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Blackburn with Darwen Council has used social media to keep residents better informed and develop new forms of community engagement. Graham Burgess explains I have to admit, I'm not a natural convert to social media. I don't, for a minute, profess to know all the platforms available, and the potential of all web 2.0. What I do know, however, is how difficult it is for councils in this day and age to communicate and engage with their citizens. Our population is more fluid than ever before. The same communities don't exist in the same way that they did in the past. People's lives revolve around their immediate family unit, and they are far less inclined to be actively involved in their wider community – a real test for the Government's Big Society agenda. So, how do we tackle this at a time when newspaper circulations are falling? In Blackburn with Darwen, we've radically shifted our communications strategy to embrace social media as a key communications tool while, at the same time, maintaining traditional methods to ensure those in our borough with poor or no Internet access are still kept informed about services in their area. We've changed our policies to enable staff to use social media if they can show evidence it can benefit their service delivery, reduce costs and access hard-to-reach groups. Graham Burgess: ‘It is far better to have discussions out in the open rather than just carry on regardless.' (Pic: Shutterstock/Khen Guan Toh) We also have one of the youngest populations in the UK, most of whom use social media far more than they use mainstream broadcast media. So, if we are to engage with younger people, we need to recognise just where they are, rather than expecting them to come to us. And already, the results are impressive. By using Facebook to promote events, we were able to get information about road changes and line-up changes to a captive audience of thousands. Our winter Facebook page has received numerous hits from citizens wanting access to information about how snow was effecting services – not to mention to tell us when they thought we could be doing better. Dialogue is good, though. It is far better to have discussions out in the open rather than just carry on regardless and pretend people aren't moaning to their friends and family. We've gone one step further and added data maps showing people where grit bins are. Faced with the toughest budget settlement in our history, we are now using an interactive web tool to enable people to set their own versions of our budget, and to comment and make suggestions on what we should and shouldn't be funding. The opportunities are endless, not just in local government, but also across other services sectors, such as health, where I have a direct interest. We are looking at setting up forums where staff can discuss cost-saving ideas for the NHS, alongside ‘Wiki-sites' where residents can engage directly with health professionals. All of these social networks have helped create thriving and active local communities which encourage people to get involved and contribute to the shaping of services which are more relevant and suited to their needs. In diverse communities such Blackburn with Darwen, language can sometimes be a barrier to traditional methods of communication which is why we have introduced the use of video through YouTube to promote voting, and will be looking at ways to use it in other service areas such as recycling. By positioning ‘Fix my street' near the front page of our website, we are making use of an existing website which is designed to help people improve their local environment. All these examples have cost little to implement, whereas in the past, we might have been dazzled by new technology and paid over the odds for expensive websites and consultants. We are now able to achieve much more by making effective use of social networks and media at little or no extra cost. As with anything, there are risks, however, and the more that people use social media, the more those risks increase. However, to do nothing is not an option, and councils need to be more alert to the web 2.0 phenomenon. The potential for reputational damage through spoof sites or hostile Facebook groups is high – particularly as communities begin to mobilise against the impact of budget cuts. We're seeing bloggers and other armchair scrutineers popping up almost weekly, driven by reports in the media that all the council's data will be available at their fingertips. Clearly, this is not going to go away, and unless councils take a strategic view on how they communicate through social media, they will find it impossible to deal with these risks or engage with their public. Councils have a track record of being slow to react to advances in technology, so how we respond to the rapid changes in social media can mean the difference between engaging and taking the sting out of a community issue or ending up trapped like a rabbit in the headlights. What might start as a small issue can snowball into something with major political ramifications. One only has to see events in Egypt to understand the huge impact social media can have in mass mobilisation of individuals who have no regular contact other than through social media. Graham Burgess is chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen Council

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WHITEHALL

Face to face with the locals

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