Last Friday, Steph and I spent a great morning in Bexley at Orbit South housing association, with Orbit residents from Kent and Sussex.

We worked with Heather, Paula, Peter, Sue and Jackie to set up their own Posterous blogs to talk about what’s going on in their neighbourhoods and to help them in their roles representing Orbit residents where they live.

It was great to receive such a nice warm welcome (as stories of forthcoming epic snow started to flurry) and see the enthusiastic way the residents got stuck into setting up their own blogs, asking lots of questions and understanding how social media is relevant to what they do.

The blogs vary in purpose – some are hyperlocal blogs about a street, block or sheltered housing area, one is for a Residents Forum connecting Orbit South residents across south east England, and another is a focus group monitoring Orbit services on planned works.

Here are the five hyperlocal and scrutiny blogs started:

• Chapel Lodge Block, St Leonards-on-Sea
• Boleyn Court, Gillingham
• South East Residents Forum
• Quex Court, Thanet
• Planned Works Focus Group

We’ll be continuing to support and encourage to update their own blogs to become a useful resource for Orbit residents.

Peter said of his blog:

“It’s like a village notice board. I’ll be able to add events, resident meeting dates, news, posters and the like.”

Photo of Sue, Heather and Jackie by Steph Jennings