Just do it! Facebook for community engagement

Tom Gaskin, Senior Resident Engagement Advisor

Paper Mill Yard Facebook group

New build, mixture of privately owned/rented, general needs and shared ownership

Limited opportunities to form relationships with residents Lots of shared problems e.g. parking, poor TV reception, vandalism,

cleaning, security etc Third party managing agent weren't very responsive

Setup a community Facebook group Informal alternative to residents’ association Communicate with residents and share experiences – ‘moans and groans’ Setup in an hour, promoted with flyers Within 3 days, group had over 40 members representing 23% of the

development

Discussions

Parking Poor TV reception Anti social behavior Bike theft Drug dealing Service charges

Flexible Comment at any

time

Regular contributors / lurkers

Multimedia – high impact / evidence

Lobbying tool

Missed opportunity

Staff observed discussions but didn’t engage Residents began to get frustrated with lack of progress Organisations requested summaries of key issues Dealt with through traditional methods Very time consuming Meetings with housing association and managing agent Report back to residents via group

Community benefits

Outcomes

Managing agent went into administration New agent appointed Facebook group helped raise awareness of key issues Issues promptly resolved e.g. new security measures, parking policy Much nicer place to live Rebuilding the development’s reputation Requests to delete group - Group went private Facebook changes meant residents had to rejoin

Less moans… less conversations

Key learning

Go to where your residents are and adapt – don’t try and move them Engage on their terms – online outreach Need organisational buy in, policy, strategy, staff training Support residents to manage online communities – develop skills and

promote resources available e.g. funding for promotional materials, meeting venues

Consider adapting processes – customer feedback, complaints, repair requests

Conversations wouldn’t have worked on a corporate / organisational page Joint approach - Engage partners and internal teams e.g. neighbourhoods,

communications

Larner Road Regeneration

Larner Road

622 flats, almost all in tower blocks Poor local reputation, partly justified Difficult and expensive to manage

Approach Move everyone out Demolish Rebuild –mainly family homes Build a sense of pride Let everyone else know – Larner

Road is changing

© Copyright Nigel Cox and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Purpose

Involve people who don’t come to meetings Share information Squash rumours

Residents, neighbours and other community stakeholders

Honesty and respect Building Trust Genuine dialogue

Reduce any opposition Minimise distress Build positive enthusiasm and support

Options

Twitter Too abrupt for building relationships and showing empathy

Blog (Posterous) Orbit would have more control but would have to be more proactive with

content. Residents need to make the effort to find it

Facebook Residents are already using it daily. More democratic

Facebook page

167 likes Basic design No custom URL Combination of page

and staff posts

Reach 70% female Good age spread 33% aged 25-34 3% - aged 55-64

Practicalities

Admins need professional Facebook accounts Don’t accept friends! Post as self Open or closed? Monitoring out of hours

Which staff? Who would you send to address a resident meeting? Training and support Time – it may be more effective than meetings

Executive support

Style

It’s a conversation Good-humoured but not flippant

Like a resident meeting but It’s conducted in public There’s a record Press can see it

However There is time to think (use it) You can ignore people You can delete offensive posts

Etiquette

Courtesy and respect You can complain You can’t insult individuals or be racist etc You should try to focus on what you want to happen

Why people are rude…

Anxiety Inarticulacy Drink Playing to the audience

Dealing with inappropriate comments

Empathy Modelling good humoured responses Challenging – suggesting alternatives (either in public or private) Deleting – always say you’ve deleted and why. Can invite to resubmit

another version Banning (last resort)

Unless really offensive or a persistent offender, we tend not to delete. It stands, with our response, as a example to other users of the standards we expect

Orbit South Bexley Facebook page

Neighbourhood area page Closed page Building staff confidence Community notice board Events, information and

advice Local courses Warm Home Discount

scheme Welfare reform Celebrating success –

granted Injunction

Debate

How do you decide the best approach for your organisation and residents?

How local can you go?

How do you find and engage residents who are active online?

How important are page likes? How do you measure success?

Is it best to engage as the organisation or as an individual?

How do you maintain professional boundaries?

How can we share resources?

Contact

Tom Gaskin

Senior Resident Engagement Advisor, Orbit East and South

Tel: 01603 283326

Email tom.gaskin@orbit.org.uk

Twitter: @tomgaskin

Web:

www.orbiteast.org.uk \ www.orbitsouth.org.uk

Involved Residents’ blogs:

www.oeinvolvedresidents.org \ www.osinvolvedresidents.org