Where online meets offline: the success of local community websites

Turning an online profile into offline action is a common theme amongst those trying to make use of the internet, whether it is politicians wanting to turn Facebook friends into doorstepping canvassers, retailers wanting to turn online reviews into high street sales or company Chief Executives wanting to turn buzz about their firm into higher share prices.

A new study has looked at a different aspect of this theme: can community websites help strengthen community ties in the offline world? The Online Neighbourhood Networks Study 2010, “has explored the ways in which people communicate online using citizen-run websites, the impact of that communication, and the implications for local service providers … The research shows that they serve to enhance the sense of belonging, democratic influence, neighbourliness and involvement in their area. Participants claim more positive attitudes towards public agencies where representatives of those agencies are engaging online.”

The finding has important implications for how local councils should act, for the presence of neighbourhood networks across nearly every council is extremely patchy and the official web presence of local authorities rarely reaches the parts that these networks can. Yet the benefits they bring help achieve the results councils are after too. So how can local authorities encourage the creation of more such sites without being controlling, stifling or counter-productive?

It is a question that does not come with easy answers, but many councils are not yet taking the first steps, such as using their own online presences to highlight the existence of neighbourhood sites, providing news (especially about planning applications) in electronic formats that make it easy for people to copy, link and discuss on neighbourhood sites or helping match up those who might want to create such sites with those who have experience of having done just that.