Guide to RSA online communities

What to use them for, Where to find them + How to become an RSA social reporter

7 ways to become an online RSA Fellow: pick one of them

1. Make sure you are signed up for the fortnightly RSA online newsletter (e-mail Sarah Tucker if you're not receiving it)
2. Join the RSA Fellowship social network (on Ning)
3. Join the RSA group on Linkedin
4. Follow RSA staff or RSA Fellows on Twitter (follow these Twitter lists: RSA staff, RSA Fellows)
5. Like the RSA page on Facebook
6. Become an RSA blogger
7. Make the RSA online activity dashboard your web browser’s homepage

(If you are completely new to the internet, go to ‘Help me get active online’ section).

Contents:

Help me get active online
Become an RSA social reporter
Join the RSA digital engagement group (RSAde)
RSA Social Networks on Ning (eg RSAFellowship.com)
RSA group on Linkedin
RSA on Twitter
RSA + Fellows’ blogs
RSA Facebook page
RSA videos on YouTube + Vimeo
Other social media guides

It only takes a few seconds to share some good content you’ve comes across online, to comment or post a status update etc - using these free tools. (Need help? Contact your nearest RSA regional digital champion: see list below).

View real-time activity on many of the RSA’s online communities on the RSA's Netvibes online activity dashboard (or click on screenshot to see live version):

RSA regional Web champions: here to help you (Return to Contents)

If you are an RSA Fellow in need of help, guidance or encouragement in creating content online – or just advice on how to comment, promote and share – contact a member of this network:

UK/international

• Matthew Mezey (RSA staff)
• Roxanne Persaud

United Kingdom

• John Oakley

• Barb Ballard (RSA staff)
• John Oakley

• Do you want to be part of the RSA’s team of regional digital champions? If so, please e-mail Matthew Mezey

Help me get active online (Return to Contents)

Social media surgeries
Want to learn about blogging, text messages, Facebook etc?
“A social media surgery is a pretty informal gathering of people who want to learn how to use the web to communicate, campaign or collaborate. They are deliberately relaxed. You will get to sit alongside someone who understands good ways to use the internet and they'll show you useful free tools. If you like what you see they can help you set up your own.”
“Come along to find out how you can use free web sites and services to organise activities, promote events, raise funds, collect feedback from your participants and keep a record of everything you do.”
Surgeries are open to community and voluntary groups, clubs, societies and small arts organisations and completely free of charge.
Go to socialmediasurgery.com (this initiative has been supported by the RSA).

Talk about Local
Developed by William Perrin, Nick Booth FRSA and John Popham FRSA, “Talk About Local gives people the simple skills and support to find a powerful online voice for their community. We draw inspiration from sites in places like Kings Cross, London, Stoke-on-Trent and Digbeth in Birmingham. In those places people just got on with talking about their communities online to spread local information, campaign on local issues or tell positive stories about the places in which they live. Talk About Local helps train and motivate people in their communities to find their own online voice for free”.
Have worked with them to reach over 100 communities so far.

UK Online Centres
Find free/low-cost computer courses near you.
Online basics
“Online basics is a free, easy to use course that will help you get started using computers and the internet.”

BBC First Click campaign
Aimed at over- 55′s who have never been online.

Media Trust
See their training and events calendar.

Digital Unite
Help older people get online (includes “a network of quality assured tutors across the UK who offer home-based computer and internet tuition at affordable prices.)” and 200 easy-to-use, free guides to digital technology.

iT4Communities
Help charities and community/voluntary groups to find volunteers to help with their IT needs.

Become an RSA social reporter (Return to Contents)

Sharing RSA-related content you come across – or even creating something new - can be quick and easy. Sharing and retweeting noteworthy content only takes seconds, comments a bit longer - but even a full blown blog event report, for example, complete with embedded video, need not take long.

We can all help the RSA to grow in size and impact – and become even more enjoyable – if we share our views and comments online on RSA Fellowship Networks events, lectures, projects etc.

Whilst mainstream media often focuses on “capturing surprise, conflict, crisis, and entertainment... social reporters aim to work collaboratively with other people, producing words, pictures and movies together.”

This might mean creating a comprehensive event report, with embedded snippets of video – but there is also much values in things that are far simpler, a Tweet, a blog or forum post or comment.

Further resources

The sociable role of social reporters
By David Wilcox, the social reporting pioneer.

Socialreporters.net
Website about the Social Reporters strand of the Big Lottery Fund’s ‘People Powered Change’ project.

A guide to social reporting at events
An example of social reporting: David Wilcox at the Transition conference
See also this further info on how the Transition Town network are encouraging social reporting across their whole network.

Tips for using a flipcam
An update on social reporting, including support from BIG [Big Lottery Fund]
Including David Wilcox’s thoughs on how social reporting might work for the RSA.

Center for Social Media

A great source of articles, case studies etc ‘The Center for Social Media showcases and analyses media for public knowledge and action’.

Journalism 2.0 blog

People's Voice Media - Community Reporter Programme

Community Reporter
Supporting People to have a voice
Storify (social reporting tool)
A free tool that can help you “tell stories using social media such as Tweets, photos and videos. You search multiple social networks from one place, and then drag individual elements into your story. You can re-order the elements and also add text to give context to your readers.”

Talk about Local’s quick-start page

Includes creating a simple site in WordPress, using Facebook to build community spaces, using images, video and audio online - plus step-by-step guides.

The Media Trust’s How to hit the headlines
Step by step guide.

Join the RSA digital engagement group (RSAde) (Return to Contents)

Join the RSA digital enagement (RSAde) group on the RSA Fellowship (ning) community - the site is open to all (RSAde is one of 51 groups - including Social Entrepreneurs Network, Profit with Purpose and Big Society - that are all on the main RSA Fellowship ning.)

Aim of RSA digital engagement group
“The #RSAde Group's priority objective is to ensure that FRSA communications (including networking and collaboration) are maximised through digital and social media. As part of its remit, the group tests and develops tools, techniques and incentives to enable Fellows and Staff to engage effectively online. A Fellowship Council Working Group but all Fellows are welcome to join and contribute to this Network.”

The RSAde group was set up by the RSA’s 34-member Fellowship Council in 2010.

LEFT: Timeline of RSA digital engagement milestones:

(click on image for live version)

RSA Social Networks on Ning (eg RSAFellowship.com) (Return to Contents)

• The RSA has its social network at RSAFellowship.com, along with other regional social networks. (All use the Ning platform)

• Ning social networks have broadly Facebook-like functionality: you can start discussions on one of 50+ groups (from the Social Entrepreneurs Network to RSA digital engagement to Profit with Purpose and the Coaching and Mentoring Initiative), as well as write blog posts, add videos, invite people to events etc.

These comments from members of the RSA’s digital engagement group give an idea of how groups on a Ning social network can be used:

“I find the RSAFellowship Ning community a useful place to talk though issues, propose ideas and use as a sort of scrapbook for interesting links and thoughts.
We need more fellows on it - and active! - for it to be really useful.
Visually, it looks very lovely, which I think is important - generally, it's pleasant to use”

- Jemima Gibbons (RSA Fellowship Council member, RSA Digital Engagement group)

“For me the biggest strength of social networks (ning) is that it removes the data protection barrier i.e. Fellows can:

• Connect directly with each other
• Post details of their events (not necessarily RSA organised)
• Post a discussion relevant to their region or wider

These features are incredibly helpful and useful. The automatic event link from ning to our regional web pages is very helpful and should be cultivated further. Nings are inspiring – I have a more accurate picture of interests of some Fellows in the Midlands by visiting the social network regularly”

- Vivs Long-Ferguson, RSA Senior Networks Manager

Recommended reading

Ning for Dummies (Wiley, 2009) is an easy-to-follow, yet fairly comprehensive, guide to how to get the most out of Ning social networks.

RSA group on Linkedin (Return to Contents)

• Linkedin is a social networking site that focuses on professional connections
• Post discussions, news, comments, promote events, send direct messages, join groups etc
• The RSA group on Linkedin is for RSA Fellows only (NB unlike the other online communities included on this page, which are open to everyone who is interested in the RSA’s work)

RSA on Twitter (Return to Contents)

• Use it to post news, promote events, and share project updates, publications, quick comments, links, requests for help, retweets etc.

How?
• Sign up and choose a username like MatthewMezey (written as @MatthewMezey so people know it’s a Twitter account), add a photo or image - which will appear on your Tweets
• Send short (140 character) messages out to all your ‘Followers’ (you write them into the ‘What’s happening?’ box)
• Follow friends, people who interest you, organisations, campaigns etc.
• Send private messages directly to individual Tweeters
• Use the retweet button to send interesting tweets you come across to your own followers (or just paste it in with ‘RT:’ in front of it)
• Conversations also take place around #tags (eg ‘#theRSA’, or for a specific lecture ‘#RSACatalyst’ for the RSA's Catalyst fund).
• Include a relevant #tag if you want many RSA-relevant people to see your Tweet, beyond just your ‘Followers’. This page collects a range of #tags that you might want to include (please add others that you come across.
• Regular Twitter users often use services like Hootsuite, Seesmic or Tweetdeck which make it easier to view Tweets from different people they follow (friends, work, hobbies etc), as well as from searches, particular #tags, direct messages, mentions of their Twitter name etc.
• Collect Tweeters with something in common (eg RSA Fellows) into shared ‘Lists’, which others can follow.
• Search Twitter for news, interesting people to follow etc.
• Add an RSA ‘Twibbon’ to our profile photo, so people know you’re proud to be an RSA Fellow Tweeter.

Who to follow?
- Twitter list of RSA staff who tweet
- Twitter list of RSA Fellows who tweet (please e-mail Matthew Mezey if you want to be added to this list)
- Other RSA Twitter lists:

http://twitter.com/#!/RSAEvents/rsa-list

http://twitter.com/#!/TessyBritton/rsa/members

http://twitter.com/#!/commutiny/rsa-fellows

Read the #FRSA Twitter daily news (paper.li)
Published by RSA digital engagement's Roxane Persaud)

I’ve ended up following too many people who have stopped Tweeting?
Use Untweeps to locate and remove Followers who never Tweet.

How can I show that I’m an RSA Fellow who tweets?
Add an RSA Twibbon to your Twitter account photo.

Are there any regular RSA-related Twitter chats taking place around particular #tags?
Not that we know of. Why not start one, on a topic of interest to Fellows? (Tell us about it, and we can help let people know about it).
A list of regular Twitter chats is offered by the Twitter Chat Schedule (Google Doc).

How to use Twitter: three video guides.
RSA Digital champion David Miller (Scotland) has produced these three short videos – Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3 – which will lead you from from signing up and creating a profile to quite sophisticated use of Tweetdeck.

Mashable's Guide to Twitter
Covers it all: building your twitter community, Twitter for business, sharing on Twitter, managing your Twitter stream etc.

Twitter: A Quick Start Guide for Those In and Around Government
By Dave Briggs FRSA

How to write a corporate Twitter strategy.
Neil William’s government department template.

Recording tweets on a hashtag or search term with user and tweet time data etc, downloadable as a spreadsheet: http://searchhash.com/

Non-profit use of Twitter
www.Hope140.org is Twitter’s own website about how non-profits can use Twitter.

RSA + Fellows’ blogs (Return to Contents)

• Use free blogging tools such as Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr and Posterous etc to post your thoughts, activities, campaigns etc to the world (with no 140-character limit!).

Other RSA blogs include:

RSA Projects

Matthew Taylor

RSA Comment

RSA Fellowship

RSA Facebook page (Return to Contents)

• Join the world’s more popular online social network - 750m users can’t be wrong ;-)
• Often used for social rather than professional activity

RSA videos on YouTube + Vimeo (Return to Contents)

• Share videos with others
• Make comments
• Embed the videos in your own blog
• RSAnimates (animated RSA lectures) and other videos - on YouTube.
• RSA Fellowship’s Vimeo channel

Go to: Other social media guides page (Return to Contents)

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Ruth Heritage <ruth@theyeatculture.org>