Social media - Virtually impossible to ignore.

As you may be aware, I recently became heavily involved with a town initiative. It has been an amazing experience and I've met and mingled with people I never thought would give me the time of day. Every one of us is individual - and I love that about people - but with that comes differing opinions and conflicting arguments as different sides try to get their point across. Of course that's great, and living in a democracy this should give us the best possible outcome for project and indeed town initiatives.

‘Yes,’ I can hear you shouting at the device you are reading this on, ‘…but it doesn't always work that way does it?’ Often those with more clout and influence get their ideas listened to over those not so fortunate...but politics is not my strong point. Recently in a town meeting I was told to do something that has resonated in my mind ever since. I may have put the one liner in a blog somewhere before. Bearing in mind the buzz and excitement that surrounded the Portas Pilot campaign was generated by this blog, and in turn the social media outputs that shared it, I was told to, "Get out of the virtual world for a moment".

It's a rather odd assumption that I only talk and share with people virtually, but being diplomatic I can understand the assumption, even if it's incorrect. The thing with social media and the digital information highway is that everything is there for people to see. Because they see one part of your life or work, they subconsciously assume that this one part of your persona they see is the whole picture. We all do it - we see celebrities’ lives on TV and in newspapers and naturally assume they never have a duvet day or have to change a flat tyre before work. We judge them on what we see in the media.


The great thing about social media though, is that you can share many aspects of a project or initiative, and the Portas Pilot is a great example of this. Had we conducted meetings in closed rooms with no immediate information about our plan for the proposal, we would never have received the amazing ideas and encouragement that we did. Our meeting may have been in a room with only 10 or 20 people, but everyone was able to pass comment, which made our final proposal stronger. With Twitter, Facebook and blogging, the four week campaign was constantly informing people and in turn gaining support from many types of people. Get out of the virtual world? Why would I need to when so much can be done there?


Like it or not, the virtual world is growing, and it's growing fast! Decisions made in closed meetings mean the outcome will always be determined by the views of a chosen few. The Town Team have demonstrated how different this process can be by sharing online every step of the way (often I was tweeting during the meetings). The rise of the internet and the associated by-products should not be ignored. The success of internet shopping, for example, has had an unprecedented effect on the high street. By harnessing this power and understanding that people are never more than a click or a swoosh away from it, we can really move forward. Of course we need to get people to shop in Warwick, to eat in our fabulous restaurants and to visit our stunning attractions. But maybe something as simple as a mobile app can really encourage people in the virtual world to come to our very real and medieval one.


There are some amazing people in Warwick, and I feel privileged to have met so many of them. It is great to see so many new faces in Twitter school too. More and more people seem to be realising that it’s a force for the good and a real community; the same community - but just online not on the street. Don't think that just because I blog, tweet, update, share and spend an abnormal amount of time on my iPhone, I don't speak to actual people. Last week it took me 45 minutes to walk 100 metres in Warwick as I had so many conversations. I love talking to people and I am in fact finding myself doing it more since the Portas Pilot campaign. The Scoopz ice cream 'board guy' is like the human version of Twitter. He talks to everyone! I enjoy chatting with him about our campaign because 1) I get a different opinion and 2) I know he will share information with those on the street in a way I can't. He’s another media angle, and it's best to get your message out to all types, not just those on electronic microwaves. In that 45 minutes I talked to a handful of people and they in turn may have spoken to others about our conversation. It's the grapevine, and it's an age old method but it works. 


The thing with social media is that when you talk to someone about a subject it will not only then be shared by that person on their feed, but others can listen in, comment on, add to, and share - instantly. It’s very powerful when you want to get your message out there.

As I often write about in my blogs, "People fear what they don't understand".

It's a human instinct and often protects us and keeps us from making ‘bad’ judgements. Twitter is often misunderstood, and I recently blogged about this. Don't cast us or Twitter aside because the basis of our work is on social media. You could even learn a thing or two.

Come into the virtual world…
…it's rather lovely in here.


Thanks for reading, as always comments are very welcome.


Todd @Underwoodwines and @WarwickTweetup