Using social media to engage your community

David Barrie

David Barrie & Associates

CABE, 29 Sept 2010

We like this…

…but would like to square it with this…

One route heavily advocated for just now is ‘social media’…

What is social media?

“the peer-to-peer communication and user-generated content made

possible through the advent of participatory web tools…”

Source: Kanter, B. & Fine, A.H., The Networked Nonprofit (2010)

social media ‘tools’

• Conversation starters like blogs, YouTube and Twitter

• Collaboration tools including wikis and Google Groups

• Network builders like social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace and TwitterSource: Kanter, B. & Fine, A.H., The Networked Nonprofit (2010)

But why use social media when our lives are

increasingly trapped in in a closed circle…

One answer is a proliferation of online markets…

Then there are some facts:

• 82% of the population in the U.K. are on the internet

• 1 in every 4.5mins spent by people online is on social networks

• A new member joins the business-orientated site LinkedIn.com every second

• The largest living generation is young people born between the years of 1978 and 1992

• 25% of people who play video and other screen games in the USA are over 50Sources: BBC, Neilsen, Kanter/Fine, Knight Foundation

And here are some more reasons to bother:

• people are easy to find online and on many channels

• talk is cheap

• serendipity is enhanced online

• reciprocity online is incredibly easy

Here are some web links and sites that are worth looking at

for community organizing:

useful networking ‘tools’ …

• Facebook - http://www.facebook.com

• Twitter - http://www.twitter.com

• Facebook Places - http://www.facebook.com/places/

• Twitter lists -http://www.twitter.com/davidbarrie

…building community…• Peckham Power -

http://peckhampower.org/

• Groupsnearyou - http://www.groupsnearyou.com/

• Hubbub social game - http://whatsthehubbub.nl/projects/koppelkiek/

…building ideas…

• Craftster - http://www.craftster.org/

• Your Freedom - http://bit.ly/aT1FTy

• Bing Maps - http://bit.ly/9gL41Y

• Bexhill Local Action Plan - http://www.bexhilllocalactionplan.co.uk/

…sharing the burden…

• Wikispaces - http://www.wikipedia.com

• Google Docs - https://docs.google.com/

• Neighborgoods - http://neighborgoods.net/

• Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/

…sharing knowledge…

• Geographically-linked news - http://foursquare.com/ - http://www.everyblock.com/

• Geographically-linked games - http://bit.ly/akEDPl

• Oral history - http://tellingyourstory.wordpress.com/

And some uses to date that link to the renewal of cities, places and communities:

• Fix my street - http://www.fixmystreet.com/• Boston Redevelopment Authority - http://hub2.org/• Talk about Local - http://talkaboutlocal.org.

uk/how-set-wordpress/• Friends of Redcar Cemetary - http://www.forcem

.co.uk/• Heeley Millennium Park -

http://millenniumpark.wordpress.com/• Wake Green Park -

http://wakegreenpark.blogspot.com/

In social media, as in urban renewal, there are certain

kinds of people to work with:

• instigators

• evangelists

• donors

• spreaders

• happy bystanders

Online designers identify different reasons why

people gather and share experiences online:

• Altruism

• Creativity

• Validation

• Affinity

• Prurience

And the most active or interested users as people who are…

• interested in making new friends

• keeping up friendships

• open to succumbing to social pressure from existing friends

• believe in “paying it forward”

The message is…

• The internet is massively popular• The internet can extend the franchise of

community organizing• There are countless social media platforms and

tools out there• But there are certain people who want certain

kinds of experience who are prepared to participate online

• And it’s more valid to think about cultivating relationships and friendships, rather than just telling people things

David BarrieDavid Barrie & Associates

project design & delivery - creative/economic planning -

public involvement - social ventures

Blog: http://davidbarrie.typepad.com

Mail: david@davidbarrie.net

Useful resources ➙

useful resources• Beth Kanter: http://www.bethkanter.org/• Social by Social:

http://www.socialbysocial.com/• Dave Briggs: http://davepress.net/• Clay Shirky’s Internet Writings:

http://www.shirky.com/• Bookmarks on ‘digital engagement’:

http://www.delicious.com/addictive_picasso/digitalbutetown