This document discusses how digital communities of practice and social media can improve community engagement and sustainability. It defines sustainability and communities of practice, and explains how social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter can be used to create a digital community and increase participation. Specific tips are provided for boosting engagement on social media, such as posting at certain times, using images and questions, and keeping posts concise. Online resources and tools for sharing videos, surveys, petitions, fundraising and recycling are also listed.

1. Sustainability & Social
Media
Improving community
engagement by creating a
digital community of practice.

2. What is Sustainability?
Sustainability is the capacity to endure, it
has environmental; economic, and
social dimensions.
It is also the responsible management of
resource use.

3. Sustainability is more than just a ‘buzz’ word.
In ecology the word describes how
biological systems remain diverse and
productive over time.
In humans and communities , sustainability is
the potential for long-term maintenance of
well being; which has ecological, economic,
educational, political and cultural
dimensions.

4. Communities Of Practice
A community of practice is the coming
together of groups of people who share
a common interest, goal or shared
identity, in order to participate in
collective learning or discourse.

6. Digital C.o.P
• By using social media, and online resources
or tools we can create a digital community of
practice.
• This should not only increase community
engagement and lead to improved
sustainability, but will also allow
practitioners and community members to
have a greater understanding of their
community; characteristics, orientation, and
current configuration (Wenger et al. 2013)

7. Social media.
There are hundreds of different
social media sites too many to
cover in one document so for the
purpose of this piece I will
concentrate on the two largest
sites. Facebook and Twitter
• www.facebook.com
• www.twitter.com

8. If a community group establishes a Facebook
page and Twitter account then invites current
members and other groups that they work
with in partnership to join these pages they
have taken the first step into social
networking.
One of the principle benefits to using this
medium is that it is already familiar
technology to many staff members thus
reducing the need for training which in turn
reduces costs and supports sustainability.

9. Going viral
Viral advertising is the use of social networking
sites like Facebook and Twitter to inform
community members of available services,
upcoming events, timetable changes……etc
These sites can be updated in real time by the
administrators, and information, surveys or
feed back forums can be accessed by
members 24/7 and in many cases in any
location via mobile technology such as
smart-phones, laptops or ipads.

10. Going viral
Now the average Facebook user has around
200 hundred friends although community
groups and organisations can reach well in
excess of these numbers.
For example ‘The Only Way Is Coatbridge’
Facebook group has 16,827 likes · 23,044
talking about it!
That’s the equivalent of nearly half of the town
liking the page and more than half of them
discussing or sharing articles from it.

11. It’s good to share.
How many times have you been trying to
decide whether or not to watch a movie
and so you ask a mate? And based on
your mates review or recommendation
you make your decision, viral
advertising employs that principle.

12. It’s good to share
• Community members and practitioners can engage with one
another in an online environment which allows them to share
and link various media resources. (see examples below)
• Image http://tinyurl.com/c87k2yd (picture of a community
notice board)
• Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-eVF_G_p-Y (I Will
Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate||Spoken Word poetry)
• Music
http://soundcloud.com/search?q%5Bfulltext%5D=community
(community themed tracks on soundcloud)
• Fund raising www.gofundme.com/9s44g (Successful
campaign to provide a specialised wheelchair this was
achieved in less than a week thanks to viral advertising and
social media)

13. Tips to boost engagement
1. Posting between 8am and 7pm will receive 20% more
engagement than posting at other times
2. Wednesdays and Sundays are the best days to post on your
community Facebook or Twitter pages.
3. Posting 3 or 4 quality materials will receive more likes and
comments than posting more often with lower quality.
4. If you use 80 characters or less, there is a 66% higher
engagement than longer posts
5. If you ask questions, you are both inviting engagement and
giving them a prompt to help them get started. The key is to
ask questions that your members will care enough about
( This is where your knowledge of the community will come
in handy but also this will help you gain a better
understanding of your community as it evolves and grows)

14. Tips to Boost Enagement
6. Fill in the blank posts are 9 times more effective than
regular posts.
7. Keep it simple; don’t overwhelm your members with
too much complicated information.
8. Members may want to learn more about you and
what you have to offer – but they want to talk
about themselves, they need to feel that they can
relate to the topic.
9. Use images in your Facebook posts to tell a story,
catching users’ eyes as they scroll through their
Facebook feed, and as a launching point for
conversations.
10. Keep it topical, don’t be afraid to use current events
as a way of engaging.

15. When posting on social media it is important to be fun
and dynamic as well as informative or educational. It
is ok to post a funny picture that you have come
across on the internet, but it will promote
engagement if you ask people to share a funny
picture they have found or even have a caption
contest.
Keeping posts shorter will allow members to read them
in full as they scroll through their timeline. If you are
posting a link to another site, article or video give a
brief description beside the url.
Remember however that when posting on your
community Facebook or Twitter that you are the
human personification of the organisation.

16. • Be Bold
• Be Creative
• Be responsive
• Be dynamic
• Be human

17. Online resources and tools
Video sharing
http://youtube.com
Surveys- http://www.surveymonkey.com/
Online petitions http://www.change.org/en-
GB
Project fund raising
http://www.kickstarter.com/
Charity fund raising
http://www.gofundme.com/
Free-Cycling http://www.freecycle.org/
Image sharing http://www.instagram.com/
Podcasting
http://www.moozi.cc
Presentations http://www.slideshare.net