided or
used.
As at the 20th
September 2011 the website had 452 members. Figure 6-6 shows
both the activity on the site and the new members signing up by month. Over 70%
of members signed up in December 2010 and January 2011 (318). Following the
initial peak of activity early in the year, the number of new members per month has
dropped to an average of 10 per month from April to August. Similarly the other
activity (posts, comments, befriending etc) has levelled out to an average of 100 per
month.
Figure 6-6 Activity analysis
Source: WordPress Activity data
Looking at the all the activity of the members of the site, analysed by activity type in
Figure 6-7, the most popular activity at 37% is ‘friendship_created’ (1,351). This
activity allows members to link to other members of the site. On average a member
has 6 friends as each link includes two members.

Figure 6-7 Activity analysis by type
Blog posts (155) account for 4% of the activity, and the creation of new groups and
forum topics (21 and 13) represent just 1.4%. In contrast comments and updates
(blog comments, group updates, forum posts, activity updates and activity
comments) account for 35% of all activity (1,299).
Looking at blog posts and blog comments in more detail, there were 155 blog posts
by 36 members (8%), and 611 comments by 53 members (12%). Overall 66 of the
452 members blogged and/or commented (15%).
The mean number of blog posts per member is 4.5, the median 1.3 and the mode
1. The range is 28, minimum is 1 and the maximum 29. Figure 6-9 is a histogram
showing the blog posts per member.

Figure 6-8 Blog Posts per Member
The mean number of blog comments per member is 11.5, the median 2, and the
mode 1. The range is 101, minimum is 1 and the maximum 102. Figure 6-9 is a
histogram showing the blog comments per member.
Figure 6-9 Blog Comments per Member
In all 18,850 words were written in blog comments, an average of 355 words per
person and 30 words per comment. Figure 6-10 is a representation of words used

in the blog comments created from the text of the comments using the wordle.com10
website tool. The size of the word indicates its relative frequency in the text.
Figure 6-10 Word-cloud representation of all blog comments
Source: wordle.com
6.2 Small-Scale Questionnaire Data
There were 31 responses to the questionnaire. To encourage openness no
questions were forced and between 1 and 3 respondents skipped some questions.
The percentages given below are based on the number of responses to a question.
Location: 23 (77%) of respondents were local (Cumbrian), 3 (10%) regional (North-
East England), and 4 (13.3%) national (UK). There were no responses from
outside the UK.
Gender: the breakdown was 5 (17%) female and 25 (83%) male.
Age profile: only one respondent was a ‘young adult’ (18-29), with 28 (96%) being
30+.
Internet use: 28 (100%) use the internet frequently (almost daily). 30 (100%) used
the internet from home, 20 (71%) at work/school/university, and 14 (48%) on a
mobile device.
10
http://www.wordle.net/

Engagement with the campaign for rural broadband: 26 (87%) are members of the
broadbandcumbria.com website, 16 (53%) are Parish Broadband Champions, and
5 (1.6%) are Hub Co-ordinators. Personal/family or Community/Social was the
primary interest of 21 (70%) respondents, while Commercial/Business or
Professional/Job-Related was the primary interest of 9 (30%). Just one respondent
identified Political as a secondary interest. Academic/Educational was not indicated
as an interest (primary or secondary) by any respondent.
In terms of extroversion and life satisfaction: the rating average for “I am typically
quiet/reserved” was 2.86 (with 3.00 representing neither agree/disagree) indicating
a bias towards extroversion. Respondents showed positive ratings averages for life
satisfaction (3.57 and 4.07), and also tend to disagree with “my life is difficult”
(2.54).
In terms of organisational trust, the Local Council and the Political System scored
low for trust (2.79 and 2.62). The Judicial System however was more trusted with a
ratings average of 2.83 for “I distrust the Judicial System”.
Considering participation as Individual, Social and Political, as summarised in Table
6.1, there is a strong level of engagement in all three. Looking at the ratings
averages summed for the different types of participation, Social Participation scores
highest (3.18), between ‘Often’ and ‘Regularly’. Individual at (2.98) and Political at
(2.78) fall between ‘Occasionally’ and ‘Often’.

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