Social Media in Fenland
Andy Allsopp, Head of Communications
Michele Ide-Smith, Web Strategy Manager
January 2011
The Communications context
Audience
Money
Localism
A little bit of background…
The rural Fenland district in North Cambridgeshire has a large agricultural industry, which attracts migrant workers from Europe, but suffers from socio-economic deprivation
Challenges in Wisbech
Socio-economic, rural deprivationLarge migrant worker populationDigital exclusion – IT skills and accessHard-to-engage groups (migrant workers,
youth, older people, disabled people, time pressured 25-40’s)
Engagement challenges
Poor attendance at Neighbourhood Panel meetings
Attendees not representative of the wider community
No way to record results of engagement activity and make them visible
How we did it
Strong partnership working
We asked the community what they wanted
1 survey and 8 focus groups with residents, facilitated by outreach workers. 3 rounds of iterative usability testing
And involved stakeholders in designing the solution
Workshop based on the social media game (Wilcox and Kanter)
Participants devised solutions to resident scenarios, using cards to represent social media tools
The solution
Moderated by local community centre volunteers
Google auto-translation feature and translation support provided by volunteers at the Rosmini
The issue map on ShapeYourPlace
What do residents talk about on ShapeYourPlace?
An issue is raised …
…and public sector agencies respond
Some issues get fixed, but sometimes we have to say why we can’t fix something
Blogs and videos about local people, groups and activities
Local residents are getting involved too
I reported the zebra crossing was disappearing. It was repainted. Result!Annie A. resident, Twitter
@shapeyourplace I'm quite impressed i got a responce :))
Fallen_Fen, Twitter
Shape Your Place website starting to take shape - hope it continues to develop @shapeyourplace Rob M., Twitter
Thanks for those responses. I have noticed that the site seems much more secure lately and wish the project good luck for the future. John S resident, on website in response to a anti-social behaviour issue at a playground
Many thanks again for your very clear reply.Owen S. resident, on website in response to an issue he had raised
A lesson we learnt…
Engage stakeholders who are active online!
From this…
A local councillor had concerns about the project
Twitter. Facebook. Blogs. Google Maps. I’m struggling to see where the £80,000 price tag is justified within the scope of all those free social networking tools.
I’m also a little concerned about how the input from these new forms of communication will be handled…I can only see it leading to eighty thousand pounds worth of public bitterness.
… to this!
… to this!
Cllr Tierney is now an active supporter and blogs on the site
And the editor of the local newspaper has blogged as well
Next steps
Roll out to March, Chatteris and Whittlesey soon!
Community ownership
Residents are getting involved in running ShapeYourPlace
Final points
Accessible, engaging, less authoritarianSpeak with one voice – no blame!Quality engagement takes time and effortInvolve active bloggers and tweetersSocial media enables and supports……but ultimately it’s all about people
Links and resources
ShapeYourPlace in Wisbech:wisbech.shapeyourplace.org
Project blog:fenland.worktogether.org.uk
Case study:www.communities.idea.gov.uk/c/4737039/forum/thread.do?id=9043973
Community of Practise project site:www.communities.idea.gov.uk/c/2292048/home.do
For more informationMichele Ide-Smith, Web Strategy Manager
Cambridgeshire County Council
Phone: 01223 699710
Twitter: @micheleidesmith
Blog: http://www.ide-smith.co.uk
Email: [email protected]
Andy Allsopp, Head of Communications
Cambridgeshire County Council
Phone: 01223 699280
Twitter: @andyallsopp
Email: [email protected]
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