Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Friday, 23 October 2015
Digital Co-operative Housing in Wales
Further to the One Big Housing Conference 2015 in Llandrindod Wells where the Wales Co-operative Centre exhibited and Dave Brown, our Director of Communities and Inclusion, ran a session on ‘Meeting the Skills Gap’, I’m ‘Identifying the Opportunity within a Challenge’ by demonstrating the use of digital inclusion within co-operative housing across Wales.
The Centre has been supporting the development of co-operative housing across Wales for three years which has grown from eight ‘pioneers’ to nearly thirty schemes. Forty-one of these social rented homes are now occupied in Cardiff, where the Home Farm Village housing co-operative members communicate through a closed Facebook site and photos are tweeted by Cadwyn HA, who helped develop the scheme. Some of the residents hadn’t used social media before so being part of the group, and with the support of other co-operative members, their participation and skills have increased which demonstrates the power of formal and informal volunteering. They now resolve issues and keep each other informed about suppliers, service providers, refuse collection and anti-social behaviour, through Facebook.
The Wales Co-operative Centre also has a strong track record in the area of digital inclusion. It is currently delivering the Digital Communities Wales project for Welsh Government. The Centre has been helping communities get online since 2005 and was the lead delivery partner of the Welsh Government’s Communities@One and Communities 2.0 projects, both funded by the European Union. The Centre has extensive experience of developing and implementing co-operative solutions to strengthen communities and promote inclusion.
Recent statistics show that 56% of social housing tenants have broadband access compared to 78% of the total population. The aim is for 100% of co-operative residents to be digitally included. One way in which this is being achieved is by tenants using social media, as a platform that brings people together.
In Merthyr Tydfil, ‘Taf Fechan’ Housing co-op has recently set up a Facebook page and website. They have free wi-fi in all flats and hope to carry out most of their training and business electronically. They also tweet - @Taffechancoop.
There are other good examples of this all over Wales. In Newport, where nineteen leasehold shared-ownership homes are currently being built, members communicate through a closed Facebook site and also have a public page. There will be opportunities in future to market available properties through social media.
In Carmarthenshire, founder members of a site that has twenty-seven ‘Intermediate Rent’ homes also have a closed and public Facebook page. Members have chosen the co-op’s logo, street names and internal finishes for the homes through the Facebook page. Training presentations are uploaded to the Facebook site for members that can’t make any of the regular meetings. An emerging group in Powys uses Facebook as they start to engender interest.
Further North, in Wrexham, a small self-build housing co-op has both a website and Facebook site. They have gone public online with the website and have already accumulated over 300 likes on Facebook. They are getting some great messages of support from local community and from those already working on sustainable projects.
There is a large Community Land Trust in Pembrokeshire, which is establishing a website that links into the local community council’s website. In Swansea there is a small established housing co-op that also has a Facebook presence.
All of this not only shows the power of social media, but it provides a great opportunity to help people do more online as they develop housing co-operatives – a win-win as far as we’re concerned. The development and interconnection of all these co-ops across would not be possible without social media and the support of the Wales Co-operative Centre and the Confederation of Co-operative Housing.
Dave Palmer, Wales Co-operative Centre
Friday, 12 December 2014
#HousingDay - Sharing your stories
This year's #HousingDay reached a potential audience of seven million people.
#HousingDay is a 24 hour campaign across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media networks. This year’s focus was to promote the creation of new and untold housing stories shared under the #HousingDay hashtag.
The day aimed to tackle negative portrayals of those who live in council, social or affordable housing, as well as those on benefits through programmes like ‘Benefits Street’. #HousingDay 2014 was our chance to challenge these negative perceptions and to present an alternative view of how social housing supports and enables people to fulfil ambitions and transform their lives for the better. We will only be able to compile a compelling housing narrative if we ensure that housing organisations engage with their tenants and customers.
This year’s event received widespread coverage on social media and was backed by celebrities including the Rev Richard Coles, Armando Iannucci and Rufus Hound. It was also supported by MPs such as Brandon Lewis, Emma Reynolds, Natalie Bennett and Tim Farron. Community Housing Cymru, the National Housing Federation, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Federation of ALMOs also backed the campaign.
According to TweetReach, #HousingDay topped 30,000 tweets - averaging 1,248 tweets an hour - with an overall reach of seven million and 6,000 contributions. The results are up significantly on 2013 when there were 10,000 tweets, 2,600 contributors and a reach of 1.8 million.
We also ran a #HousingDay roadshow which was a whistle-stop tour of six housing associations all over the UK in just two days. John Popham, a social media advocate and consultant, visited the six organisations to run a brief session on the importance of storytelling in order to give them the tools to publicise their great stories.
#HousingDay also commissioned ‘outside in’ research on perception by the GB public with Ipsos Mori. This research makes for interesting reading and discussion, and proves that positivity towards the value of social housing is higher than expected in the UK with 61% voting that the negative stereotype of the people that live in social housing is unfair. It also shows that #HousingDay provides an opportunity to facilitate the conversation we need to have with policy makers, the media and the public.
#HousingDay's creator Adrian Capon, who works for Yorkshire Housing, said: “This was a fabulous effort by all those who took part. I really can’t thank you enough for the efforts you have put in. But please, we must keep creating and sharing our tenant stories. We have a long way to go to tackle stigma and to end the housing crisis. The success of this day is totally down to you.”
Following the day, there is a #HousingDay 'best story' competition. We’re appealing to all social landlords, housing professionals and tenants who took part to share their stories with the @HousingDay Twitter handle. The most compelling stories will be used as part of a TV-style documentary. Finally, an impact survey is available to provide your HousingDay feedback on www.surveymonkey.com/s/HousingDayImpact2014.
#HousingDay is a 24 hour campaign across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media networks. This year’s focus was to promote the creation of new and untold housing stories shared under the #HousingDay hashtag.
The day aimed to tackle negative portrayals of those who live in council, social or affordable housing, as well as those on benefits through programmes like ‘Benefits Street’. #HousingDay 2014 was our chance to challenge these negative perceptions and to present an alternative view of how social housing supports and enables people to fulfil ambitions and transform their lives for the better. We will only be able to compile a compelling housing narrative if we ensure that housing organisations engage with their tenants and customers.
This year’s event received widespread coverage on social media and was backed by celebrities including the Rev Richard Coles, Armando Iannucci and Rufus Hound. It was also supported by MPs such as Brandon Lewis, Emma Reynolds, Natalie Bennett and Tim Farron. Community Housing Cymru, the National Housing Federation, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Federation of ALMOs also backed the campaign.
According to TweetReach, #HousingDay topped 30,000 tweets - averaging 1,248 tweets an hour - with an overall reach of seven million and 6,000 contributions. The results are up significantly on 2013 when there were 10,000 tweets, 2,600 contributors and a reach of 1.8 million.
We also ran a #HousingDay roadshow which was a whistle-stop tour of six housing associations all over the UK in just two days. John Popham, a social media advocate and consultant, visited the six organisations to run a brief session on the importance of storytelling in order to give them the tools to publicise their great stories.
#HousingDay also commissioned ‘outside in’ research on perception by the GB public with Ipsos Mori. This research makes for interesting reading and discussion, and proves that positivity towards the value of social housing is higher than expected in the UK with 61% voting that the negative stereotype of the people that live in social housing is unfair. It also shows that #HousingDay provides an opportunity to facilitate the conversation we need to have with policy makers, the media and the public.
#HousingDay's creator Adrian Capon, who works for Yorkshire Housing, said: “This was a fabulous effort by all those who took part. I really can’t thank you enough for the efforts you have put in. But please, we must keep creating and sharing our tenant stories. We have a long way to go to tackle stigma and to end the housing crisis. The success of this day is totally down to you.”
Following the day, there is a #HousingDay 'best story' competition. We’re appealing to all social landlords, housing professionals and tenants who took part to share their stories with the @HousingDay Twitter handle. The most compelling stories will be used as part of a TV-style documentary. Finally, an impact survey is available to provide your HousingDay feedback on www.surveymonkey.com/s/HousingDayImpact2014.
Monday, 28 April 2014
Instagram that breeze block!
I’ve been having fun with Cadwyn’s newest development, a regeneration project for the local shopping parade in Pentrebane, a close knit residential area in the west of Cardiff. As well as setting up the targeted recruitment and training for the site, I’ve been experimenting with using social media and a blog to bring the development to life for local people.
I had the idea for this after my kids were fortunate enough to have a brand new school built for them last year. They were pretty excited about this, but apart from one site visit and the obligatory Ivor Goodsite poster homework assignment, they ended up not really feeling involved in the project at all. This didn’t stop them bombarding me with questions every time we walked past - questions about what was happening with that machine, and why, and how would they get the roof on, and how many bricks did I think would be needed all together, and did the person driving the digger need a special licence, and on, and on, and on….Some of these questions I could (sort of) answer, but for most of them I did what any self respecting parent does these days and relied on Google, and the site project’s occasional twitter feed.
This got me thinking that while there are obvious limitations to opening up actual building sites – health and safety, time, logistics, to name just a few – the internet and social media offers a big opportunity to do the next best thing by acting as a window onto the development. What I didn’t realise then was that I’d have the chance to put my money where my mouth is a year or so later…so, based on my modus operandi of assuming that anything is allowed unless someone specifically tells me it’s not, I’ve been busy getting Beechley Drive a social media identity!
This is what I’ve done so far…
Beechley Drive Blog - the development brief from Cardiff Council included a requirement to set up a website to keep the local community informed of site developments. I really wanted this to be more than a static website with a one way flow of information that nobody would ever return to a second time, so I’ve worked with Cadwyn’s Web Officer to set up a simple WordPress site, which has the required corporate boxes ticked (logos of funding partners, project timeline) but which also offers a more friendly voice to the development, with blog posts written in a (hopefully) chatty and informative tone. I’ve left comments enabled throughout the site in the hope that folk will interact with the site and suggest/contribute further content, and I’m also talking to the local schools about the children taking over parts of the blog, perhaps posting interviews with longtime residents, or other class projects related to the site.
Beechley Drive Facebook Page - the Pentrebane community already makes good use of Facebook with various groups set up for local residents, school parents, Communities First projects and so forth, so I am hoping that a FB page will offer a quick and easy window onto the development, but also of course be a forum for local residents to ask questions, raise concerns, and make suggestions. It’s also an easy way of sharing blog posts and project photos, and driving engagement to the website itself.
Beechley Drive Twitter Feed - I’m envisaging that most of the interaction with local residents will be via Facebook, because of the strong groups that already exist there. However, using Twitter gives us an opportunity to talk with people who don’t use Facebook – and also I think a more effective way of sharing what we’re doing with stakeholders and organisations who are not necessarily local.
Beechley Drive Instagram Feed - the Instagram feed itself does not have much traction; however, I’m using it primarily in conjunction with Facebook and Twitter to share photos and comments as the site progresses. The Instagram feed is also linked to the website, which means that even if there is a quiet week as far as the blog goes, there’ll be new content on the site to draw people back.
It’s early days for all of the above, and now the big challenge becomes keeping the website and social media channels feeling fresh and worth following; and of course to promote and encourage interaction so that this does not just become a one way stream of information blasted meaninglessly into the ether. This will be very much a learning process, and I’m sure there’ll be stuff that goes wrong. I would welcome advice and pointers from anyone who’s done anything similar!
I’ll be blogging progress and lessons learnt (and more than likely the occasional mistake) along the way, so please feel free to join me on the journey!
Michelle Davis
Targeted Recruitment and Training, Cadwyn HA
I had the idea for this after my kids were fortunate enough to have a brand new school built for them last year. They were pretty excited about this, but apart from one site visit and the obligatory Ivor Goodsite poster homework assignment, they ended up not really feeling involved in the project at all. This didn’t stop them bombarding me with questions every time we walked past - questions about what was happening with that machine, and why, and how would they get the roof on, and how many bricks did I think would be needed all together, and did the person driving the digger need a special licence, and on, and on, and on….Some of these questions I could (sort of) answer, but for most of them I did what any self respecting parent does these days and relied on Google, and the site project’s occasional twitter feed.
This got me thinking that while there are obvious limitations to opening up actual building sites – health and safety, time, logistics, to name just a few – the internet and social media offers a big opportunity to do the next best thing by acting as a window onto the development. What I didn’t realise then was that I’d have the chance to put my money where my mouth is a year or so later…so, based on my modus operandi of assuming that anything is allowed unless someone specifically tells me it’s not, I’ve been busy getting Beechley Drive a social media identity!
This is what I’ve done so far…
Beechley Drive Blog - the development brief from Cardiff Council included a requirement to set up a website to keep the local community informed of site developments. I really wanted this to be more than a static website with a one way flow of information that nobody would ever return to a second time, so I’ve worked with Cadwyn’s Web Officer to set up a simple WordPress site, which has the required corporate boxes ticked (logos of funding partners, project timeline) but which also offers a more friendly voice to the development, with blog posts written in a (hopefully) chatty and informative tone. I’ve left comments enabled throughout the site in the hope that folk will interact with the site and suggest/contribute further content, and I’m also talking to the local schools about the children taking over parts of the blog, perhaps posting interviews with longtime residents, or other class projects related to the site.
Beechley Drive Facebook Page - the Pentrebane community already makes good use of Facebook with various groups set up for local residents, school parents, Communities First projects and so forth, so I am hoping that a FB page will offer a quick and easy window onto the development, but also of course be a forum for local residents to ask questions, raise concerns, and make suggestions. It’s also an easy way of sharing blog posts and project photos, and driving engagement to the website itself.
Beechley Drive Twitter Feed - I’m envisaging that most of the interaction with local residents will be via Facebook, because of the strong groups that already exist there. However, using Twitter gives us an opportunity to talk with people who don’t use Facebook – and also I think a more effective way of sharing what we’re doing with stakeholders and organisations who are not necessarily local.
Beechley Drive Instagram Feed - the Instagram feed itself does not have much traction; however, I’m using it primarily in conjunction with Facebook and Twitter to share photos and comments as the site progresses. The Instagram feed is also linked to the website, which means that even if there is a quiet week as far as the blog goes, there’ll be new content on the site to draw people back.
It’s early days for all of the above, and now the big challenge becomes keeping the website and social media channels feeling fresh and worth following; and of course to promote and encourage interaction so that this does not just become a one way stream of information blasted meaninglessly into the ether. This will be very much a learning process, and I’m sure there’ll be stuff that goes wrong. I would welcome advice and pointers from anyone who’s done anything similar!
I’ll be blogging progress and lessons learnt (and more than likely the occasional mistake) along the way, so please feel free to join me on the journey!
Michelle Davis
Targeted Recruitment and Training, Cadwyn HA
Friday, 21 February 2014
Helping clients to surf the information superhighway
The aim of Care & Repair is to enable clients to remain safely and independently in their own homes. Part of the service we offer is for caseworkers to visit clients at home - many of whom are socially isolated, live in rural areas or where there is limited public transport. Some find it difficult to get out and about and rely on family and friends for support, and other clients’ families and friends live too far away to be able to offer the support needed. However, many of the things our clients find harder to do can all be done online - shopping, chatting to family and friends, sending and receiving photos.
Not everyone wants to be online! However, often people are unaware of the benefits or just need extra support to get online. Sometimes the cost of getting online can also be a major barrier.
It is important that we as caseworkers help clients to understand how the internet can be relevant in their everyday lives. One way we do this is by explaining how convenient the internet is. Like all my colleagues across Wales, I use an iPad for work as part of the Care & Repair myPad project. This means I can show clients the benefits of using digital technology and explain the importance of being ‘digitally included’. Once clients see how easy the tablets are to use, it breaks down one of the biggest barriers – the fear of using IT.
I explain how money can be saved by shopping online, as many items are cheaper and price comparison websites can help find the best deals. Some of my clients now order their prescriptions online, have shopping delivered, and speak with family and friends. Some have contact with their social and church groups (through Skype and face time), and use social networking sites to keep in touch and to learn new skills. One client is doing a degree course online, others download reading and audio books, some do their banking online and many enjoy games and puzzles.
The majority of these new skills also improve the client’s self-esteem, confidence and wellbeing, and ultimately help to reduce a feeling of social isolation.
Beverley Evans
Caseworker, Blaenau Gwent Care & Repair
Watch our video for Care & Repair Week here. Helping nannies and grampies all over Wales!
Not everyone wants to be online! However, often people are unaware of the benefits or just need extra support to get online. Sometimes the cost of getting online can also be a major barrier.
It is important that we as caseworkers help clients to understand how the internet can be relevant in their everyday lives. One way we do this is by explaining how convenient the internet is. Like all my colleagues across Wales, I use an iPad for work as part of the Care & Repair myPad project. This means I can show clients the benefits of using digital technology and explain the importance of being ‘digitally included’. Once clients see how easy the tablets are to use, it breaks down one of the biggest barriers – the fear of using IT.
I explain how money can be saved by shopping online, as many items are cheaper and price comparison websites can help find the best deals. Some of my clients now order their prescriptions online, have shopping delivered, and speak with family and friends. Some have contact with their social and church groups (through Skype and face time), and use social networking sites to keep in touch and to learn new skills. One client is doing a degree course online, others download reading and audio books, some do their banking online and many enjoy games and puzzles.
The majority of these new skills also improve the client’s self-esteem, confidence and wellbeing, and ultimately help to reduce a feeling of social isolation.
Beverley Evans
Caseworker, Blaenau Gwent Care & Repair
Watch our video for Care & Repair Week here. Helping nannies and grampies all over Wales!
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Facebook: The good, the bad and the ugly!
I am writing this blog just after running a competition on our Facebook page, and it was quite successful on one hand and a bit of a hassle on the other!
Our Facebook page started back in 2011. I was incredibly lucky to be able to push it forward with supportive senior management who love social media, use it regularly and wanted the organisation to embrace it. Our information services and human resources departments were concerned but after ironing out the lumps and bumps we were all of a sudden pushed into the world of social media. It wasn’t just new for the organisation but new for me too. I hadn’t done this before, what if my confidence backfired and something really really bad happened?
Helen Reynolds from Monmouthshire Council came to the rescue. I met her at CHC’s PR Network. She filled me with confidence and advice and her success spurred me on to think that I could do it too.
The first step was to ensure that all our staff had access to social media. Our remote workers enjoy keeping up with daily happenings as do staff that are on maternity leave, sabbaticals or maybe those that have left for pastures new. It also meant there were more people to help me!
Tenants can ask us anything and everything on Facebook. I sometimes find that I am a housing officer, maintenance officer, police officer, community worker and any other officer you can think of all in one! This means that staff across the whole organisation need to be involved or at least aware of queries coming through Facebook just like any other letter, email or phone call.
Staff across each department have been trained on the use of Facebook. Although we may need to increase their confidence, they are very much aware of its importance as a communication tool and the need to combine it with other methods of communication. This hasn’t been a quick process as it does take time to get political buy-in.
Up until this year, I hadn’t had a real problem on Facebook. I hadn’t had foul language posted, hadn’t really had abusive comments directed at staff and hadn’t had a persistent barrage of messages demanding a reply a second after posting it. However, we have this year. This means that you have to be on the ball. When a message is posted, check it, do something about it and reply in a timely manner suitable to the query. And if you have to delete it, make sure you explain why. Perhaps it’s because of the recession or because people aren’t hibernating this summer, or perhaps because more people are aware of our page, but this year not all our messages have been 100% positive. BUT we have also had lovely comments. At the end of the day, Facebook is a public method of voicing an opinion. It isn’t plain sailing and you need to spend time on it. However, it has benefited us greatly.
Tenants on Facebook helped us to choose our new logo. Tenants from Newtown have socialised with tenants from Pontypridd but have never met. Tenants have helped fight crime by reporting information to the police after seeing our Facebook page. Young tenants tag themselves in hundreds of pictures where they are abseiling, climbing and canoeing. Facebook has enabled us to access those who are isolated. Perhaps that is the main reason for being on social media, to help those that are isolated to feel part of a community.
Back to our competition... we ran a competition asking tenants to ‘like’ our Facebook page and write ‘I want to win’ on our ‘wall’ to win an overnight stay at a hotel. Although it was a popular competition, it took quite a while to get a competition winner that was actually free on the night! The tenants that finally stayed at the hotel had a wonderful evening and their reaction when they found out was priceless. The massive increase of traffic to our page and quite a few extra ‘likes’ helped too. We may not choose an overnight stay as a prize again, or maybe simply getting them to choose the date and location of the stay could have been easier!
www.facebook.com/newydd
Mared Elenid Williams
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Newydd Housing Association
Our Facebook page started back in 2011. I was incredibly lucky to be able to push it forward with supportive senior management who love social media, use it regularly and wanted the organisation to embrace it. Our information services and human resources departments were concerned but after ironing out the lumps and bumps we were all of a sudden pushed into the world of social media. It wasn’t just new for the organisation but new for me too. I hadn’t done this before, what if my confidence backfired and something really really bad happened?
Helen Reynolds from Monmouthshire Council came to the rescue. I met her at CHC’s PR Network. She filled me with confidence and advice and her success spurred me on to think that I could do it too.
The first step was to ensure that all our staff had access to social media. Our remote workers enjoy keeping up with daily happenings as do staff that are on maternity leave, sabbaticals or maybe those that have left for pastures new. It also meant there were more people to help me!
Tenants can ask us anything and everything on Facebook. I sometimes find that I am a housing officer, maintenance officer, police officer, community worker and any other officer you can think of all in one! This means that staff across the whole organisation need to be involved or at least aware of queries coming through Facebook just like any other letter, email or phone call.
Staff across each department have been trained on the use of Facebook. Although we may need to increase their confidence, they are very much aware of its importance as a communication tool and the need to combine it with other methods of communication. This hasn’t been a quick process as it does take time to get political buy-in.
Up until this year, I hadn’t had a real problem on Facebook. I hadn’t had foul language posted, hadn’t really had abusive comments directed at staff and hadn’t had a persistent barrage of messages demanding a reply a second after posting it. However, we have this year. This means that you have to be on the ball. When a message is posted, check it, do something about it and reply in a timely manner suitable to the query. And if you have to delete it, make sure you explain why. Perhaps it’s because of the recession or because people aren’t hibernating this summer, or perhaps because more people are aware of our page, but this year not all our messages have been 100% positive. BUT we have also had lovely comments. At the end of the day, Facebook is a public method of voicing an opinion. It isn’t plain sailing and you need to spend time on it. However, it has benefited us greatly.
Tenants on Facebook helped us to choose our new logo. Tenants from Newtown have socialised with tenants from Pontypridd but have never met. Tenants have helped fight crime by reporting information to the police after seeing our Facebook page. Young tenants tag themselves in hundreds of pictures where they are abseiling, climbing and canoeing. Facebook has enabled us to access those who are isolated. Perhaps that is the main reason for being on social media, to help those that are isolated to feel part of a community.
Back to our competition... we ran a competition asking tenants to ‘like’ our Facebook page and write ‘I want to win’ on our ‘wall’ to win an overnight stay at a hotel. Although it was a popular competition, it took quite a while to get a competition winner that was actually free on the night! The tenants that finally stayed at the hotel had a wonderful evening and their reaction when they found out was priceless. The massive increase of traffic to our page and quite a few extra ‘likes’ helped too. We may not choose an overnight stay as a prize again, or maybe simply getting them to choose the date and location of the stay could have been easier!
www.facebook.com/newydd
Mared Elenid Williams
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Newydd Housing Association
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