Social Media: It's about Building Relationships

Thoughts on the future of Hyperlocal blogging / newscasting

2011-04-03T09:19:00.000+01:00

WILL PERRIN with his thoughts on the "Future of Hyperlocal" in the UK. Interview conducted by Hannah Waldram of Guardian Cardiff:
Listen!

Update: Hedon Blog and HU12 websites

2010-09-23T13:10:00.000+01:00

THE HU12 family of websites have continued to grow and develop.

The main website - and adopted parent of the others is HU12. This has become the site which features the more 'news' and controversial items that will interest those living in the HU12 post code and wider Holderness area. It is not an hyperlocal site - more of a local news aggregator - and aims to post material which will have a particular interest to those involved in the business, public and voluntary sectors.

The Hedon Blog continues to build a bigger local audience month-upon-month. Predominantly (my stats tell me) this consists of people logging on from the Karoo network and I assume this is largely a Hedon, HU12, Hull and East Yorkshire audience.

In May the Blog covered the General Election from a Hyperlocal perspective - and attracted lots of newer visitors from those following the hustings. I am particularly pleased that candidates from all the major parties submitted material for the Blog.

The biggest recent development is the decision to try and generate more income from the family of websites using direct advertising, Google Adsense, Amazon (Real Example: ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income) and other Blog Services. The reality, is that unless the websites pay for themselves and my time, then daily work on them will have to cease. Unfortunately passion alone, for everything hyperlocal and community, does not pay the bills!

Hyperlocal Newsgathering at #TAL10

2010-04-19T13:12:00.010+01:00

LEEDS HOSTED the Talk About Local Un-Conference on Saturday 17th April 2010 bringing together a collection of community activists, web developers and journalists interested in hyperlocal publishing. The day was an enthusiastic affair which will lead to many local community websites and hyperlocal blogs being re-invigorated and re-freshed with lots of new ideas, methods and approaches.

A conference session was held on Hyperlocal Newsgathering. The participants revealed a wide variety of methods are being used to collect local news and information to furnish hyperlocal blog posts, features and articles. These can roughly be broken down into four different areas:

Community: This covers such practical things as walking or cycling your home patch and discovering leaflets, posters, flyers and official notices about events and issues.

Councillor Sean Brady explained one of his key news sources came through drinking at the local coffee bar. Interesting local stories and views can also be gathered through speaking to people at natural gathering points for the community i.e. the school gates at dropping off/picking up time.

Community and school newsletters can be a vital source of information on local activities and groups. Making and maintaining official contacts with local PCSO's, Neighbourhood Wardens or Community Rangers might also ensure you get a regular dripfeed of local public information and advice.

Council/Official Sources: Ploughing through Council minutes and agendas can be time consuming but unearth really useful local information. Actually attending Council committees and meetings of the Local Strategic Partnership can give you a first-hand insight into local issues and decision-making. Keeping track of Council planning Committees and sub-committees, by online and/or physical means, is another useful activity routinely carried out by journalists. Making full use of information released under FOI (the Freedom of Information Act) and actually making FOI requests is another useful activity that can often result in stories from a differnt 'expose' angle.

And don't forget getting yourself on official mailing lists to be sent press releases from the public, private and voluntary sector.

Social Networking/Facebook, etc: Many of those present used Facebook, YouTube or Flickr, not only to share stories with local people, but also to encourage local people to share their information, knowledge and expertise about the local area.

Online: Tom Steinberg from MySociety explained how e-mail alerts and RSS from sites such as fixmystreet, theyworkforyou, whatdotheyknow, and OPSI’s unlocking service, can lead to regular supplies of data about your area. Google Alerts correctly edited can also provide useful information based around key words. And of course your own comments on your website can provide leads to local stories. A key source for background information and sometimes direct leads to local material can also come through the use of Twitter.

Further information: An essential e-book on Hyperlocal Newsgathering has been written by one time VikingFM journalist Adam Westbrook which is worth every penny of the asking price for the aspiring community reporter. Also The Silhillian is developing a new essential online support for Hyperlocal journalists on WikiSplash.

More news from Talk About Local soon, but in the meanwhile it has to be reported locally that the 'award' for the "best attack on Hyperlocal from traditional media" was unfortunately won by the Hull Daily Mail (read story here).

Talking About Local Community Websites #TAL10

2010-04-12T11:14:00.003+01:00

THE HEDON BLOGGER is delighted to be in Leeds at the weekend taking part in Talk About Local 2010. This event will bring together some of the most enthusiastic hyperlocal publishers in the country.

The event has been organised at the Old Broadcasting House in partnership with the Guardian newspaper's Local Initiative.

All the key things that help and support community and local newsgathering websites to continue to bring you the local 'news' will be under discussion.

Unlike a traditional 'conference' the items under discussion are not arranged by the organisers in advance, but arranged by those attending on the day. Whilst this might seem chaotic, in actual fact it ensures that people get to discuss what they really want to.

However, early pre-discussions indicate that sessions are likely to take place on:

Newsgathering methods
Covering the General Election
Meeting the costs (even a 'free' blog costs!)
Hyperlocal - the next steps?

I wrote about last years event which was inspirational and had me buzzing for weeks. I expect to come back with the same fire and determination from this event!

For those of you on Twitter, then you can follow the event at #TAL10 search.

Hyperlocal Hedon Blog

2010-02-17T11:33:00.003Z

THE HEDON BLOG was the subject of a presentation and discussion of Hyperlocal News at Humber Mud recently. The following is the set of slides presented at that event with accompanying notes to each slide below:

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Hyperlocal Hedon Blog

View more presentations from rayduff.

Typical ‘front page’ of the Hedon Blog.
The type of news that is ‘hyperlocal’ i.e. of interest to a very small audience – like ‘dog poo’ problems in the neighbourhood or holes in the ground!
Popular Hedon Blog article of 2009 – the Free ASDA bus!
The tragic death of Amy Black was a shock and people from around the world sought further news via the blog.
Different ways that people can get the Hedon Blog information they want.
The changes in the traditional newspaper industry that have renewed interest in hyperlocal news.
Hobby blogging can bring passion, commitment and local insight. HOTI dog photo by Linda Hinchcliffe.
Yes! – There is an active community in Hedon as demonstrated by the What’s On page and Wish List experiment. The Jigsaw Player and General Election Coverage are two examples of catering to particular audiences. Hedon Beacon photo by Neil Holmes.
Beat Blogging – the daily routine of finding and gathering news for the blog.
Excellent e-book by Adam Westbrook on the essentials of hyperlocal news gathering.
Making it Pay 1 – It doesn’t have to!
Making it Pay 2 – But if you don’t want to run at a loss! Source: Philip John.
Inspiring Hyperlocal news websites – not published see Slideshare.
Talk About Local – Leeds event bringing together hyperlocal community publishers.

Community Safety Week Theme on the Hedon Blog - Did it work?

2010-02-14T10:01:00.001Z

COMMUNITY SAFETY was the theme of last week's Hedon Blog postings.

The idea was to concentrate on one particular type of article and see if readers found them interesting - or a turn-off!

The week began on Monday 8th February with a post about the benefits of reporting problems in an area via Community Walkabouts.

Tuesday covered the launch of the Not Just Noise website which is aimed at creative young people and sponsored by Humberside Police. The Safer Internet Day initiative also featured on Tuesday. Both these items included videos to watch.

The news that the Environment Agency was to expand its Flood Warning Service was Wednesday's contribution.

Wednesday also saw the Blog post about the timely Government Training Events on Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour that are taking place over the next few weeks.

The Humberside Police Authority staged its Police and Partners Community Forum in Hedon on Wednesday and this was reported the day after.

The series ended on Saturday with a notice about East Riding Council's publishing of its Emergency Planning Guide "Get ready for the unexpected".

So did you find the series of use? The statistics show that the average daily views were slightly up on the previous week but lower than the week before.

Statistics of course don't tell the whole story. Comments to the website are the lifeblood of any blog - and there was a dearth of comments during last week!

So what are your views on this thematic approach? Could we do other weekly themes? On Health, Community Groups or Leisure for example? Leave a comment and let us know!

New Hedon Blogger site evolution.

2010-02-02T08:32:00.004Z

ONE OF THE KEY ISSUES facing Hperlocal news gathering websites is making the activity sustainable - i.e. making it pay. This does not necessarily mean making a profit but in my case means not running at a loss!

In the case of the Hedon Blog then I was faced with the most likely prospect of migrating from wordpress.com to the self-hosted wordpress.org. This article .com v .org shows the difference between the two open source alternatives - one crucial difference is that .com does not allow the placing of advertising links on its platform.

Wordpress.org would allow me to run adverts on the Hedon Blog but I would have lost a valuable part of one of the unique selling points of wordpress.com i.e. it's free, fairly easy to use and quick to set up; any community group can quickly set up a blog/website and get their 'voice' online.

I had originally discounted Blogger as an option because you cannot construct websites with pages as is the case with Wordpress and their standard themes were a bit limiting. However, on closer inspection - and inspired by the Coconut Grove Grapevine - then I have started constructing a Blogger-based alternative. I have used a free-to-use professional theme from Ourblogtemplates.com which allows me to increase the number of columns and offer different options for the placing of adverts. It is early days of construction but the basic outline of the site is available to view here at HU12.net. I have also purchased the domain name hu12.net.

Having built up a community or readers and participants at The Hedon Blog, then any migration to a new site will have to be done carefully and sensitively over a set period of time. Initial thoughts on this are that I would keep the Blog as the community website featuring voluntary and community sector events, meetings and activities. All other news would feature on HU12.

An exciting - but scary - period of development opens up over the next few weeks!

Hedon #hyperlocal blogging is simply active citizenship

2010-01-14T15:45:00.005Z

MEDIA PROFESSIONALS, journalists and other enthusiasts are debating the benefits of "hyperlocal" web publishing i.e. very local reporting of information and news and citizen journalism. They argue that this is a form of local journalism that points one way towards the future of news broadcasting in the UK and globally.

Media organisations will get bigger in the future and dominate national and international news, but they also need to get smaller and meet the news and information demands of those living, working and trading in neighbourhoods, towns and villages.

The debate will go on and the big media organisations will grapple with making the hyperlocal model sustainable and how to utilise citizen journalism - meanwhile small scale local community websites will continue to bring local issues and events to the attention of local audiences.

Is the Hedon Blog conducting "citizen journalism"? I think not. Enthusiasm for a task - even tempered with experience - can never really compete with professionalism gleaned through training and study. However, where the Hedon Blog can compete is by acquiring and using local knowledge to become an active citizen.

Being an active citizen in the area where you live need not be difficult. Simply, it requires being curious about where you live, a willingness to share your curiosity with others - and a sense of indignation when things do not seem right and fair and a willingness to take action. You need to discover the lines of communication that exist in all communities - both formal and informal - in order to convey your message effectively and have an influence.

My work on the Hedon Blog today consisted of a short shopping trip with camera in hand. In 45 minutes I'd acquired a lot of raw information about my community and material to develop for articles on the blog. The image shows this raw material: Clockwise (left to right):

Activities planned for Hedon Methodist Church which can furnish an entry for the 'What's On' page.
Landscape work by the local council which involved pruning down some 'popular' trees.
Notice of a Police and Communities Forum in the Town Hall.
Yorkshire Electricity works on underground cables - what's happening here?
Yorkshire Water worksite left flooded and unattended - again what's happening?
Possible closure of local convenience shop? Victim of the recession?

Each of the above are possible leads for a blog post. With a little bit of digging then stories of interest to my local area can be unearthed.

I'm not sure that a journalist drafted in would be able to see the same potential from my short stroll that I can!?

Hedon Blog Classifieds

2010-01-11T09:20:00.001Z

I am carrying out a poll over at the Hedon Blog or at the link below about whether people would use a new Classifieds Service. Your help and views would be much appreciated:

Poll: Hedon Blog Classifieds is a good idea!

Hedon Blog: New Year food for thoughts

2010-01-08T13:09:00.002Z

Following analysing the Hedon Blog's popular posts and my favourites of 2009 then I conclude that I need to maintain a variety of content in 2010 to keep readers coming back. The very local stuff such as the post about the free bus service to the ASDA needs to be married with more nationally searchable material such as the Swine flu article. Of course on the rare occasions when Hedon provides the source of a topical news story, then the Blog can come into its own in providing a useful informative service as with the Amy Black report.

The Hedon Blog is non-party-political. But it is not apolitical as its support for the HOTI campaign shows. Therefore the Blog is perfectly placed for providing a unique local service during the 2010 general election campaign. It can provide a platform for debate and discussion and ensure that the political parties consider Hedon and its interests during their election campaigns. It can report from the 'front-line' of meetings and canvassing. It can even conduct its own straw polls of Hedon opinion and report directly from the count on election night.

During 2010 then I need to look at income generating opportunities, particularly to cover promotional costs. These might come through migrating to a paid-for service over at Wordpress.org or Typepad or setting up a seperate 'white/yellow' pages site for Hedon. I favour the latter, because the winning formula with wordpress.com is the fact that it is free, simple to use, and readily available for any community to use. Indeed even an ex-Editor of newspaper has opted to use the dot.com version in establishing his hyperlocal site The Harbourne Mile! On a personal note then my own income generation needs a kick-start also in 2010 (sic).

A virtual Visitor to #mps09 "My" Public Services 2009

2009-12-02T12:58:00.003Z

On 26th November I 'virtually' attended the MyPublicServices conference which was organised by the people behind Patient Opinion. I say 'virtually' because I attended not in person but as a visitor via the Conference Twitter chat. I followed the conversation on Twitter and visited the hyperlinks posted by attendees - and joined in where I thought appropriate.

I followed the conference on the Twitter hashtag #mps09. By including this 6-character term in each tweet, it allowed each tweeter to follow the same conversation. TweetDocs are available that record up to 500 tweets on the day at TweetDoc_3 and TweetDoc_4.

The Conference - My observations on the discussion.

The premise of MyPublicServices was to bring together those who are building stuff on the web to improve public services. It was about re-thinking what we mean by "public services". It was about improving on what already exists and inspiring the creation of what doesn't.

"My" public services is currently a bit of a misnomer. The occasions when people refer to "my" and "mine" when talking about public services are very rare. Public services are "the Council's", "the Government's", "the NHS's" or somebody else's. The idea of people being the owners of public services has certainly not caught on in common possessive language let alone in public imagination. But through the course of the day at #mps09 then people dared to think that perhaps it might be possible for people to move on from being the passive recipients of public services, to engaged beneficiaries that could not only choose which services they wished to use, but shape and re-shape them - and actually become the co-creators of new improved services.

Conference participants explained how web technologies and social media could help communicate with and mobilise the experience, knowledge and expertise of the public to create services that would be better and more fit for purpose. This was not a technology issue but a communication issue!

Progress would be slow because of the very 'new-ness' of collaborative web tools. Service providers do not understand where we are with the world wide web. The analogy of the very first iron bridge ever constructed in the UK using yesterday's technology (i.e. wooden style joints) because traditional engineers did not understand the new technology, was used to symbolise the current situation.

Participants gave examples of how frustration - and anger - with the limitations of some existing services had been the prompt that inspired change. The speaker from Channel 4's 4iP initiative coined the phrase of "making trouble in the public interest!" The passion of campaigners for better services has to be channelled into creating innovative solutions to problems. Government and service commissioners need to cultivate that innovation and be prepared to invest in it. This involves risk taking and will involve making mistakes and learning the lessons from these.

Government also needs to adopt the role of nurturing this new web and community enterprise. This is especially the case in the provision of governmental information. Delegates called for Government to "do less" i.e. produce fewer websites itself, and instead make information available for others to use in ways that reach wider audiences, promote participation and allow others to run services. Calling upon Government to do less and "un-invent" its traditional top-down role was a much harder task than inventing new things!

The MyPublicServices Conference is one in a series of events held in 2009 that marks the evolution of Digital Britain as a concept that just might collectively become MY digital Britain!

Congratulations to the organisers of and participants at #mps09

Other useful links:

MPS: The Evolution of Something... by MyPolice
Social Reporter Interviews at #mps09 by David Wilcox
Can the Internet Transform Public Services? by Julie Walker
myPublicServices by The Dextrous Web
Social Media 'could transform public services' by BBC Technology
Bridge to the Future by Public Strategist
Gift Economies by Amy Sample Ward

Please feel free to post other useful links about the event in the comments below.

Hedon Blog Promotion - A Success?

2009-11-24T10:40:00.002Z

The Hedon Blog attempted some offline publicity last week. Five thousand flyers were circulated to addresses in the HU12 post code area which includes all the 3,500 households in Hedon. The leaflets were copied by local printers Green Print for £120.00 and distributed by the Holderness Advertiser for £115.00 - a significant investment in publicity!

So was this exercise successful?

On the face of it the exercise only caused a blip in hits on the site. The day before the leaflet then the internal Wordpress Stats Counter marked 113 views. On the two days of the leaflet delivery then 254 and 350 hits were recorded respectively on the Wednesday and Thursday . On the Friday views were only 162 and 104 on the Saturday.

The top posts on the busiest day were: Hedon Online 24 views, Hedon Christmas Lights 22, and the What's On page 20.

Comments on the site picked up with eight new submissions (disregarding spam and my own replies) and the Facebook Page picked up seven new fans. Two new issues were brought to my attention which formed the basis of two posts on parking problems and a derelict building.

The benefits of the leaflet drop are probably still going to be felt over the next week or so. Questions can be raised about whether the leaflet was effective and whether having it distributed with other advertising flyers was a good idea. But on balance the experiment was worthwhile - even if to rule it out as an economic option in the future!

The Hedon Blog will use offline publicity again, but probably limited to posters in key places and the distribution of business cards.

Have Bloggers out there had better experiences of using flyers to promote their Blog?

Ongoing Hyperlocal Discussion & Developments

2009-11-02T18:39:00.000Z

This is the slideshare presentation hosted on the Sarah Hartley Blog. She gives an update on her research into "Hyperlocal Developments".

Hyperlocal space

View more presentations from sarahhartley.

What should government do to help hyperlocal community publishers?

2009-10-31T12:11:00.000Z

Published for information and records:

"With Rachel Sterne of Ground Report I co-chaired a meeting of folk interested in hyperlocal media in the UK. The meeting was at the Department of Culture Media and Sport at the request of Sion Simon MP the UK Culture Minister in advance of the digital britain bill. I shall post more on the discussion when i have had time to reflect. But to make the meeting as transparent as possible here is some of the core information.
The meeting had the Twitter hashtag #cabinet and there is a Tweetdoc. The group was informed by Rachel Sterne’s slides dissecting the hyperlocal market and Douglas McCabe’s statistics from Enders. Three good posts have already emerged; from Hannah Waldram at Podnosh including attendees and two from Paul Bradshaw"

by William Perrin over at Talk About Local

Local Web News Manifesto

2009-10-23T06:59:00.001+01:00

In response to discussions at Talk About Local its founder William Perrin has suggested that local community web publishers should adopt a voluntary set of standards that would signify the serious and honourable intent of those who sign up.

Will has suggested a "manifesto" that hyperlocal news publishers might like to agree to:

Local Web News 'Manifesto':

In signing up to this manifesto we agree to be:

1 - Fair
2 - Truthful
3 - Proportionate
4 - Provocative
5 - Playful
6 - Local
7 - Low cost
8 - Not boring
9 - Not evil

The disscussion is taking place right now over at Local Web News Manifesto.

Developing Online Community Voices

2009-10-20T12:39:00.001+01:00

This is the draft outline of my social media activities during the next 12 months. It involves the further development of The Hedon Blog as a hyperlocal community website and online voice for the East Yorkshire town. I will also be promoting the case for a new project called HEY! Community Voices! which aims at supporting online communities in other neighbourhoods, villages and towns.

I would like to thank the participants at the Talk About Local "Un-conference" in Stoke for what follows, but also my seperate chats with muti-media journalist Adam Westbrook and Paul Smith from HU17.net for their inspiration.

The Hedon Blog and HEY Community Voices on Scribd

Leaving Hull LINk

2009-10-18T09:06:00.013+01:00

Hello Colleagues

Firstly just to say thanks to colleagues and friends at Hull LINk, Hull CVS, and those I've met from VCS groups, council and NHS for making my 'short' stay at LINk such a pleasant one.

This is my explanation of my sudden departure from Hull LINk on Friday 16th October 2009 (and a chance to re-visit this old blog of mine!).

On Wednesday 14th October 2009 I met with my line managers during which I suggested that I was de-motivated at certain aspects of the work and I was interested in looking at employment options elsewhere (self employment actually, as anyone who knows me is aware, I'm interested in the opportunities to engage communities via using new social media).

The Deputy Chief Officer stated that he admired me for my honesty but would need to consider very carefully what I had just said.

Two days later I met with my line manager and the DCO was also present. I was informed that since I'd expressed a lack of commitment to such an important job then under the terms of the probationary period I would be given a week's notice to quit the job. I would not be required to work the notice week and was asked to return keys and leave the building straight away.

Whilst I am obviously hurt by the suddeness of it all, I do understand the reasons behind this course of action. I begrudgingly accept that I did have a lack of long-term commitment to Hull LINk and the Hull CVS. However, what I find difficult to accept as a professional is that I was asked to leave immediately and my offer to work notice was refused. I feel that this was very short-sighted. There were so many loose ends I would have tied up and handover notes I would have completed. In the event I didn't even have time to tidy my desk up properly!

I have worked in the sector as a community activist or worker all my life and I care about the implications and public perception created by our actions. Therefore I offer these observations:

Yes... the larger third sector infrastructure bodies are in a very competitive environment and hard-nosed business skills need to complement our traditional cooperative and collaborative approaches. We need to manage our projects well and perform magnificently and display staying power! However, within that process it is important that we do not lose the compassion and care for people and communities that is the hallmark of our sector.

I think I have been treated according to contractual obligations and due process.... but have we not all lost some 'heart' during that process!?

The Hull LINk will grow and develop because good foundations have been built and there is a strong Steering Group. And I will continue to work to support the CVS from the sidelines. Why? Because the ethos and principles that founded that and similar organisations are far more important than any individual gripe.

It's goodbye for now, but hopefully 'hello again' from me very soon but wearing a different hat! But in the meanwhile.... where's that Job Seeker's Allowance application form.......!

What's a Blog?

2009-03-21T13:05:00.005Z

Blogs are websites that are easily and regularly updated. This makes them perfect for keeping readers and viewers aware of the latest information on an issue or subject. They can contain text, photos, audio and video. Many Blogs provide commentary, news or views on a particular subject, others serve as online journals or diaries.

The facility to leave comments on Blogs is an important feature that allows them to inter-act with readers and viewers. The potential to engage people through Blogs makes them great tools for reaching out and encouraging interest and participation. They can create a conversation between service providers and communities, helping improve consultation and create substantial 'evidence gathering' opportunities for those forming public policy.

Some Blogs have become community websites offering an online voice for local communities whilst offering very local news to a neigbourhood, village or town.

Blogs can also be used as a form of therapy allowing people to post in public but anonymously about the things that matter to them.

Blogs can be used to engage with a wider public audience and help encourage interest in your services or products. They can be used as online CVs or 'adverts'. Through clever use of keywords and other 'Blogger tricks' your Blog can get better placed rankings in Google and other search engines thereby widening your audience base.

How do I set a Blog up?

Blogs can be easily created in minutes and are easy to maintain and update. Best of all they can be created free of charge (although extra features can be purchased from those wishing to pay).

You can easily set up a Blog yourself and through trial and error eventually achieve the Blog you want and reach your audience. This can take some time and can be very enjoyable.

However, if you live in the Hedon area, and want a Blog setting up quickly and want coaching in all the facilities that a Blog has to offer, and want to reach specific audiences - then contact Ray.

With only a little online guidance , you will get a Blog with the potential to reach and engage with your chosen audience; one that ranks higher in search engines. This is offered FREE by me in order to encourage the development of the East Yorkshire blogosphere.

Your Blog will only be as good as the content provided from you/your organisation or its readers. So you, or someone within your organisation, needs to be tasked with updating your Blog regularly and seeking out new material to include. Just be warned - blogging can be an addictive past-time!!

Blogging Reference

2008-11-13T11:12:00.005Z

Blackpool Community News, and The Hedon Blog are websites created by me. Both are powered free of charge by WordPress.com who are Blogging software providers.

As 'Blogging' websites then The Rough Guide to Blogging (Rough Guides Reference Titles)is one of the books used 'behind the scenes at. The book is reviewed by me here:

"Navigate the blogosphere" and "Unleash your online voice..." are the bylines to this extremely useful book.

Although published two years ago in 2006 - a long time when discussing things to do with social media - this definitive guide is still one of the best books on Blogging available.

Covering every aspect of the Blogosphere from starting and writing a blog, through to making money from blogging, the book is more of an 'ultimate reference' than a 'rough guide'.

The book is packed with examples and case-studies and includes its very own 'Blogroll' reviews of 250 of the world's most respected, notorious and infamous Blogs.

So if you are looking for a present to introduce yourself or friends to the world of Blogging - then this book is for you. It can be purchased at reduced rates through this website's association with Amazon by clicking the link above.

New US Presidential Elect is Blogging!

2008-11-11T13:26:00.004Z

Following on from an unprecedented use of the Internet and social media in his Presidential Election campaign - Barack Obama's Office of the President Elect have established a new blog at http://change.gov to inform and involve people in the period of transition until his inauguration on 20th January 2009.

"Throughout the Presidential Transition Project, this website will be your source for the latest news, events, and announcements so that you can follow the setting up of the Obama Administration. And just as this historic campaign was, from the beginning, about you - the transition process will offer you opportunities to participate in redefining our government." From change.gov

From http://infocoms.wordpress.com/

Social Media Services

2008-10-22T15:35:00.009+01:00

Supporting Social Media in Hedon

Do you want your own blog?

Article updated February 2009:
It is possible to set your up own blog up in minutes! Wordpress, Blogger, Xanga, Vox all provide FREE blogging services - and there are many more out there. You simply register with the service concerned; choose a blog name, a theme (layout, colours, etc) - and hey presto - away you go!

However, a bit of planning does go a long way - why do you want to set up a blog? What do you hope to achieve? Who do you hope will read its content? What facilities do you need i.e. a blog with photos, videos, music or one that will conduct surveys for example? Do you want a blog with lots of authors - or will you manage its content? Do you want people to be able to leave comments on your blog?

Once you have set up a blog and written your first articles (posts) then how do you attract and keep readers? What other tools are available that can make your blog more attractive and accessible to readers? How do you continue to generate content for your blog and public interest in it?

This blog is all about offering online 'coaching', discussion and help with all those queries that blogging undoubtedly generates.

It is about setting up a local online bloggers group that can promote blogs and blogging in the Hedon area and mutually support each other. It will also help with information on social networking, wikis, Twitter and other social media.

Overview

This FREE online service is intended to offer support to individuals and organisations in Hedon that wish to:

Set-up, manage, maintain and develop their own non-commercial Blog.
Encourage online collaboration from others (member, clients, friends) in creating and designing documents and publications.
Share their message (whether social, fun, campaigning) more effectively on the internet.

Objectives

This service should leave a group or individual:

With a Blog that reaches and engages with the people that matter; that ranks highly in search engines; that drives visitors to existing websites, online facilities and other activities.

With the means to engage the relevant audience in creating more effective documents. Examples:
- involve service users in creating more effective flyers and promotional material;
- involving members in designing a club newsletter;
- involving residents in creating a joint response to a council consultation.
With the ability to use social-networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Myspace, Bebo) and Flickr, Twitter, etc, to full effect to promote what you do and engage with your audience.

What will be involved?

It should be possible to get your blog up and running in minutes using Free Software that is available on the internet. This blog can point you in the right direction and be the forum for questions and debate on the best solutions to problems and issues that arise.

Mostly this will be online - but on occasion it might be that Hedon bloggers meet up for a public meeting.

Who will carry out the work?

Ray Duffill, Facilitator, Community Development Practitioner, Digital Enabler and hobby blogger!
And you..... the community of bloggers!

For further details email rayduff@gmx.com