Welcome!
Sutton Take Part is an initiative to encourage people living in the London Borough of Sutton to get involved in their community.
This site shows you how to use the web to become more active in your community, from organising activities online to telling people what's going on locally
You can post questions on here if you want to know something specific, or add your own comments and experiences to share with others. Most of all, have fun!
RSS to your email
There’s too much information on the web!
The web is brilliant but there’s so much out there, how can you keep up with everything?
RSS feeds are the answer. RSS stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’. They are a way to make sure any new posts on your favourite websites come to you automatically, rather than you having to check them all the time.
Here’s another CommonCraft video which explains how they work and how to get started
Blogging tools reviewed
is quite an old post, but it’s still relevant and is a useful starter guide to blogging. It also has a great review at the end of the main few free blogging tools you could use to start your own blog.
Blogs
You’re reading this on a blog. Blogs are a great way of communicating with people – you can set one up for free and they’re easy to use.
You could set up a blog to keep people updated about your organisation, events you’re running, or to talk about your local area or something you’re interested in. You can be sure other people will want to read about it.
This CommonCraft video explains more about blogs and why they’re a great communication tool.
Facebook Groups
Lots of people are now on Facebook and use it to keep in touch with friends and family, but it’s also possible to get support and interest in an issue using Facebook Groups.
This step-by-step guide is a great place to start if you want to get people talking about a local activity or issue:
http://mashable.com/2009/10/07/facebook-groups/
What’s Twitter?
Twitter is very popular at the moment – everyone from celebrities to companies are getting in on the act. But is it really just a bunch of people talking about what they had for breakfast?
While there are lots of people on there talking about that, it’s so much more. It’s a way of sharing information and conversation with people. Unlike Facebook you don’t have to be ‘friends’ with everyone – you can follow someone’s updates (‘tweets’) without even knowing them.
It’s a great tool if you want to find out what people are saying about your organisation or your local area. For example you could search for ‘Sutton’ and you would see all the updates that mentioned the word ‘Sutton’ – it’s a great way to connect with people in your local area and find out what’s going on.
This video by CommonCraft explains what Twitter is and why it’s such a valuable tool for connecting with people.
What’s social media?
Here’s a great video from CommonCraft which explains what ‘social media’ is in plain English. It’s fun and easy to understand and will get you inspired to use some of the tools that are out there.
