Could Councils Engage Better With the Local Community?
March 28th, 2011 by John M
Keep up to date with your politics? Then you might be aware of the rumour that a ‘localism’ bill was delayed in the House of Commons because nobody could define the word ‘community’.
If politicians are struggling to define community, then what hope is there for the rest of us! In fairness, community is a word that can be very hard to define. Facebook, for instance, is known to many as an ‘online community’, but is that an appropriate label considering that it has over 500 million registered members?
Local communities are bracing themselves for government cuts to specific areas throughout the year, and have already had to re-strategise for the coming months to compensate for loss of funding. Lives, careers and basic services are at risk because of the economic downturn – sadly, it’s a sign of the times we live in…
But could smaller, local communities and councils be taking advantage of larger, wider social media communities to be more transparent to those that will be affected by the cuts? Liverpool City Council for instance has a Twitter feed which informs people about events and fundraising activities going on in and around the city. They also post links to their blog about matters of interest – can other councils in and around the UK honestly say they use regional SEO and Twitter like Liverpool City Council does?
Liverpool City Council, for instance, doesn’t have a Facebook or YouTube presence like Newcastle City Coucil does, showing that councils up and down the country are still grasping social media in different ways at different times. Social media is entirely free of charge – if people want to learn more about their local council then they will find the information no matter what. Does your local council need to do more to engage with people in your area? Post below and let us know!
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