A relatively small number of Councillors in Great Britain currently use blogs or any form of online media to promote their activities but Hyndburn currently has five active Labour blogs, plus many active Facebook pages and Twitter feeds.
Cllr Ken Moss set up the Rishton First blogspot in February 2010 in order to promote activities in his village but now manages the bulk of the Hyndburn Labour group news reports as well. He said, "It's nice to get a little bit of recognition from higher up for the work we are doing at a local level here in Hyndburn. Our readership is growing all the time, from just a few hundred in 2010 to well over 10,000 every month in 2013. We have had to adapt to get our message across about the work we do as people now look beyond just the local newspapers for their information. Printed media is very important, I hope that never dies especially at local level, but blogging and other online media allow us to convey much more information in addition to those stories."
He added, "On a fundamental level it also allows us to communicate with residents in a different way and reach out to people who may never read the leaflets that come through their door or show any interest in what they perceive 'politics' to be. There are residents in Rishton who are now far more aware of what goes on around them in local government because of our blogging - they might not necessarily agree with what we are saying but we have still managed to connect with them. It is also a great way of promoting local events too and bringing communities together."
The award was presented to the Hyndburn Labour group at the North West Labour Conference on 2nd November 2013 and is signed by the Labour Leader, Ed Miliband.
The following Labour blogs are currently active in Hyndburn:
Hyndburn Labour Group
Rishton First
Harwood First
Church and Milnshaw Together
Graham Jones MP
No comments:
Post a Comment