Hosted by Tom Stables of the 3ManFactory, The evening commenced with a presentation by Matt Stanton, Community Involvement Worker for Preston City Council, who is also involved with ProjectDirt in Preston, the Preston Environmental Forum.
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The main theme of Matt’s presentation was that of Social Media and its implications to the wider community of Preston, the agenda being:
Index of multiple deprivations
Community asset maps
Community street audits
Preston environmental forum
The good neighbour network
Job clubs
Neighbourhood planning in east Preston
Social media (using Twitter, community blogs etc)
Community/hyperlocal websites (community websites, neighbourhood based and possible benefits)
Following Matt’s explanation of each item on the list, a discussion ensued to explore opinions of the audience on the existing forms of social media that would best serve in such a way of disseminating useful information, general news items and events of local interest to the communities in the various localities of Preston.
The outcome of the debate appeared to be in favour of using the social media facility of Twitter and hyperlocal media websites, alongside that well known social media website, Facebook.
The general feeling of the audience was that whatever your preference is for social media websites, one thing is certain, it’s here to stay. The most important factors being that the website has to be informative, accurate, interesting and simple to use in its navigation.
To see all the latest discussions at PrestonSocial use the hashtag label of #prestonsocial on Twitter.
What are your opinions of social media? What do you look for in such websites? What information is important to you? Do you think that communities could benefit from hyperlocal media? Have your say in the comments section below.
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