TALK LONDON

www.freshnetworks.com

Talk London is driven by the Mayor’s aim to:

• deliver cost-effective research

• enable Londoners to take part in policy conversations that generate new ideas

• ensure policies are responsive and effective, that resonate with communities

• raise awareness of the breadth and benefits of programmes

An online research community of Londoners. Set up to promote positive debate on how to improve

the capital.

Where we are now

• In the early stages we grew the community slowly, seeding it and setting the correct tone for participation.

• Our current number of members is 4800 and climbing. We’re now in a stage of more rapid growth.

• Our initial goal is to reach a size of 33,000 – with roughly 1000 Londoners representing each borough, but the sky is the limit!

• We re-engage community members with continually refreshed content and an email every fortnight.

• Visitors are currently spending an average of 3.5 minutes on the site - over our 3 minute benchmark.

The engagement journey

Polls

Articles/blogsDiscussions

SurveysLive chats/focus groups

Inform Ask Discuss

Feedback

Other engagement topic examples Policing  The Met Police use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera data to help keep London safe. However, coverage is patchy. Access to Transport for London’s 1300 congestion and low emissions charge cameras, to triple their coverage, is being proposed. We recently hosted a survey on Talk London to gather Londoners’ views on this. 2320 people took part and a report on this consultation is due this Summer. Airport capacity We have a discussion thread and poll running on the three shortlisted options for expanding airport capacity in South-East England (shortlisted by the Airports Commission in December). Housing  Talk London discussions have already helped shaped work to encourage more London landlords and rental agencies to sign up to the Mayor’s London Rental Standard. We’re currently engaging Talk London members who rent privately in London in focus groups to further help shape a LRS advertising campaign.

Does a pan-London community have value for boroughs?

• Effective consultation and research tool:• Quantitative - Online surveys, Quick polls• Qualitative - Online focus groups, Discussions,

Live Chats • Breakdowns by gender, age, ethnicity, working

status etc• Tailored research and specific content at the

borough level we can segment the database by borough, residents could be discussing policies that affect their local area

• Views of other Londoners, comparisons with other boroughs i.e. cycling facility designs for the three ‘mini-Holland’ boroughs

• Raising awareness of issues through articles, blog posts etc

• Continuous engagement by re-engaging members through newsletters and discussions

• Linking offline and online engagement • GLA moderated and managed• Various levels of analysis and reporting • Growing and refreshing the community to

make it a useful resource we see a steady 1% sign up rate when we contact warm databases – boroughs could help build up their members to 1000 for robust research (Westminster 230, Southwark 221, Lambeth 208, Croydon 99, Enfield 69, Sutton 46)

Talk London registration

Does a pan London community have value for boroughs?

• Q: Do you use these online research and consultation tools already?

• Q: Where could using Talk London add value? o Are there any high level or strategic pieces of consultation /

research you do or would like to do?o Could you see it working for local research/ consultation in

addition to offline activities?

• Q: Levels of analysis and reporting required?

• Q: Experience of online engagement?