Consumers get their voices heard through online
influence ...Angharad Griffiths
Consumers are
getting their voices heard and bringing about change through online influence,
according to a new report by the Welsh Consumer Council.
The report, advocacy 2.0, explores how the new tools of the internet are empowering consumers to
act together and challenge the unfair treatment and disadvantage they
face.
“From weblogs and
wikis to social networking and bookmarking sites, the new web has placed a
great deal of power in the hands of consumers,” said Vivienne Sugar, Chair of
the Welsh Consumer Council.
“Through these new tools, consumers now have an extremely effective way
to publish their experiences and the means to distribute them to a wide online
community who can work together to bring about change.
“In Wales we’ve seen this happening. For example, the Welsh Assembly Government’s Communities@One
project is helping people to find a voice using digital technologies, as is the
BBC’s ‘Your Voice’ project.
“The Aston Hill Says NO!”, coalition in North Wales is another
home grown example of how the new internet tools can empower consumers to work
together and get their voices heard – in this instance to protest about plans
to expand a dual carriageway in Flintshire.
“And with the Wales-based ‘MediaSnackers’
project providing an online social media course to youth leaders in Tonga and
Papua New Guinea from their base in Pontypridd, we actually have a world first
based right here in Wales.
“As well as giving a voice to communities who otherwise might not be
heard, the internet has also created a new communication tool between people
and organisations.
“Decision-makers can be contacted and influenced quickly and companies
and public officials can be put under pressure to respond and react to
complaints more swiftly than ever before.
What is clear that the changing nature of the internet is transforming
people from being passive consumers of information into active producers of
their own material, building online influence and winning change for
themselves.
“For those with access to the internet these are exciting times. For advocacy organisations the challenge now
is to use these new tools to advocate effectively on behalf of those who might
not have access, as well as making sure that we engage with this new consumer
movement.”
For further information please contact
Angharad
Griffiths
Communications Officer
(t) 029 2025 5454 ext. 227
(e) angharad@wales-consumer.org.uk
1. dvance
copies of the report are available from Angharad Griffiths. The report
will be available on the Welsh Consumer Council website www.wales-consumer.org.uk
from Wednesday 19 March 2008.
2. MediaSnackers
is a site/weblog/project/call to action for anyone interested in young
peoples' consumption and creation of media across the globe. For more
information see www.mediasnackers.com
3. The
BBC’s ‘Your Voice’ project is an opportunity for people to share
their views and experiences with others, to talk directly to both local
and national audiences and to add their videos to the growing online
archive of everyday life. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/yourvoice/
4. Communities @One helps people in the most
disadvantaged communities in Wales get access to
new technologies so they can fulfil their social, economic and cultural
potential. www.walescoop.com/
5. For more
information on the "Aston Hill Says NO!" campaign against plans
to widen the A494 Queensferry to Ewloe road, click here.
