My first year blogging

Today this blog is one year old, I have to admit that i am surprised to some degree that i have managed to keep it going for this long and that i have actually found it to be a excellent resource for myself as a way of exploring new ideas and gauging opinion from people. Never underestimate the value of “drafts” in developing your thinking..

I have used it on the whole for work related discussions but did use it for a period last year to share my thoughts and reflections of my wife’s and my family’s journey with Thyroid Cancer. Taking the decision to share those personal experiences with potentially so many people, wasn’t taken lightly, but i felt i needed to get “stuff” off my chest and in doing so i made some great connections not just for myself but for my wife.  It also proved to me the benefits of allowing people in to your personal thoughts and feelings sometimes and gaining a very different kind of support which i cherished and valued so much.

In terms of work, my blogging has enabled me to feel supported when on occasion that wasn’t happening internally. It also (along with twitter) gave me a new network of colleagues and peers. You all add value by sharing your insights and thoughts. Without these tools i don’t think i would have felt supported, in touch, networked and accessible.

Now i didn’t set myself any measurements or targets for my blog, i just did it for me and hoped along the way what i wrote would also offer value to someone else.

Some statistics about my blog’s first year

• First year visitor numbers (June 2008 to June 2009) – 13050

• Average visitors per day
  • During 2008 – 33
  • During 2009 – 39

• Posts and Comments
  • Total Posts: 181
  • Total comments: 226

• Top Ten most popular pages since starting
  1. About me
  2. DRAFT V0.1 – social media and online participation
  3. Thoughts on a “perfect council website”
  4. Should councils be using Bebo/Facebook/Myspace
  5. Using Google Maps with formal GIS
  6. Thoughts on BeLocal – Building and Engaging Local Communities using Digital Technologies
  7. Phil Norrey – Chief Executive, Devon County Council
  8. Thoughts on Public Sector Online 2008
  9. a Concept for Devon Online – version 2
  10. Thoughts on Social Networking and Youth Participation Event

• Top Ten Referrers since starting
  1. twitter.com
  2. google.com/reader/view
  3. googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2008/08/using-google-maps-to-visualize-arcgis.html
  4. wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/archive/2009/01/08/creating-a-social-media-policy-for-your-nonprofit.aspx
  5. WordPress Dashboard
  6. googlevideo.blogspot.com/2009/01/turning-down-uploads-at-google-video.html
  7. wordpress.com/tag/vw-camper-van
  8. lgeoresearch.com/list-of-social-media-online-participation-policy-and-guidelines/
  9. facebook.com
  10. en.wordpress.com/tag/social-media-guidelines/

Reflections

What i found interesting about these stats was that it really does help to connect the multiple channels and multiple networks to enable a wider audience to participate or at least read the content.

I was also really pleased with the numbers. I never expected anything huge and was thinking something like 10-20 visitors per day would have been good  – considering the most logical audience base is in local government and that is where “access to social media” is such a challenge.

If others could have access and start similar blogs and share experiences in this way, i wonder what impact that would have on the pace of change in our local councils. It would be like attending a conference everyday and gaining insights and lesson from other people trialling new ways of doing things and all for FREE.

I have many personal highlights over the last year for my blog, here are a just a few of them;

• starting it in the first place – huge step, and no cost to the organisation or resources in ICT
• getting my chief executive supporting social networking on camera and available via the blog
• sharing and developing my councils social media policy and guidelines through the blog
• connecting with many new friends and colleagues

Some connected benefits and i’m not entirely sure if these are connected to my blog or twitter or both, but in the last 12 months i have also spoken at a number of events on the lessons we have learned and ideas etc. That has also enabled me to connect to more and more people as well as get challenged by people, which is also a really valuable process.

What next?

So many things have happened in the last year and the next 12 months will be even more exciting. I haven’t set any targets as such as i’m not yet in a position to think that my blog is a marketing medium for me. Maybe in the future i will enter the consultancy arena (as do many others) and will re-evaluate my online presence and align it with other channels to get the maximum benefit.

In the meantime, i am keen to continue to share the lessons i learn here and my thoughts on the ever expanding area of social media and social networking in local government and i want to connect to many more people who are also doing excellent things as well as those making mistakes.

There are a few events i am speaking at or involved with via panel sessions this year and i have listed them below. If you are going to any of these or are speaking then i look forward to meeting you. Do stop me and let me know what you are doing.

• July
  • 7th July -PSF Event – Effective Social Media & Web 2.0 Strategies for Local Authorities – North East
• September
  • 15th September -LGC – Developing Public Sector Communications through Social Media
  • 29th/30th September – Ark – 9^th Annual Knowledge and Information Management for the Public Sector conference
• November
  • 3rd /4th November – Ark – Public Sector ICT

Is blogging really so 2004?

I was some what gutted earlier today when i saw a link to a Wired article entitled “Twitter, Flickr, Facebook make Blogs look so 2004“  The reason i’m gutted is that i have only recently (June 08) and i am encouraging others to do the same. I am hoping that it isn’t really the case, as i don’t want to feel that along with fashion, i am at nearly a decade out of date!!

However i completely agree that there are an increase in so called professional bloggers, but who cares, they offer something to the large audience and in my opinion don’t distract people from finding my blog or even thinking that my blog is “professional”, i believe there will always be room for real bloggers sharing real thoughts on real issues.

But, and i couldn’t help finding a legitimate use of the new polling function, i thought i would run a poll to find out what people think in response to this article.

Devon Enterprise Architects online

Recently my post of Web Innovations, New Media and Portal Manager moved from Corporate Communications into Corporate ICT to sit within the Solutions Development Section, where the team of Enterprise Architects sit – a team of 6 people who do some great work – managed by the Solutions Development Manager.

I am pleased to say that they have just set up a team blog and to help them i thought it would be useful to signpost them so they can start to make some great connections.  On rare occasions I may even contribute to the blog as well, if i have something relevant to say in there arena.

Enterprise Architecture is new in DCC and will play an important part in the business transformation agenda in this authority. I won’t say too much as to what they all do, I’ll leave that for them to explain.  Please do drop by and leave some comments as well as making some useful contacts.

Developing guidelines for…

As part of the wider work i am getting involved in around Social Media and Social Networking, one of the tasks is to conduct a review and re-write the current internet/email usage policy to incorporate new and social media tools, such as wikis, blogging and social networking.

The aim is to create some overarching or underpinning (depends how you see these things) principles for online participation. This would be supported by (we hope) a robust all encompassing policy (a colleague is doing this bit, i managed to pull the long straw on that one). Below all of this would be some specific guidelines which would signpost relevant materials and existing guidelines where appropriate e.g. for email we would signpost customer service standards for communications.

I thought i would share the links that i have come across, kindly signposted to me by Dave Briggs and Simon Wakeman via Twitter earlier today.

• BBC Personal use of Social Networking and other third party websites
• BBC Staff guidelines on blogging
• IBM Social Computing Guidelines
• CIPR Code of Conduct
• CIPR Social Media Guidelines
• SUN Blogging guidelines

If you are aware of more, then please do share them. I will post ours when they have been approved.

How big does your megaphone need to be

The interesting thing about social networking and blogging is that it can give you a huge megaphone to the world. I was listening to Tim Davies the other day as he came down to help us work on a project to engage young people through social networks, he said that young people see Social networking as a huge megaphone to the world.

But how big does your megaphone need to be before you become noticed and recognised in the WWW. I have started to read a few blogs which have been around for some time and they obviously have a reputation and a following. But what is it that makes your virtual space popular or referred to. Some are just pure gold and are seen on many a blog roll. I know my blog roll is not complete but i am searching for more inspiration on a daily basis. If you know a good blog and want to recommend it, please let me know.

The reason i read the blogs i do is because i have a real interest in what they say and respect their views. They may not all know that but those on my blog roll are exactly that. I see the list as a personal recommendation and i wouldn’t recommend something if i didn’t think it would offer value, inspiration or insight to others.

One of the biggest things i have learnt in the last week is that i know only a small amount surrounding this new innovative area of social media and web 2.0 compared to most of the blogs i read. I have challenged myself to read more, question more and seek feedback from those who i respect.

So as i continue on my journey, i hope to see you along the way, if i do, stop me and say hello and tell me what your reading or whose blog your reading.