How Online Communities Are Playing A Crucial Role In Helping Resolve Civic Issues

Arijit Gupta with his wife Anushka recently shifted to Noida from Bengaluru. New to the city, they din't know anyone and couldn't socialise much with their neighbours given their erratic work hours. In fact, the couple found it really hard to get familiar with the city and were dependent on technology instead of human help. This led them to join few online communities that managed to connect them with other people in the neighborhood based on their interest and background. Now while they are have made new friends within the same geographical territory, they are also much more aware about the civic issues of the area, where they live and all other information which have an impact on their lives.

Also read: Why Civic Bodies Must Connect With Citizens To Make Clean India A Success

Making a change

As a sizeable share of population in metro cities is migratory, moving from one city to another in search of high-paying jobs, these online communities have become a one stop solution to find like-minded people in nearby areas.  In fact, not just for the newcomers, this platform is working as a medium to connect the local residents over social, civic and day-to-day life issues. For instance, Local Circles, one of the biggest social media network for community living, has a thread about rising school fees in one of the prominent areas of Delhi. The thread, which received a lot of traction from member, further reached to state's education ministry, too. This led to the ministry taking immediate action against the school's illegal act. Similarly, problems related to garbage disposal, sewage system, properties, illegal encroachments, safety, security parameters are regularly raised in these communities, making it a common forum where citizens are exchanging ideas and voicing their opinions and concerns.

Popular communities

Though there are plenty of online communities started by different offline groups, the most popular ones are Local Circles and Meetup. There are area-specific forums as well, such as Noida portal, Gurgaon Network, Bengaluru Expats Club etc. which involves networking of people having common interest and concerns. From leisure travel to environmental awareness, these local groups are going places and so far working in common interest.

While most of the communities are Facebook-based groups, managed and moderated by individuals, few of them have dedicated portal with threads and mass networking facility.  These are free to join and the content is highly filtered.

How government is using these online communities

It is not just the citizens who are sharing their grievances or opinions on online forums, government officers and political parties are leveraging these platforms to share their side of the story, too. For instance, District Magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar is very active on Local Circles and uses the platform for making announcements about the policy changes, infrastructure announcements and also requests citizens to raise their concerns and complaints on his Local Circle profile. Similarly, at the time of New Year's Eve, Bengaluru Police used online forums, Facebook Groups, Whatsapp to reach out to the citizens and inform, solve queries about traffic diversions, alternate routes and safety measures. Very recently, one of the largest political parties of India has started an online group on Local Circles to bring their supporters on one platform and circulate information related to the social and civic issues addressed by them.