The Communications Subcommittee coordinates communication activities of the Glebe Society including the Bulletin, websites and social media (such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube).

The Communications subcommittee supports the Glebe Society to:

  • Expand engagement with Glebe and the wider community (eg by supporting other subcommittees in their communication and by building Facebook and Twitter presence);
  • Strengthen our base (including by engaging with new residents and by improving the ease of joining and renewing membership);
  • Support effective campaigns (eg by ensuring urgent and important campaigns are quickly and broadly communicated through the website and the various social media channels);
  • Support Glebe Society and others’ events, (eg by promoting events; where relevant, outside the membership and outside Glebe); and
  • Improve the efficiency of the Society’s internal communication.

Since the 2015 AGM, we have supported the following communication channels with our members and the wider community:

  • The Bulletin: The Bulletin continues to be sent to members in either the hardcopy or email form. The ongoing project to scan back copies for electronic access via the Society’s website continues; back copies are available from: https://www.glebesociety.org.au/?page_id=10873.
  • The Glebe Society Website: The subcommittee has recently reviewed the security of our websites and commissioned work to improve it. The number of visits to glebesociety.org.au peaked with interest in the Harold Park development and was already dropping back then. It has now returned to the level it was at a couple of years ago (about 660 visitors a day). The number of visitors from China has dropped from an average of more than 250 a day last year to almost none in the last few months. Of those who don’t go directly to glebesociety.org.au, more than 80% come from Google, about 7% come from Bing and, surprisingly, less than 1% come from Facebook.
  • Glebe Walks website: As well as the Society’s main website, the subcommittee also maintains websites for Glebe Walks (http://glebewalks.com.au/). The number of visitors to Glebe Walks is steady at about 100 a day.
  • Glebe Island Bridge website: The Society also maintains a website for the Glebe Island Bridge (http://www.glebeislandbridge.com/). The number visiting the Glebe Island Bridge website is up almost 50% but is still only 23 a day.
  • Update emails: One of the subcommittee’s roles is the compilation and distribution of the Glebe Society Update emails that are sent on an irregular basis to those members who have provided us with an email address. The Glebe Society Update emails include breaking news that can’t wait for the next Bulletin, and updated information on important issues that the Glebe Society is working on. It is distributed to 90% of our membership.
  • Facebook Pages: The Society maintains Facebook pages for the Society as a whole (www.facebook.com/TheGlebeSociety) and for the Glebe Island Bridge (http://www.facebook.com/GlebeIslandBridge). Facebook is becoming increasingly important as a means for organisations such as ours to get our messages across and communicate quickly and effectively with members. Our Facebook presence is growing steadily with the number of ‘likes’ (effectively subscriptions) currently over 400 – almost double the number at the same time last year. Some of our communication via Facebook has been astoundingly successful: in November last year, our post announcing the Society’s ‘Glebe: Now and Then’ video reached over 8,000 people and was shared 81 times. In May this year, our post about the Dictionary of Sydney entry by Max Solling on Glebe pubs and landmarks gained 5,400 impressions.
  • Twitter account: Our Twitter account tweets and re-tweets the very latest information about matters relating to Glebe – particularly issues around planning and development. Since our last annual report, our Twitter following has grown by around 30% to 313 followers.
  • YouTube channel: The Society has now uploaded four videos to our new YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBT7r3R0FaaI_dK6kV9sCbg). The most watched is ‘Glebe: Now and Then’. As well as our uploaded videos, we have created playlists of videos relevant to Glebe, which list videos created by other producers as well as Glebe Society videos.
  • Eventbrite: This is the site we use for taking bookings for Glebe Society events, and is intended to streamline the booking process for members and event organisers. Members are increasingly taking advantage of the convenience of Eventbrite for booking in for events; 72% of bookings for last year’s Christmas Party were via our Eventbrite page.

In addition to supporting these Glebe Society channels, the subcommittee has undertaken the following actions:

  • Developed a Communications Policy to be tabled at the next Management Committee meeting. This policy, if accepted, would range across our various media and replace several different policies including the Bulletin and Website policies.
  • Worked with convenors and other office-bearers of the Society to offer assistance with their communication activities and to learn from them what their needs are. In this period, we met with the new Vice President and the new Events Coordinator.
  • Created a communications ‘checklist’ for event organisers to assist them to navigate the plethora of ways in which they can inform members about upcoming events.
  • Hosted a social media education session in November last year. The event gave practical demonstrations on the use of the Glebe Society’s websites and Facebook.

Convenors of the Communications subcommittee in this period were Scott Calvert then Virginia Simpson-Young. Other members of the subcommittee were Peter Thorogood, Phil Young, Jan Macindoe, Carole Herriman, Bruce Davis, Allan Hogan and Bill Simpson-Young.

We meet approximately bi-monthly and welcome other members to join.