Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
A Quiet 10th Birthday for Harringay Online
10 years ago this week, I launched Harringay Online as a way of helping neighbours connect more easily. This was in a time when social media hadn't really happened and the internet hadn't yet come of age. Twitter was just getting going and it was less than a year after Facebook was opened to everyone over 13. The local press was contracting into a shadow of its former self.
So something like Harringay Online seemed like a pretty good idea. When I set it up I thought that we might even grow to as many as 200 members!
With nothing else like it locally, and little like it anywhere else in the country, HoL quickly proved much more successful than I ever imagined. It now has over 12,000 registered users. So successful was HoL in its first years that by 2008 Liz and I were handed an award by the Prime Minister and I was a guest on the Daily Politics Show alongside Ken Livingstone.
The site managed to make some great connections between neighbours and it was instrumental in helping Harringay move in the right direction, including several successful change campaigns. For the first few years we had regular socials at The Salisbury and by 2012, it had also become a hyperlocal news hub. HoL's Twitter account was even the go-to destination for national news channels during the Haringey riots.
Another change that I'm delighted to have been part of was the strengthening of the identity of Harringay. In 2007, few people knew what Harringay was and how it differed from Haringey. Even fewer had any sense of where it began and ended. I dare to hope that we've come a long way since then, due both to HoL, a dedication to getting Harringay on Google maps and perhaps the ridiculous number articles I've written on Wikipedia about Harringay. These both clarified what and where Harringay is and for the first time ever told Harringay's previously untold history.
A lot has changed over the past ten years. The internet and social media has come to dominate our lives in a way few of us imagined. HoL has developed into a more sedate middle age and now sits alongside younger social media hubs backed by multi-million dollar investments. Most of the community-run local websites that were set up around the country after HoL are long gone (though most of the Haringey ones that modelled themselves closely on HoL are proving pretty resilient).
Both Liz and I certainly spend a lot less time on HoL than we used to. Every now and again I wonder if it's time to rethink or move on, but each time I suggest it, people convince me that the site still serves a valuable purpose.
So here we are moving into our 11th year with all the advantages and disadvantages of any forum-based website. If anyone has any low cost, minimal effort ideas about how we can zhjush things up for the next few years, I'm all ears.
In the meantime, here are some links to some established HoL pages about HoL:
The Story of Harringay's History
Before I go, a big thanks to Liz, whose help in running the site is warmly appreciated each and every week!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by michaelw on
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Happy Birthday & congratulations on setting the site up & keeping it running smoothly!
You mention "For the first few years we had regular socials at The Salisbury" - I wonder whether this is something worth re-introducing, say a monthly meet-up open to all?
There have been more narrowly defined groups (such as Dad's drinks - I'm not sure if this is still operating), but I would have thought that an open event might work? It's at least worth trying - what do others think?
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Permalink Reply by Ruth on
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The socials were good, couldn't go to all of them but it did really help to meet people already familiar online and they helped to raise awareness of HoL and what it can do. I know they take a lot of organsining though!
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I agree - it's a great idea, meeting in person besides online.....
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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The last couple of socials that Anna and I organised were basically just Anna and I chatting and drinking. It's not been very social since I caused all that ruckus over the St Ann's selection meetings IMHO.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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I wouldn't take it so personally, John. I think it was more a matter of the novelty wearing off.
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Permalink Reply by Glynn Davis on
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I've always thought it a terrific resource. Congratulations on creating something of great community value.
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Thank you Hugh and Liz for all your hard work on HoL, it is such an asset for all of us and for Harringay.
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Permalink Reply by SGB on
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Congratulations and thanks to you both for all you do! Please keep going.
Happy 10th Birthday!
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Permalink Reply by Richard Woods on
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Hi Brilliant! Great idea and very well done (although have to suggest "internet not come of age" when web sites were already 14 years old is a mite tendentious ;-)
But what is fascinating is how it has taken hold - it is buzzing with content generated by the users and that is the key success. As someone who watched a similar initiative at the same time in a badly served rural area stagnate totally I envy you the enthusiasm of the Ladder Luminati. Happy birthday and may there be many more.
(PS by 2007 internet usage worldwide was 1.25billion; today it is about 3.7billion.)
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Interesting and perhaps challenging to pinpoint exactly when the internet came of age.
Whilst access to the internet certainly shot up in the first years of this century, the number of hours spent online and the impact it had on our personal lives was still relatively low in 2007.
In 2005 UK adults spent an average of 10 hours a week online. By 2014, it had more than doubled and tripled for those aged 16-24 (Ofcom).
The way we used the internet also changed considerably. In 2007, usage was still pretty passive and the areas of our lives it touched was limited. Today it's part of the most personal areas of our lives and it's difficult to think of many tasks we don't accomplish through it. We're also much more likely to be active rather than passive users today than we were a decade ago.
For better or worse I stick by my notion, Richard.
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