Nelson made the finals! It was touch and go, with only 60,000 between us and Porirua, and we had to wait a few tense days while Chorus analysed the results, but we’re in! Woohoo!
It’s a completely new ball game now. The rules have changed. Initially everyone is nervous about participating in social media. Tweets and posts must be strictly on topic, and people are standing back and watching, unsure how to join in. Another hashtag #nsnz has been started up for chit chat that isn’t on competition topic and we are in danger of losing supporters to that. We need to reassure our Twitter community quickly. I jumped in and just started tweeting with #gigatownnsn to encourage others. It wasn’t that difficult to incorporate UFB and the competition into my tweets and it started to stimulate conversation.
The Challenges
Points are reset to zero for the five finalist towns.
There are five challenges in the final round with each getting a percentage allocation. Each town will get points for 1st through to 5th place. The town with the most points overall wins.
– 50% Plan for Gig Success. A written submission and video describing how our town plans to integrate gigabit fibre along with the economic and social benefits. 35% awarded by a judging panel and 15% judged by the NZ public.
– 25% Social Media. The platforms are now only Facebook (gigatownnelson page only) Twitter and Instagram. One post or tweet equals one point. Points are no longer multipled per capita.
– 13% Supporters. We can now call on the rest of the population to support us. Even though we pipped Porirua at the post, they are very keen to get on board and support Nelson.
– 6% Fantastic Fibre Quiz.
– 6% Instagram Selfie Video. Between the 5th and 12th November we can upload a short selfie video saying ‘I supported Gigatown by …’. The post must include #gigatownnsn.
The new rules
With a new round comes new rules. These are the rules that Chorus has laid down for the finals. Their focus is that communities use fresh and meaningful on topic conversation.
– the retweet ratio for Twitter is 1:2 meaning for every original tweet you can retweet two (even if you add content to a retweet this is still considered a retweet, not a new tweet).
– posts and tweets must have at least 5 words plus the hashtag #gigatownnsn
– posts and content must relate directly to the competition. Chorus would like to see us posting on:
– the gigatown scoreboard and what we are doing to promote the competition
– conversations that connect technology, UFB (ultra fast broadband) and gigabit fibre and how it will benefit our town
– town pride and what makes our town special (but must be relevant to the competition) ie what makes Nelson the perfect gigatown and why it’s the place to be.
– only one supporter account is allowed per person and supporters must complete the quiz themselves. If Chorus believes these rules have been broken they will blacklist the supporter and remove any points they have accumulated.
If you break the social media rules or your posts are considered spam by Chorus you will lose all the points you have earnt that day.
It’s easy to incorporate UFB into your Twitter conversations!
What am I doing to support gigatownnsn?
My earlier blog on #gigatownnsn, an online community was automatically posted to Twitter when I published it (as well as other social media channels including Facebook and LinkedIn). It was subsequently shared on Twitter, spreading the reach and informing more people of what we are trying to achieve.
I added unfollowers.com to my Twitter account. This app allows me to track who follows me. It automatically creates a tweet when I follow someone new or when a new person follows me and also sends them a direct message. Both posts encourage them to check out my blog, and ask them to tweet for #gigatownnsn.
Participating in Twitter brainstorming and encouraging others to come up with ideas to promote and support gigatownnsn. I love getting involved in these conversations, there are so many ideas from so many different people. I was invited to join the Facebook group, GigatownNelson Discussion. It’s a place for us to gather away from the hashtag distraction and work on strategy and ideas.
And from that group another was born, setting out activities and responsibilities. I am Twitter Cheerleader working alongside the Twitterettes team. Pom poms optional. I can see a photo opportunity there!
A recent real-life meet to work on priorities brought home to me just what being a part of the gigatownnsn movement meant as well as the commitment required in both time and resources. Several of our team are exhausted and a top priority is to bring on more people to help, as well as knowing that you can (and must) say NO to things. We can’t do everything.
The most excitement came when we overtook Dunedin for the first time on the Social Media Leaderboard! What a wonderful feeling seeing Nelson at the top. Since then we have received our first spam report from Chorus. We lost points for indiscriminate tweeting and this has made us aware that Twitter needs to be focussed on quality and not quantity. Gisborne are now top of the leaderboard for social media, but Nelson is still tops for the quiz and supporters. Our aim is to slowly and surely get back on top of the social media leaderboard.
We have now joined forces with Porirua who are supporting us to win. This is a wonderful part of the gigatown competition, it breaks down geographical boundaries. The benefits for Porirua will be huge, we are glad they have chosen Nelson to support and we welcome their help in all of the challenges. We don’t just have the Nelson community supporting us, we have very valuable people from Motueka and Richmond, as well as many from overseas. We are also working to bring Marlborough on board as, being close neighbours, they too will benefit from giga fibre.
And because life has to be fun …
The competition closes on 25th November, so come on everyone! Support Nelson by joining up and doing the quiz (click below) and start creating a buzz on social media!
Find me on Twitter @NanasHype