Improved online updates are on the way from me!

I have been undertaking a social media experiment for the Conservative Group on Eastbourne Borough Council since late last year in which I have tried  to keep my constituents and other interested groups up to speed with not only my work as a Ward Councillor throughout Sovereign Harbour, Langney Point and the communities in and around Queens Crescent, Kingsmere and Kings Park estates but also local and national news and political stories that may be of interest.

This work has included the use of Blogspot (the blog you are now reading) and links to this along with other updates on social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook. I have to say that this has mostly been an overwhelmingly positive experience and has enabled me to connect with consituents that I may never meet through our more established means of communicating such as door to door canvassing, leaflets and public meetings. It has also enabled me to talk to Conservative Councillor colleagues all over the country which has been particularly useful when comparing initiatives and best practice between our respective authorities.

The other slightly more unexpected benefit has been how up to date I have been with news and current affairs. I often don't get time to read a newspaper during the week and whilst I thoroughly enjoy a Telegraph at the weekend, until recently my chosen means of news updates was BBC Breakfast before leaving the house in the morning and one of the 10 o'clock news programs at the end of the day. However the updates you can get from Twitter are delivered in real time and make just about every other form of media look slow and out of date by the time you see or hear it!

A development of this project has lead me to be encouraged to create a new online presence that is slightly more personalised and more relevant. It is still in its early stages at the moment but if you have time, please check it out at www.patrickwarner.co.uk and share your thoughts with me on what could make it even better, obviously once it is in full use, it will feature all updated articles and any incomplete sections will be populated. Alternatively, if you are a local Councillor and are interested in creating something similar, please let me know and I can share my contact with you!