FreshNetworks Blog

Can you quantify the benefits of people being online? We think you can. Our sister firm, FreshMinds Research, published a report with UK online centres last month which looked at how you would start to build an economic case for digital inclusion. The report is available to download in full here, but the summary findings are as follows:

What’s the benefit to individuals?

• Save both time and money - access to greater information and an increased choice of places to purchase
• Improved educational attainment - more effective learning and access to more motivating materials
• Increased salary prospects - e-learning and computer literacy increase employability and promotion. Salaries are an average of 3%-10% higher if you are online
• Greater satisfaction with public services - increased flexibility, convenience of access and overall higher standards of service

What’s the benefit to the government?

• Cost savings and increased efficiency and productivity - increasing use of online public services allows the government to concentrate it’s efforts elsewhere. One NHS initiative is expected to save the UK government £68 million in 2008

What’s the benefit to the private sector?

• Greater efficiency and productivity - employees using internet based applications to process work more efficiently
• More sales opportunities - using new technologies to reach customers more efficiently
• Increased demand for ICT products and services - more access and use of the internet will drive demand

What’s the benefit to society?

• Less social exclusion - involving members of marginalised groups in mainstream society activities
• Increased civic participation - providing wider opportunities for self expression for citizens
• Enhanced working and natural environment - fostering a more stimulating working environment as well as flexible and remote working practices

What’s the benefit to the wider economy?

• Increased demand for the ICT industry - driving further innovation and efficiency gains
• Greater UK competitiveness - attracting inward investment
• Increased GDP growth rate - enabling further investment in research and development, which will feed back into a virtuous circle of GDP growth and technological development. This would be upwards of 1.54% growth in GDP over three years

Some interesting thoughts here. The full report contains more detail and theory behind each of these so give it a read if you’re interested.

Photo-sharing site Flickr has a large and successful online community. People upload content, share and exchange stories and ideas and interact through their site. But building this large community has meant a dedicated and long-term strategy. George Oates from Flickr explains how the community was grown in a new post here.

The key, as George describes, is to accept that “People don’t like being told what to do. We like to explore, change things around, and make a place our own.”

You should read the post for more details, but Flickr’s community growth strategy can be summarised in eight points:

1. Create a space where people want to play
2. A community needs to be nurtured. Prepare for slow and steady growth if it is to succeed, don’t expect it to happen all at once
3. Let the personal voice shine through. The design of the community should be simple; it’s all about the interaction and honesty
4. Help people to explore the community. Make it simple for them to find their way around and point them in the right direction
5. Identity is crucial. A community will grow more successfully if members aren’t anonymous
6. You need guidelines (not necessarily rules) - people need to know what they should and shouldn’t do. What’s expected of them and others in the community
7. Create a rich environment. Breadth of experience is important and will help attract people to and then keep them at the community
8. Be open. Participate yourself and be truthful and honest about who you are. If people trust you they’ll take part.