A year in the life of a community website

December 23rd, 2011
[by David Armstrong]

Motueka Online has been running publicly for just on two years now, and we'd like to think it's become a part of the fabric of our lovely town. Evidence suggests this is so, at least for a fair number of residents.

Going purely by the readership statistics (and these can be misleading, although trends can paint a picture), the number of viewers and how often they use the site has been steadily growing - by about 15% over the year. There was a 20% increase in July and August, when the amalgamation debate raged and our discussion forum was much-viewed, and through December the numbers have been growing as they did for last summer - probably driven by visitors using the site to find out more about the town.

Averaging over the full 2011 year, the site has been viewed by about 3,300 individual people each month for a total of 8,300 visits (some individuals visit more than once a month), and in total they have been viewing on average just under 30,000 pages each month.

With approaching 1,400 pages available on the site, Motueka Online is now by far the largest and most active non-commercial community news and information website in New Zealand.

As an unintended consequence of this site going to the top of Google rankings for "Motueka", it is increasingly being used as a general information source for many people particularly overseas. Not a week goes by now when we don't receive requests to find a long-lost cousin who is thought to live in Motueka or to contact a community group or club which may have something in common with a similar group in Scotland.

Participation in making the content of the website has been patchy. Many groups have so far not availed themselves of the opportunity to tell the rest of us about what they do, or get us to publish news items about their new projects or past successes. Those groups that do use the site have enjoyed remarkable rewards for their "thinking outside the box".

Examples include the Art Group and Camera Club, which have their monthly work published for all to see, the Dressage Group which offered their entry forms and programmes online resulting in large participation numbers, and the Arts Council which uses the website as the primary channel to provide up-to-date information on their events such as the godwits celebration and the winter workshops.

Not all new ideas worked. With help from Take Note, we ran a monthly prize of a gift voucher for the best contributed stories, but after a few months there were insufficient contributions to warrant the prize so that was dropped for perhaps another year. But using Facebook to channel our news stories to a wider audience did seem to help build our readership.

The amalgamation issue headed the list of controversies which the website was able to foster this year. With plenty of one-way news stories available in the newspapers, many people found it satisfying to follow the arguments in detail and from a range of perspectives through our online forum. With an amalgamation vote likely in 2012, this is sure to evolve further, with Motueka Online providing an ideal channel for a range of opinions and propagation of accessible facts.

This website also promoted information exchange and the opportunity to express strong opinions on several other big issues this year, including the High Street traffic lights proposal, noise related to the aerodrome use, council spending and rates, the river stopbanks, cycleways, the Sunday market and free internet access at the library.

But the main goal of Motueka Online is not to complain about everything. There is already too much negativism and complaining in our lucky, resource-rich town, and while giving everyone their opportunity to voice their opinions we need also to encourage the good things, promote the good ideas and celebrate the people who make things happen to build a better community.

We thank our sponsors - Ray White, Parkes Automotive, Motueka Floral Studio, Nelson Building Society and House of Travel - for their continuing financial and moral support for our work, which is otherwise done as a labour of love. May 2012 see an even stronger community website with contributions from even more people and groups.

Comment by Shirley Frater:
[Posted 23 December 2011]

Thank you for the site for information about so many things. It's a very good site for up-to-date info about what's happening, looking up organization contacts, and the latest TDC press releases - especially the recent floods for road and beach info.

Wonderful to have such a community site for Motueka. Maybe people sometimes think their info is not important but that's the reader's choice as to what we click on to. Please groups and contacts use the site daily or at least weekly, otherwise David may decide not to be interested in continuing. That would be a loss for so many of us. It free but requires a little effort, has no rubbish to put in the recycle bin and it's about Motueka.

Comment by Brent Maru:
[Posted 30 December 2011]

Congratulations Motueka Online, I certainly look forward to the regular email links and stop to read the headlines on "what's happening" in our little part of the world. Keep up the great work and thanks for always capturing all the great work that is done by our tireless community workers and volunteers.

Comment by Malcolm Garrett:
[Posted 30 December 2011]

Many Thanks David, for a wonderful resource for our lovely town!

Comment by Patricia O'Shea:
[Posted 31 December 2011]

And if you need a seconder for that ..... happy to oblige. Great work David, and very much appreciated by your readers.

Comment by Martine Bouillir, Golden Bay:
[Posted 8 January 2012]

I very much appreciate your forum and articles and the well-balanced accessible way you put the information out. The feeling/tone of your publication is just right and as a district councillor I always enjoy flicking through what is of interest to Motuekans! Keep up the great work and may you grow from strength to strength. Impressive to know you are NZs largest and most active non-commercial community news site. I'm pleased that you are also on my 'council and community' emailing list as we are a region and it's good to keep tabs on what our different communities are up to.

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We wish to thank these local community-minded businesses who generously sponsor our site. They recognise the value of supporting this community asset, and in return Motueka Online is pleased to use and recommend their services whenever appropriate.

Ray White Motueka, Parkes Automotive, Motueka Floral Studio, Nelson Building Society, House of Travel