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Using New Media to Enhance Outreach Efforts

06 July 2010 2 comments

The Advisers and grassroots leaders of East Coast GRC envisioned a vibrant GRC, fostered through both face-to-face and online interactions.  Ideally, a vibrant GRC has a caring community, where residents can share their passion and enjoy their interests.  It is a place where residents have a stake in the community, where their voices are heard, and where they participate actively in the community, where there are strong social networks.

In December 2009, Ms Jessica Tan, Adviser to the East Coast GRC grassroots organisations, led a workgroup comprising key New Media Champions from each division of East Coast GRC as well as representatives from the East Coast Town Council.  Their challenge?  To develop a web portal for residents called everythingeast.sg.

The workgroup used new media as a publicity tool to generate interest in events, and complemented real-life engagement activities for residents with online activities.  The workgroup members came together to share how they recruited volunteers through online channels as well as used various online platforms to feature the activities organised in the real world.

The workgroup has achieved some measure of success.  Participants at the Citizenship and Edusave Awards Ceremonies keenly downloaded their photographs, which were made available on the portal.  Residents were also happy to view photographs of them mingling with friends and neighbours at other grassroots events. Through the portal, two volunteers, one of whom is a new citizen, joined the grassroots network in Changi Simei.

Moving forward, the workgroup will be working with teachers from Temasek Junior College to start food and interest-based blogs.  They are also exploring starting a forum so that more online voices can be heard.

But there are challenges “virtualising” the real world and “realising” virtual groups. Generating and sustaining public interest, the need for prompt updates and constant maintenance are challenging.  The key lies in understanding the profile, motivation, as well as the individual and social behaviour patterns of e-users.  Roping in interested residents to help out addressed some of these issues.

Reflecting on the workgroup’s journey so far, the members had two key takeaways. Firstly, new media does not replace traditional media and face-to-face interactions; they supplement these channels.  Secondly, traditional ways of meeting up and sharing information should be brought online so that interactions can continue. This helps to sustain interest and strengthen relationships.

The story of how East Coast grassroots leaders use new media to reach out to residents is the fourth in a series of six stories on our grassroots leaders’ journey towards realising the Vision for the Community. 

Read the other stories here:

• Bridging Private and Public Estates
• Integrating New Citizens and Permanent Residents
• Residents' Committee Youth Chapters
• The Ties That Bind
• The Tampines West Experience

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