let's be social

I went to full Council last night in Solihull, mainly because we have started promoting meetings via our Twitter feed, and as this was something I have said they should be doing for some time now, I felt I should at least attend one to see what I wanted promoting.

There’s no reason why we can’t stream meetings, but for the costs involved, who would watch it, and what would they get out of it?

I was one of 8 or 9 people in the spectator’s gallery, most of those were students, so for the general public.

In a time when Councils are being told to cut costs, and in some cases services, where does the funding come from to do this, and how would it be justified? I am all for citizen engagement, democracy, and due process, but I am really struggling with justifying the expense of making things like this available online to the directors, and members of the Council.

Any ideas?

I’ve been bitten by the SMS bug! SMS for the uninitiated (in this case at least) means Social Media Surgery.

It’s a fairly informal gathering where people can learn about blogging, twitter, mashups, online community engagement, and in its most simple form, how to talk each other online.

Since I started working for a council in the West Midlands, I have started to feel like there are things I believe in passionately which aren’t being done, and the best way to get these views across nowadays is online. The sad thing is that so few of the people making the key decisions are online to listen.

That’s where the West Midlands Councils Social Media Surgery can help. I hope to engage with the Councillors, directors, and CEOs, of our councils, and anyone involved in partnership working, voluntary organisations who work on their behalf, and associated people who make decisions, and local area plans.

Are you one of these people? Are you engaging with people online yet? Just having an email address visible online isn’t engagement by the way, we in the community don’t know what you’re up to unless you’re out there telling us, and discussing things with us in a two way dialogue.

Soon I hope to have some interest from the people above, and active social media people such as bloggers, and journalists who can help us all make this informative, and useful to get real engagement working for everyone.

Please feel free to leave your comments below, or email me to offer support, suggestions, or anything else you want to discuss about it. alanjc@chimerax.net and put WMCSMS in the title.