Local social networking site tailor-made for community groups

The People’s Times - a recently launched web service - offers a social networking site aimed at, and built specifically for, community and grassroots groups in New Zealand.

People’s Times Communities offers groups a range of Web 2.0 tools contained within simple, personalised homepages, which help group members to communicate, share content, network and organise their activities, securely and at no cost.

Together, their pages form a searchable, virtual 'community of communities', and there is ample scope for groups to promote themselves and their activities through the other parts of the site (People’s Times News and Noticeboard)directly from their homepage.

People's Times Editor Rebekah Brumwell says that while the service can't compete with the technical complexity and global reach of sites such as Facebook and Bebo, as the People's Times grows and becomes better known they will be able to offer something more useful to not-for-profit organisations of all shapes and sizes in Aotearoa.

"The feedback we are already receiving from groups about the People's Times is that there is a real need for our service, and many tell us that they have found existing social networking sites inappropriate for their purposes," she says.

The People’s Times is completely free to use and no special expertise, software or downloading is required.

The People’s Times is a project of the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand and e-learning specialists Flexible Learning Network, and is supported by the Community Partnership Fund.

www.peoplestimes.org.nz