Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz

We are currently in the middle of the digital revolution, which is radically changing the way many of us work and communicate. This digital revolution is characterised by a huge increase in the amount of information available online – much of it accessed by the use of mobile devices and internet websites.

More than 2 billion people are estimated to currently use the internet. And by 2015, tablet computers and smart phones are expected to exceed personal computers in internet usage. Increasingly, people (particularly youth) are using social media to communicate - and not just to share their thoughts with friends, but also to access information about what is going on in the world. I was staggered to read some of the usage statistics for some of the most popular social media. Estimates are: Facebook has 1.1 billion users; YouTube has 1 billion users; Twitter has 500 million users; Skype has 280 million users; and Dropbox has 100 million users.

Use of digital information is having major impacts on the way organisations do business. We see NZ Post changing their business model, as email progressively replaces hard copy letters. News media organisations are grappling with the economics of hard copy newspapers, which are declining in popularity as access to news moves progressively online. Savvy marketers are using email alerts to customers to advertise sales opportunities; and social media are to develop their brands. For the consumer, this means huge amounts of digital information which needs to be filtered, managed and digested.

For organisations, like councils who want to engage with their communities, it means rethinking communication strategies. The problem is we want to reach as many people as we can and this means selecting a range of communication channels, so that the messages are accessible to those that want to get them. And sometimes, all that is needed is to let people know that the information is there and accessible when they want it. So when people ask me, what's the deal about you only getting the first sentence of your article published in The Weekend Sun, I answer that I hope that those who want to follow up on what I have to say have the technology and time to follow up online. I hope that works for you.

If you have any views on this or any other issue, please contact me on: neesj@xtra.co.nz or ring me on 07 579 5150. Or you can check out my website at: www.janenees.co.nz