I have found, over the years, that people get involved with neighborhood events and happenings and then slowly drift away or lose touch with what is going on. To combat this I've been working to lay the foundation for a strong online presence for the Academy Neighborhood Association for the last few years. Basically, once someone is connected, I want them to stay connected and feel connected to what we are doing.
Our neighborhood's online presence started with an email address, simply because we needed to have a way to know who was participating in the first ever neighborhood sale in 2011. Since then the Academy Neighborhood's online footprint has grown considerably, culminating with the creation of academyneighbors.org, our new online home.
Here is a quick run down of where we are on the internet and how we can use each format.
Facebook:
The Academy Neighborhood Association's main public face has been facebook.com/Academy.Neighborhood.Erie. With over 120 "likes" the facebook page was our main way of communicating for a couple of years. Lately, however, facebook has been asking for money to advertise and posts to the page do not automatically show up in your news feed.
We also have a private group on facebook for residents only. If you live in or near the neighborhood and would like to join, just search for Academy Neighbors, Erie, PA while logged into your facebook account.
There is also a facebook page for the Baker Field Revitalization project. You can "like" the page to keep updated on our plans for improving this wonderful green space in our neighborhood.
Twitter:
Follow @academyneighbor (this would have been academyneighbors but that handle is one letter too long for twitter). Good for connecting with community leaders in Erie and sharing ideas about how to help neighborhoods prosper.
Nextdoor:
This is a relatively new social network. You can join our neighborhood by following this link https://nextdoor.com/invite/hfgcjjdrtkwxzzsetzmb . I think nextdoor is going to be very useful in the future, and a few other neighborhoods in Erie have jumped on board. You do have to provide the site with your real address and name. Sign up today, please!
And the latest addition... academyneighbors.org. The new site gives us control over how Erie and the rest of the world view our neighborhood. It also allows people to make donations via paypal to support our projects. If you have anything you would like to see added to the site or changed just let me know, at good old academy . neighborhood . erie @ gmail.com .
The online presence has been constructed. We have a number of ways to communicate both private and public. Let's make 2015 the year we step outside our front doors and make our neighborhood a better place to live.
