Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Why does your community need to talk about cats?

June 24th, 2011

Have you ever attended public hearing on a controversial topic?  If you have, you’ll recognize the typical process.  First, a person from one side of the issue rises to the microphone to make their argument.  Then someone from the other side reciprocates. With each comment, tensions rise; too often the debate denigrates into a shouting match.  The end result is that nobody is “listening” at the public “hearing.” Twenty years ago, such displays of disharmony only took place in face-to-face settings.  Now we have to worry about blogs and social media.  If you don’t like the stance of a public official on an issue, create your own blog or Facebook page and let the public official have it.  Others, hiding behind the veil of anonymity, will quickly jump aboard with their comments.  And the fight is on. Every community, large and small, has potentially divisive issues that can explode into these shouting matches.   So, what can be done to reduce the chances of their occurrence? There is no simple answer to that question.  But Michael Wood-Lewis offers some advice:  start a Front Porch Forum and begin talking about lost cats, yard sales, and babysitters.

Think Front Porch Forum

I’ve written previously about how Wood-Lewis has created an online tool dedicated to connecting people in local neighborhoods.  In a recent post on his blog, Wood-Lewis takes on criticism that his tool, the Front Porch Forum, can’t build “community” because conversations in the forums appear to focus on trivial matters, like a neighbor's lost cat. But Wood-Lewis makes no apologies for conversations of this nature.  In fact, he calls them the bedrock for building relationships and increasing people’s sense of ownership of their community.  He goes on to offer an example of a rural community with a Front Page Forum where one resident took county officials to task over road conditions.  Instead of allowing the topic to denigrate into a shouting match, however, residents jumped on board and turned it into civil discourse.  According to Wood-Lewis, there has even been talk about the community banding together for a “work day.” Although I’ve not witnessed the Front Porch Forum in action first-hand, I’m a big fan of its potential.  And I think Wood-Lewis is right when he defends the seemingly trivial conversations as the base for more productive, serious discussions.  It just might explain why some pretty good community blogs don't inspire more comments on serious topics, and why still other blogs inspire nothing but divisive comments. If you want to grow a stronger sense of community in your community, it's definitely something worth thinking about. Photo credit: CesarOntar - Flickr

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Posted in Community Development, Community Engagement, Leadership, Rural | Comments (1)

Finding Windom: What a difference a blog can make

May 25th, 2011

Editor's Note: Increasingly, community and economic development officials are turning to blogs as a means of communicating with their constituents.  But what happens when a community member takes on that responsibility? That is the situation in Windom, MN where Mari Harries created a blog titled My 2 Cents:  Finding Windom.  I've been following Mari's writing for around a year now, and I find it inspirational.   Not only is Mari sharing her passion for her community, but she's building a dialogue about Windom's future.  Last week, I asked Mari some interview questions, and she graciously responded.  After reading her comments below, I hope you will check out the blog.  Maybe you are a "Mari waiting-to-happen" in your community.   

Tell us a little about yourself?

I grew up in Windom, Minnesota, and while I enjoyed growing up in rural Windom, I couldn’t wait to leave after high school graduation with absolutely no intentions to come back.  During college I started to realize just how important my family was to me and decided after college to move back to Windom.  I dodged a lot of questions from community members about my decision to move back and felt like I didn’t live up to these passive expectations to be successful “out there.”  It was a very hard transition after moving back to Windom, but after awhile I got more comfortable with my decision.  Now, I live in a beautiful, old house near the downtown square of Windom with my husband and my one-year-old son, Henrik.  We enjoy riding our bikes around town, we enjoy the city’s parks, the river and lakes.  We just love Windom.           

Why did you start to blog about your community and what type of information do you share?

 I started the blog because I love two things: writing and Windom.  So why not combine the two?  Not only do I think Windom is a great place to be, but it has the capability to be so much more.  I felt there was so much potential that wasn’t being utilized.  So instead of complaining about it, I thought I would try to do something about it.  I made a commitment to myself and the community in my first blog post that I would not only do everything that I could to make a difference in my community, but I would track my journey through the blog.  Not only would I blog the journey for others to read about and find inspiration from, but the blog would be used to seek assistance, guidance, ideas, resources, or anything that could help me in the journey as well. I started writing about positive things that people might take for granted, like Windom’s history, the beautiful courthouse, the businesses, recreation.  I write personal stories about my family, my memories of Windom, my hopes and dreams for Windom and what I’m working on to make it a better place. The blog lead to people getting excited about community revitalization.  I would get a lot of emails from community members, former residents, and classmates telling me how they have always loved Windom and felt it needed and deserved some TLC. 

What has been the result of the blog?

The blog lead to a handful of people coming together to form Finding Windom, now a non-profit organization dedicated to making the community a better place.  Finding Windom has done a lot of great things in the community and is working on a lot of great things right now and for the future too.   Since the inception of the blog, I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of great people.  I have had the opportunity to do more writing for other entities as well, such as Minnesota 2020.  The exciting thing about Windom and Finding Windom is that the possibilities are endless!  And we like to have a little fun making our community a better place to be. It is absolutely amazing all the wonderful support we have had from the community, businesses and even former Windom residents and Windom High School alumni.  It has been awesome hearing memories and stories about Windom and hearing all the ideas the community has for Windom as well.   

What else have you been up to?

My online efforts have lead to so many offline activities that I’m having a hard time keeping up with my online efforts now—a good problem to have!  Since the inception of Finding Windomwe have: I am so proud to be from Windom, Minnesota!  I can’t wait to see what is next for this little city that would.

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Posted in Community Development, Community Engagement, Leadership, Rural | Comments (2)

How to Create an Engaged Tourism Social Media Community

May 16th, 2011

Editor’s Note: Tourism will be ramping up in the Upper Midwest soon, and the question emerges, “Has your community created an vibrant online community as a part of your marketing plan?” A few weeks ago, I discovered the Explore the Bruce Facebook page. The page was filled with conversations from residents, visitors, and business leaders in Bruce County, Ontario. It’s easy to create a Facebook Page and post a few links to what’s going on in your region. But it take something more to build the type of engagement that produces results. With that in mind, I invited Gem Webb, who heads up content creation for the Bruce County Tourism, to write a guest post explaining what they have done to build this interaction. . My name is Gem Webb and I am the Content Creator for Southern Ontario's top rated vacation spot, Bruce County. I work for Bruce County Tourism DMO, and have been nurturing our vast social media communities for over a year and a half with most accounts reaching towards and over 10,000 people. Our networks have very engaged and active community members, who promote, share and engage our brand. Yet, how would someone else do this? Let me start by explaining the difference between an audience and a community.

Community -VS- Audience

It all depends on which direction their seats are facing when you share your social media content (text, video, photo and audio). If you just talk AT people, they become an audience, like going to see a movie. But if you place their seats (metaphorically) towards each other, they will interact with each other. You always hear the expression, “Social media communities are the same as a party.” So treat others like you would in the real world. You don't start saying, "Visit Sauble Beach and rent our Sauble Beach cottages because here are some great photos.” The average partygoer would walk away, say something negative or liken you to an obnoxious, pushy salesman. There are online practices and politeness that you should always use. I like to call the online social media communities "places of thanks.” Always thank people when they comment on or about your content. Make them feel heard and "engaged with.” This makes your community feel respected, heard and a value to everyone by getting public praise or at the very least, recognized. Imagine walking up to a person at a party and introducing yourself, then that person walking away. This would not feel good would it? Understand that this is not a tactic but a sincere practice of mine, as I don't use the social networks as a ‘markety’ angle. If you are selling things using these insights, it won’t stay hidden for long as you can “fool some of them some of the time, but not all of them all of the time.” I honestly enjoy my community and am always looking forward to what people really bring to the table so that I can unlock their talents or interests. This now leads to the second big thing to understand.

What is a Brand Ambassador?

People keep asking me how I get the people on our ExploretheBruce “Bruce County” Facebook fanpage to engage as much, if not more, than we do. I basically empower our community around the topic they believe in which is our top vacation spot across Bruce County town. I can go on and on about what the industry says a brand ambassador is defined as, yet let me give you real examples. Brand ambassadors are people who love things about your brand, product or service. Who better to talk and promote your stuff than people who believe in it? But, how do you find these people and what do you do with them next? A shy or new community ‘content poster’ might be brave enough to post one photo on our wall. I realize that for some people, this might feel like standing in front of six thousand people and so I ‘like’ their work and recognize their efforts. Once a few people have liked their content or commented on it, their confidence improves and they feel welcome to share more content. There are already lots of avid photographers who are shooting great photos of the area, you just need to provide a friendly environment where they feel safe to share their content. Encourage people to post more photos and videos and also help them improve. It isn't just about being a 'butter, butter' social media community, where you always butter peoples egos. Treat it like a classroom some days, and then toss a few rewards in when great examples of work surface unexpectedly. Give away free stuff to people who contribute in popular ways. Maybe a new person posted a great shot so show the love by publicly acknowledging their efforts with a prize. This sticks in people’s minds and hearts. I mean I remember winning a tool set at cub scouts for tying the best knot? It is the same in the digital world.

How Could one Part-Time Employee Do All This?

Social Media content creating can be part-time, yet certain aspects will make it easy or hard to accomplish creating results. The goal is to become a trust builder online for your community. This is going to take time, so start with a 1-2 year commitment. As you start seeing that your social networks become your greatest website traffic driver, you will know that it is working.
  1. Be clear on the goals of your website.
  2. Put in place a simple plan with schedules. How often will you post on networks along with Blog posts?
  3. Outline topics for posts in an excel sheet and try to plan at least 1 month ahead.
  4. Create a list of tweets for Twitter which are seasonal focused.
  5. Remind yourself to comment a few times a week on other people’s blogs in your similar industry to grow relationships. Always take time to respond to emails, as people need to trust and get to know you.
  6. Track your results so you can see what’s working for you. It can be easy as a screenshot.
By commenting on other blogs, I have found that after 1 year of doing this for Bruce County Tourism, that there are unlimited amounts of topic possibilities to promote which can blur my focus. I focus on 3 main social media accounts at a time and then switch every couple of weeks to see how others are doing. I also switch what topics I am promoting, as we are a seasonal based tourism destination. This helps keep my job fun and interesting where I am always learning also. You need to track and analyze everything into Return on Investment (ROI) Goal focused lists. Then you will be able to see if it is working or not. Remember Social media ROI is many things other then just monetary gain. This is a whole subject unto itself.

3 Useful Tips for Social Media Community Building

Enjoy your social media community and always be real or find someone that can!

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments (7)

What are the keys to overcoming mediocre content?

April 26th, 2011

I had a chance to interview Ann Handley and CC Chapman, the co-authors of Content Rules, following their OTA Sessions presentation a couple weeks ago. Their presentation focused on the “rules” for creating great content for your blog, Facebook Page, webinar, etc…. It’s also the subject of their book. To be honest, before OTA, I had questioned if I really wanted to read another social media book. It seems to me that lately the authors of social media books have started writing like historians. They are more concerned with pontificating over minutia than offering useful advice. I want something practical -- something that I can relate to in my work with rural communities. Now, after having read Ann and CC’s book, I can say, Content Rules delivers on practicality.

CC and Ann granted me an interview

In a short video interview following their OTA presentation, I asked CC & Ann what tips they have for communities who are thinking about producing content. Obviously, they highlighted the underlying theme from the book: anyone with an online presence must produce killer content in order to be heard. Anything less gets ignored in the massive wash of mediocre content that floods the internet. But they also stressed the importance of jumping in and getting started. If you wait for all the conditions to be perfect, you’ll never produce anything. I could relate to this last piece of advice – especially as I shot the video. The conditions for the interview were hardly perfect: I felt rushed; I’m not great at video interviews; I couldn’t get the lighting and background set properly; I couldn’t use our mic’s. I could go on and on. In fact, you will see all of those imperfections in the video below. (Source: "Ann Handley & CC Chapman - OTA 2011," RuralLearning, YouTube, April 26, 2011) As I edited the video, however, I couldn’t help but notice the tension that exists between the need to produce really great content and their advice to jump in and get started. Was my desire to produce the video going to contribute to growth of crappy content on the web? And what does this mean for rural communities who want to create a blog or Facebook page? We can’t expect newbies to produce killer content right out of the chute, can we? I’m not sure how CC and Ann would have responded to those questions if I’d asked them during the interview. But here’s what I think.

Speak from the heart and be helpful

During the interview CC and Ann tell us that people producing content need to speak from the heart and be a resource for their audience. I think that doing these two things help overcome the imperfections of your content. You may not be a great writer, or you may not be a great video producer. But if you show your passion and are truly helping people, I think your audience will see past your content’s blemishes. They will also connect with it on an emotional level and become engaged with it. And that has to be how we should measure content's success. Does it engage your audience? CC and Ann offer a total of eleven rules in their book that will help you produce great content. Each of them is important. But if I had to pick two pieces advice for overcoming mediocrity, I’d recommend being speaking from the heart and being a resource.

What do you think?

As I’ve mentioned many times before, one of the beautiful aspects of creating a blog post is that it provides an opportunity for us to learn together. I’m obviously not a social media expert. But I do believe that rural communities should consider developing a social media strategy as a part of their marketing and community development efforts. If you have ideas about what it takes to produce really great content, I hope you will be a resource and share your ideas with a comment.

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Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural | Comments (2)

OTA Sessions: Thoughts from the pre-party

April 1st, 2011

Yesterday I caught a Tweet from @HughWeber saying, “Watching cuts of the spotlight videos for OTA. Seriously folks. These 7 vids are worth the cost of admission.” It made me laugh because I’m an extra in one of those videos.  The joke is you’ll get to see the back of my head. While I can’t vouch for the videos, at least not yet, I can say that I’ve already got my money’s worth from the conference by attending the pre-party session last night.  The conversation was simply awesome.  Let me share a couple of excerpts. First, there was the conversation with Rod Arnold, who is the final speaker at OTA.  Rod is the COO of Charity Water, and he’s also a Watertown, SD native.  (Go, Arrows!)  Charity Water is known for how they have engaged people through social media. So I asked Rod to share what he’s learned about social media’s use by nonprofit organizations.  He said “It starts with great stories.”  Regular readers here know that we believe in the power of stories.  People see themselves in other people’s stories.  So telling a story about a resident who has a had a great experience living in your community helps other people see the value of living in small towns.  While Rod’s comment wasn’t new me, it was powerful to see a leader of an organization who has achieved so much share similar beliefs. Second, while talking to Rod, Joe Fiala and Amy Howard of the On Hand Development Corp. shared a story about the importance of asking great questions.  Earlier in the day, Amy had posted a question to the Miller, SD Facebook page, asking her community:  “What do you think should happen with the bulls at the 4-way? (Leave them as they are, move them to a different location, improve them?) Please share your thoughts and ideas...” The question has produced over 60 comments at the time of this post.  It was clearly a topic people wanted to talk about. Joe explained that they asked the question because they want anopen  conversation with the community about the importance of these landmarks in the Miller community. What a great way to engage a community in  decision making.  And finally, there was the conversation with another of our OTA speakers,  Ellen McGirt, of Fast Company.  She’s been here to tour across South Dakota a couple times before, visiting a few of our fine “cornier,” roadside tourism attractions.  As a group of us a laughed about our first experiences at some of these attractions, I asked the question, “What do we need to do to upscale our tourism industry?” After some back and forth within the group, Ellen responded that she didn’t think we should try to “upscale.”  Her point was that these attractions are unique and a part of our culture.  This served as a good reminder to me about our rural community development work.  As we seek to transform our rural communities through re-imagination, we should not try so hard to be something different.  There’s nothing wrong with being rural.  Maybe that’s why I’m wearing blue jeans and a sport coat to our conference today.  Wearing a suit and tie is great, but I’m not sure that’s me.  While we seek to transform our communities, let’s not lose track of who we are. I could go on to share other conversations from last night, but I think you get the point.  And just think, the conference hasn’t even begun yet.

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Should you be using the Front Porch Forum? Or will Facebook Work?

March 11th, 2011

Yesterday, I highlighted the Front Porch Forum as a great example of a social media tool that facilitates the growth of community.  Initiated before the rise of online social networking, the tool enables neighbors to connect with each other via online forums.  Here’s a video with its founder, Michael Wood-Lewis describing how it works. (source: “Front Porch Forum Helps Build Community - One Neighborhood at a Time,” Champlain Initiative, Youtube, Sept. 4, 2009) In the video, Michael describes how the Front Porch Forum is different from other forums of social media, like Facebook, which brings up an interesting question: Should you be using the Front Porch Forum instead of Facebook?  

Which tool should you use?

Regular readers know that I regularly encourage rural communities to use Facebook as a tool to create a sense of community among residents and to reach out to people who care about the community but might have moved away.  In many ways, I’m recommending that people try to showcase the authentic relationships that already exist in rural communities in a way that helps market the community.  The Front Porch Forum is different in that it is designed for local uses only.  People have to live in the neighborhood in order to participate.  It is also different in that its central purpose is to increase face-to-face interaction among residents.   For instance, Erik Filkorn, from Richmond, Vermont, is quoted in a Yankee Magazine article saying: 
The real feedback loop is on the main street of town. You'll be coming out of the store and someone will say, 'Hey Erik, I saw the thing you wrote. Here's what I think.' You're not just creating an avatar and hanging out in a singles bar in Second Life--not that I would do that. But this is very much grounded in the flesh-and-blood community." (source:  "Vermont: Neighbors and Online Networks Local networks are bringing people together in Vermont," Bill McKibben, Yankee Magazine, March/April 2010)
That type of face-to-face interaction is possible on Facebook, but I doubt its common.   

It’s about your goals

I think there is value in both approaches.  If your goal is increase the face-to-face interaction among local residents, the Front Porch Forum approach will better facilitate conversation among local residents, leading to greater face-to-face interaction.  If your goals also include connecting with people who have moved away from your community and people who might be interested in moving to your community, then maybe Facebook is your tool.  There’s no perfect answer.  The point is, be clear about your goals first.  If you are, you have a much greater chance of success

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Front Porch Forum: Building Community

March 9th, 2011

A while back, a friend told me about an experience he had with his granddaughter and texting.  He was taking her and a friend on a shopping trip.  Except for the occasional giggle, his granddaughter and her friend sat in silence in the backseat.  Instead of talking, they were texting.  My friend found this disturbing.  “How will they ever learn social skills if all they ever do is text each other?”  I chuckled and replied he should be thankful.  After all, he wouldn’t really want to know what they were talking about.  Many people who resist technology think of it as a tool that disconnects people from each other.  In other words, people are becoming less social because they are spending time on their computers or using their phones for texting. If true, it would serve as another reminder of the decline of community life.  (see Bowling Alone for evidence of the decline in social capital) For the most part, I disagree with this line of thinking.  And I’d like to lift up the Front Porch Forum as a case in point. 

How connected are we in our small towns? 

In 1998, Michael Wood-Lewis and his wife Valerie moved to Burlington, VT, a community of 42,417 residents. They looked forward to meeting their neighbors and participating in community events, like neighborhood picnics and other social events.  Unfortunately, neither was forthcoming. In an interview on the Orton Family Foundation blog, Michael acknowledged that they have great neighbors.  They are friendly and caring.  But they are also busy, making it difficult for newcomers to experience a sense of community.  In response to these difficulties, Michael created the Front Porch Forum.  Launched in the pre-Facebook days, the Forum makes use of “forum” technology as a means for helping neighbors “connect and foster community within the neighborhood.” Once a resident becomes a member, they are able to participate in a neighborhood forum by posting comments and questions about their specific neighborhood.  Members also receive e-mail updates highlighting what’s going on within the forum. 

Why do people participate?

People participate out of self-interest.  They want to know if anyone else heard the strange noise made late in the evening.  Was it a burglar?  They want to share their approval or disapproval with local city and school officials, just as they would in face-to-face conversation.  And they want to ask their neighbors for help.  Has anyone seen a missing cat or dog? I discovered a great example of this in action in a NewGeography article titled “Online Neighborhood:  The Front Porch Forum.”  Written by Pete Peterson, it told the story of Sharon Owens who was trying to organize a canoe outing for her daughter’s birthday.  Afraid that she wouldn’t be able to rent the necessary canoes due to cost, she turned to The Front Porch Forum with a request for canoes.  Her neighbors responded with all the canoes she needed.  I find it interesting, however, that something else emerged out of Owen’s self-interest:  she developed new relationships with her neighbors, which in turn led to a stronger sense of community.  She is quoted in the NewGeography article saying:
Not only did my daughter have a great birthday and I saved a couple hundred dollars, but now I have a genuine connection to a half-dozen neighbors. Why didn't I know these good people years ago?"  (source: "Online Neighborhood: The Front Porch Forum ," Pete Peterson, New Geography, Oct. 21, 2009)      
This example points out that people are social creatures.  We want to know and trust the people we live around. But life sometimes gets in the way.  While many forms of technology, like the automobile, have hindered human interaction, online social technologies like The Front Porch Forum can increase it.  The conversations that start online can and often are extended offline in real life situations. 

Technology can build community

The next time you hear negative talk about social technologies, I hope you will think of the Front Porch Forum.  And better yet, think about how your rural community can build a conversation online that leads to deeper conversation in face-to-face settings.  If you do, I think your rural community will become a better place to live.

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Are you waiting for some else to tell your story?

March 3rd, 2011

Quick!  Can you identify a dozen unique stories about your community?  Better yet, do you already have a list ready just in case a news reporter contacts you looking for information? Yesterday, I wrote a post suggesting rural communities need to do a better job of using social media to tell stories about their communities.  I suggested stories are key because people see themselves in the stories you tell.  I had that very experience today when, thanks to a KARE 11 in Minneapolis news story, I pictured myself in Hendricks, MN (pop 725). 

“Tripping with Perk"

The story is the first in a series being developed by reporter Eric Perkins of KARE 11 in Minneapolis.  Titled “Trippin’ with Perk,"  the series will highlight small towns across Minnesota.  Its purpose is to lift up the personalities and characteristics that make each small town unique.    ("Trippin' With Perk: Eric travels to Hendricks," Eric Perkins, KARE 11, March 2, 2011) Watching the video made me want to visit Hendricks.  The idea of eating a lutefisk pizza alone is enough reason for me to make the road trip.  But watching the video, I also began to picture myself potentially living in Hendricks.  And I bet I wasn’t alone.  That’s what good stories do. 

What are you waiting for?

As I reflect on the video, I’m reminded how unprepared many of us in small towns are to tell our stories.   Being prepared starts with knowing what information you want to share.  In fact, one of the reasons Perkins chose Hendricks is that Paul Olsen from Hendricks responded to Perkin’s information request with a list of a dozen story ideas.  Not all communities were ready with such a list.   Even if you have a list of story ideas, however, you can’t sit back and wait for the reporter to call.  As I suggested in yesterday’s post, technology enables us to tell stories ourselves.  It might be a video, or it might be a blog story.  But we can tell the stories just as well as a television station from the big city.  Who knows, maybe we can tell it better.  Note:  I want to thank both the @StepUpYourBiz  for sharing a tweet and my friend Loren Budahl for posting a link to his Facebook profile about this story.  I also want to commend KARE 11 and Eric Perkins for making the effort to show what makes small town life unique.

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Are you telling me a story?

March 2nd, 2011

Many rural communities are using social media as a marketing tool.  I think it’s a great idea – as long as it is being used to engage people in conversation and not just promote, promote, promote. With that in mind, I’d also like to remind people about the power of stories.  I was personally reminded of this in a recent post titled, “The Only Way to Create Killer Content is Telling Your Story.”  To make his point, the author, Kyle Lacy, quotes a conversation he had with Chris Baggon:
Chris made the comment:  Above all, it is about taking your stories... your personal stories... your client stories... your college stories... and humanizing the content.”  (source:  Kyle Lacy, "The only way to create real content is telling your story,"  Que, Feb. 8, 2011)
Putting this into practice is easier than most people realize.  Every small town likes to brag that it is a great place to raise a family.  Instead of simply making this statement on your website, use social media to tell the stories of parents who experience the benefits of small town life every day.  For instance, tell the story of a father whose son benefited from attending a small school. Tell the story of a mother who was thankful when a neighbor bandaged the knee of her child who fell off a bike when she wasn’t around.  Tell the story of a grandmother who appreciates being able to attend the concerts, plays, and athletic events of neighborhood children she has unofficially adopted.  Do you get the idea?  Lacy tells us that telling stories help “humanize” the information you share.  I agree.  But I’d like to take this thought a bit further.  When you share information with stories, readers will see themselves in your stories.  They will picture themselves as the mother or father or grandparent and will connect emotionally.  And picturing themselves in the story may be the first step in helping people see themselves living in your community.  The best news is that it has never been easier to tell stories.  Buy a camera, learn to use editing software, interview people in your town, and produce a video.  And once you’ve produced the content, you are ready to engage your audience with social media.  I think you will be pleased with the results.

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How do future doctors decide if they locate in rural or urban communities?

January 13th, 2011

I stumbled across an online forum and a newspaper article last week that has caused me to wonder, "How do future doctors decide if they locate in rural or urban communities?" I'm not sure that I'm qualified to answer that question, but I'm hoping we can attract some thoughts here.   But first, let me highlight those two online resources that brought the issue forward. First up is "County doc, city doc," published in The Economist.  The article highlights the shortage of family practice doctors, attributing the shortage to the disparity between the $175,000 average salaries of a family practice doctor and the $385,000 to $519,000 salary of some medical specialists.  The shortage of family practice doctors hits rural communities hardest because rural communities need family practice doctors, not specialists.  The article goes on to highlight financial "incentive" programs intended to recruit future doctors to underserved regions. The second example of a rural doctor story came to me in the Road Bike Review forum.  A member of the forum from rural Nebraska initiated the thread by asking forum members advice in answering the looming decision on where he should become a doctor.  He writes, "My heart wants to go to a smaller town, one like I grew up in. The problem is that my head knows rural America is dying and that there are more opportunities in a larger city. How am I supposed to meld these two opposing ideas?" The question this forum member and future doctor asks is one that many young professionals face.  It's one that we've been thinking about as we work on attracting and retaining teachers in rural schools as a part of the GoTeachSD program.  

Turning to the Social Web

A couple things stood out as I thought about how future doctors are making their career decisions.  First, this future doctor from the biking forum is turning to the social web for answers.  This doesn't surprise me.  We know that people, especially younger people, trust information being shared from their social networking friends more than they do from static sources like websites and advertisements.  Seeing it in action has caused me to wonder if there is an opportunity for an enterprising rural community in need of a doctor to develop a "listening strategy" on the social web.  By this, I mean setting up a Google Alert or some other "listening" tool that helps identify future doctors who are asking questions online about their future.   

Identity or Consequence decision making

A second thought that emerged from this reading is that future doctors use either an Identity or a Consequence model when deciding whether to locate in a rural or urban community.  I learned about the identity and consequence form of decision making from Dan and Chip Heath in their book Switch:  How to Change Things When Change is Hard.  In a chapter titled "Grow Your People," they suggest that everyone uses either a consequence model or an identity model when making decisions.  The consequence model is a cost-benefit form of decision making.  For example, if I practice medicine in a rural community, I will enjoy a stronger relationship with my patients, but I will not make as much money.  In the identity model, people answer three questions when making decisions.  (1) Who am I?  (2) What kind of situation is this?  (3) What would someone like me do in this situation?  If a person has a strong identity as a rural resident, that person is much more likely to answer these questions in a way that leads them to become a rural family practice doctor. Recognizing how people make decisions presents an opportunity for individuals seeking to recruit people to rural places.  As the Heaths note, "So the question is this:  How can you make your change a matter of identity rather than a matter of consequences?"  (p. 154)   Figuring out how to do that is the challenge. I'm not sure that these are the only ways that future doctors make their decisions on where to locate.  But I do believe it's a topic that with those of us with a passion for rural places need to understand better. Photo Credit: Churl - Flickr

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