Surrey Camp – Future Surrey (Video blog)

Yesterday I attended Surrey Camp at the University of Surrey.

Rather than trying to explain what Surrey Camp was all about I recorded a video blog with some of participants which you can view below.

The day was made up of a series of sessions which participants jumped in and out of with the aim of coming up with ideas. And some truly incredible ideas came out of Surrey Camp.

However, it also helped me arrive at a conclusion that took me completely by surprise.

Since I became a councillor I have tried to champion the use of social media by my colleagues as a positive way to engage the communities we serve. However, that has been met with stiff resistance. I thought I knew the reasons why but the fact is I didn’t but thanks to Surrey Camp I do now.

One of the sessions I sat in on was how to get local politicians to use social media to engage and better serve their communities. Interestingly and purely by coincidence, there were two councillors sat in on this session that were at completely different ends of the spectrum. Bill (cracking bloke), a very experienced county councillor is using email but finds it challenging. He has never sent a text message let alone used twitter. Then there was me who uses social media prolifically. I don’t just have one twitter account, I have four and using them all to good effect. So I started the session sensing an opportunity but finished it with a completely different attitude towards encouraging those who won’t embrace social media even if it will make their lives easier and help their communities.

I think in most respects it has to be a natural progression, much like the one from snail mail to email or the land line to cell phone. Blimey, some people are not even using email yet, despite it being so much more efficient, reliable and cheap.

We should allow people to develop at their own pace, one step at a time and not ramm social media down their throats when they are just mastering the basics of email and web browsers.

But for those who understand the potential of social media, Surrey Camp was a huge success.

What SCC are trying to achieve with Future Surrey is kind of what we in Surrey Heath have been doing for quite a few years already with the Residents Network. But it is really exciting that through natural progression, SCC have realised the potential social media has at effective communication, cost savings and better service delivery.

Surrey Police got how it can help them quite some time ago and are at the forefront of community engagement with social media and I think they will be world leading in this field. One to watch for certain.

Surrey Camp was a great idea in itself but I hope SCC put the time, effort and financial resources into moving some of the better ideas to come out of it forward and making Surrey a benchmark in digital sustainability through Web 2.0.