Community
Engagement
Online
Diana Mounter
Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW

Recognising the potential of
the web and new media
technology

“...the thing that really grabbed my attention
about the web was that there was suddenly
this planetary scale infrastructure, where it
wasn't just computers to connect to
computers, it was millions and millions of
eyeballs and human brains connected
together... ”
- Professor Nigel Shadbolt,
Web Science Research Initiative

Anyone can start a movement
The Blogosphere, Matthew Hurst
http://datamining.typepad.com/gallery/blog-map-gallery.html

Times have changed
the web is accessible
to more people

The pressure is on deliver
up-to-date information to everyone
who wants it...
in the format they want.

Web 1.0
‣hierarchal information structure
‣static web pages
‣140,000 PDFs
‣crafted communications
‣approval chains
‣one-way communication
‣risk-averse
‣reactive

Web 2.0: We Believe in Community
‣user centric
‣social
‣open data
‣honesty
‣collaborative
‣discussions
‣publish now
‣pro-active

Recognising the potential of The WEB

People are talking about
your organisation
(even if you are
not online)

Building blocks
for creating your
online community
before you start...

It can’t be bought or
instantly created
give it time to grow.

Why develop a
community?

Where is your
community?

What is the purpose?
Marketing events Idea generation Crisis management
Increase traffic Feedback Community partnerships
INFORM CONSULT INVOLVE
Provide services Improvements Beta testing
Issue awareness Case studies Knowledge sharing

Inform
Use your homepage
RSS
Email
Blogs
Photos
Video and audio

Constult
Feedback forms
Surveys
Blogs (allow comments)
Discussion forums

Involve
Create a group
Feedback results
Keep them updated
Be honest
Recognise champions

Understanding the benefits
and assessing the risks of
social networks

What’s
Twitter?

http://current.com/items/89891774_twouble-with-twitters.htm

...Who is using it?

What about all the other stuff?

A few examples...

Subscribe
RSS
Flickr
Del.icious
Facebook
YouTube
Digg
Twitter
Webchat

*Photo taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/3063053014/in/set-72157610170567235/

“Social media rush as Victorian bushfires rage”
smh.com.au

Leading you discover
Incentive to subscribe more of the site
Encouraging you to
share, making it easy
Using YouTube,
more exposure
http://www.islandreefjob.com

Big call to action
Making it easy to
follow and view
more media
through other
networks
http://www.makepovertyhistory.com.au/

Comments?
But what if they
say something
bad?

Risk analysis
• What is the topic?
• What is the environment?
• What are your Resources?
• What’s the Cost?
• Oh, and all that legal stuff...

Experiment!

Don’t worry,
it’s just a trial.

Tools you can use
Low tech tools that are free or low cost:
• Wordpress.com and Blogger.com to create blogs, you can customise the
design, and control commenting
• Flickr.com or Picasa.google.com for uploading and sharing photos
• YouTube.com or Viddler.com - video sharing networks
• Twitter.com - micro-blogging (VERY popular!)
• Tumblr.com – easy & simple blogging (great for posting multimedia)
• Dapper.net - create RSS feeds step-by-step from your web pages
• Feedburner.com - turns an RSS feed into an Email subscription, and gives
you stats!
• Sites.google.com - create your own wiki, share documents, and blog
• Groups.google.com - online and email discussion forum

More info?
Find these slides on:
http://slideshare.net/diana.mounter
Learn and connect with other web
people in the public sector:
http://lgwebnetwork.org
Follow me on Twitter:
twitter.com/broccolini
Diana Mounter
Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW