Social media fails to beat traditional media when it comes to local community engagement - Gordon Young's draft Leader
Social media fails to beat traditional media when it comes to localThere is no doubt the marketing business is developing at break-neck pace. Every day new innovations, ideas and concepts whip the Twitterati into a tizzy and the Bloggersphere into a frenzy.
Models are melting down, old-conventions are being challenged and even our language is changing. But are communicators rapidly separating from the people they are meant to be communicating with?
Recently, I have been involved in a grass-roots, community campaign to save my Conservation-status village being blighted by a vile Lego-like housing scheme. The people behind this campaign managed to persuade 30% of the adult population of the village to object to the plans – a fantastic achievement.
But I was disappointed at how useful social media was in aiding this protest. Regular readers will know, because I wrote about it last month, that my suggestion to run things through a Facebook page was greeted with some hostility.
Unperturbed I set up a Twitter account. It has three followers. And a new Wordpress blog – attracted around 50 viewers at its peak.
By miles the most effective elements of the campaign was printing an old fashioned newsletter and putting it though every letter box in town. And then recruiting 20 volunteers to knock on doors, explain our position and ask for support.
What does this tell us? The internet is great if you want to build an online community of geographically disparate individuals with similar interests from the same socio-economic backgrounds. But in terms of gaining real critical mass, in a tightly defined area, with a full range of demographics, my experience suggests it has uses, but it is not that useful.
Another insight is that people are no longer getting the local news they need to properly hold their elected representatives to account. Few of the people in our village had any idea of what was being planned on their behalf. And when they found out they were shocked.
Perhaps this is because many local newspapers – faced with the online threat – seem to be giving up. Our local newspaper for example doesn't even have a dedicated editor. People are no longer getting the news they need offline, and online is not successfully making up the deficit.
The main conclusion from my grass-roots experience? Online has a role. But if I really want to make a difference in my home town I need to help them set up a traditional community newspaper.
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Comments
Social media isn't the solution, never has been. It's simply part of the mix. We always advise our clients that online isn't the golden bullet for marketing their business it's simply another tool in their armoury.
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At least I am not clueless about the identity of people who leave anonymous comments 10.41
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Hi Gordon
I disagree. I've been involved in the campaign to save North Kelvin Meadow in Glasgow, and we have found that Twitter and Facebook have been really helpful in keeping people up-to-date with what's going on, inviting them to attend events, and directing them back to new content on the blog.
Of course, we've still had to do all sorts of offline campaigning - letter writing, actual real-life meetings, as well as get-togethers to plant bulbs and pick up litter on the land. Yes, we've mourned the lack of a clear way to engage with the local population (we do have some local freesheets, but delivery is not perfect), but we've found social media to be a great way to build support, engage with other groups, and spread the word.
Of course it's only reaching a proportion of the local population (those who are regularly online and using those tools), and it's also reaching a population outside our local area, but what's the problem with that? Social media is never going to be a magic bullet, it's just another way to communicate with people if they're already using those methods.
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I don't think there is a lot of difference between my, Kate's and Guy's position. Social media is an important part of the mix. But in comparing the campaign for Fenwick with the campaign for North Kelvin Meadows you are not comparing like with like. We managed to persuade around. 300 people to sign objection letters. But that equated to 30% of the entire adult population of the village. Given the size of the West End of Glasgow that size of Market penetration would not have been needed even to get a few 1000 objections. In fact I would argue that even by harnessing the minority of fully-signed up social media buffs would generate enough momentum for a strong campaign, given the size of the population in that part of Glasgow. So social media is great for getting people who use social media engaged. But what my experience showed me is that they are still in the minority.
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Interesting experience. I wonder how many traditional community newspapers currently exist in Scotland? What percentage make enough money to sustain themselves? Who runs them and how. etc Would be an interesting feature.
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