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Posted By: Peter Rush
Date Posted: 20/01/2009

I have always believed that elected representatives should be easy to reach which is why, a few months ago, I decided to join up to Facebook.

I am sure that most of you that use Rochdale Online will be aware, but Facebook is a social network website that allows you to keep in contact with your friends and gives you the opportunity to make many more.

The impact that social networking sites can have in engaging the public into politics is immense. You only have to look at the campaign ran by President-Elect Barack Obama last year to realise the positive power that sites, such as Facebook, can have on a wider audience.

It took a while to get my head around using Facebook but I am slowly getting there. I find it an extremely useful way of talking to local people and I want to thank everyone in Heywood that has signed me up so far.

I have made over 400 friends, the majority of which are Heywood residents. My friends include many different people from local band The Sticks to Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg MP. Also, I know that my colleague Councillor Wera Hobhouse also holds a facebook account and she has told me that she too has found it a very effective way to serve constituents.

Unfortunately, the younger people of Heywood are far less likely to vote when compared to their parents or grandparents, yet many hold very strong views on local and national issues and want their voice heard. So far, Facebook has become a really useful way of enabling them to raise issues with me – local transport being the number one issue recently – and most of them are really positive about me being on there. 

Please feel free to add me as a friend or to contact me with any issues that you may have.