see me Programme Director Judith Robertson reflects on the impact of the social reporting and social media work at last weeks event:
As the dust begins to settle on #seeme14 at Dunblane Hydro, we have begun to analyse and reflect on our social media activity. From my perspective I would like to thank everyone who contributed online and helped build wider engagement with see me.
This event was the first time see me has attempted to reach out to people online and we were keen to see what support and interest there was for online engagement. From the number of tweets, retweets and blogs it’s clear that there is a big appetite for engagement by people involved with the programme and with people not present at the event.
Over the period from 31st March to today, close to 1500 tweets were sent using the #see me14 hashtag. They came from over 200 individuals and organisations, both inside and outside the room. Together these tweets featured over 1.5 million times on the timelines of the followers of people tweeting. What was great to see was that the tweet stream was diverse, with lots of people sharing pictures, links and thoughts/comments.
The tweets reflected a full range of opinions, including some voices of dissent, and some constructive feedback on the things that people liked and disliked. All of these opinions are useful when building a movement to be as inclusive as possible.
We set out to use this blog to share key information with the outside world from the event and to say a bit more than would be possible in tweets. We also wanted to give delegates the chance to write their reflections on the event and their thoughts on the issues. 15 blog posts were written for the event blog, mainly by participants. These blogs have been viewed over 900 times, and a range of comments have been added to the discussion.
We are really keen to read people’s blogs on the event, and hear what it meant to you. If you have a blog you’d like to share with us please get in touch, either by commenting below or emailing/tweeting us a link. Blogs already written that we know about will be shared later in the week with the permission of their authors.
The see me staff team will now be taking forward thoughts and comments from the blogs and tweets, along with the actions from the event. We have a lot to digest, and will be looking across the whole spectrum of tweets, blogs and the huge amount of insight and information we have gathered from people during the rest of the event.
Thank you again for your contributions – we greatly appreciated them.
From now on, please get in touch with us via Twitter on @seemescotland or via info@seemescotand.org
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Judith thanks for giving your take on the SeeMe event from the perspective of the overseer.
You mention voices of dissent, I would rather describe them as critical voices, as dissent means not commonly or “officially” held but I think critical voices at the event were more than what we heard in tweets, blogs and officially. As an activist and campaigner I tend to hear the critical opinions because people feel safe in saying it to me. In fact I got an Email from a colleague, a worker at the event, who said that very same thing. That although they didn’t agree what everything I said they appreciated that we could have a conversation, agree to differ and they would be safe in my company.
I want to commend you in your role at the event where I did think you were an overseer, keeping an eye on what was going on and supporting your staff if/when they needed it. I witnessed this and was impressed. I also noticed that you were listening and open to learning. That you didn’t have to be the centre of attention or the loudest voice, despite being the new lead in seeme. I do like to see servant leadership, it’s getting to be a rarer quality these days.
I am hopeful of positive change in the new anti-stigma campaign in Scotland and for the voices of people with lived experience to become more meaningfully involved in mental health matters. To have equal places at the table and to be held in as much high regard as the biggest paid worker. Maybe even more so. I’ve mostly worked with volunteers over the years since 1980 and getting into community development, and often been a volunteer myself. Volunteering was a major part of my recovery from mental illness in 2003/4.
So I wish you all the best Judith in your emerging role with seemenow, or whatever it it going to be named, and I hope you enjoy the ride. Chrys
Reblogged this on Chrys Muirhead .