Community Spirit – What Is It and Where Is It?
As bloggers, we know how important an online community is to our day to day lives.
Many of us have even made life long friends thanks to the engagements we have had with others within our expanding digital networks.
Therefore, I was super intrigued when mobile network giffgaff – known for it’s thriving and engaged online community shared the results of a recent survey that they had performed asking people what actions do they class as community spirit?
The results are very revealing and are listed below:
TOP 20 SIGNS OF COMMUNITY SPIRIT
- Sign for neighbour’s parcels 72 %
- Chat with neighbours over the garden fence 57 %
- Keep an eye out when your neighbour’s go on holiday 55 %
- Bring in a neighbour’s wheelie bins after collection 39 %
- Peer over the fence if you hear something strange 37 %
- Like their posts on Facebook 36 %
- Take a look if their alarm is going off 36 %
- Donate to local charities 31 %
- Attend local fetes and events 27 %
- Trust people with your keys 25 %
- Feed neighbour’s cats when they’re on holiday 19 %
- Invite people over for drinks 18 %
- Help people out on online forums 17 %
- Drop in on elderly residents 14 %
- Water neighbours hanging baskets if they won’t be home in time . 13 %
- Like your neighbour’s posts on Instagram 11 %
- Have a WhatsApp group with the neighbours/local community 11 %
- Take part in a fitness class 9 %
- Chat on a mums’ forum/group 7 %
- Mow each other’s lawns when on holiday 6 %
- Take round meals for poorly neighbours 6 %
- Share the school run with other parents 6 %
- Give friends or neighbours your alarm code 5 %
- Babysit local children at a minute’s notice 5 %
- Run with a run club 3 %
Now, I’m curious to know if you agree or not?
Have they missed something important on the list or is it what you expected?
Tom Rainsford, Director of Brand & Culture at giffgaff said: “It’s encouraging to see that the idea of community spirit is still alive and well, and what’s really interesting about these results is how technology has slightly shifted the idea of what community means.
“So, whilst we all agree that having neighbours you can trust is a huge asset, it’s also great to see that this idea has spread to the online world. We’ve noticed this trend in how our community relates to each other online, where giffgaffers help each other out on troubleshooting or just have a chat.”
I am keen to agree with him.
Some online communities have really helped me through some important moments in my life as well as offering me a supportive space to express myself and be creative via my blog and social media.
Viva la internet!
Of course, not all communities are online and giffgaff further delved a little deeper using these results to locate where the friendliest Cities were in the UK.
The top 5 friendliest and least friendliest Cities are mentioned below:
TOP 5 FRIENDLIEST CITIES IN THE UK
- Nottingham
- Cardiff
- Newcastle
- Liverpool
- Leicester
TOP FIVE LEAST FRIENDLY CITIES IN THE UK
- Sheffield
- Bristol
- Edinburgh
- Norwich
- Manchester
Go, Nottingham!
Now, I am expecting a lot of feedback on these lists as we all like to think we live in the best place in the world.
So, did your hometown make the right list and do you agree with the results? Let me know in the comments below.
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i think there is a good community where i live and i like to help neighbours where i can
There are a lot of great things about my city, but I think it’s true that it’s comparatively not friendly [though I wouldn’t say it’s *un*friendly, per se].
I definitely notice a lot of community spirit in many online spaces, and while that can be a positive or negative thing, depending on the nature of the space, I do think the way it can help people develop their community-building and -maintaining skills is great. As long as they then use those skills for good rather than evil, obviously!
I live in a small village where there is a great community spirit and we know all our neighbours.
It is nice when you’re in a place like that 🙂
I live in a village not far from Norwich and we have a wonderful community spirit. We all look out for each other, without living in each others pockets.
That sounds so lovely it is amazing when you have that around you isn’t it.
Yeah love it! We live in apartments now mainly because of that community atmosphere, gone are the days where you can have neighbourly get-togethers in the old neighbourhood!
It can be amazing can’t it? When you have a good apartment building it is well worth it!
Man is a social animal and the social media of today’s day and age is only an extension of our basic needs of connecting with others living in a society. The online and the offline communities are very important in our day to day life. The survey throws light on many interesting facts.
Most definitely we all need to have people around us don’t we!
The community spirit is a must have in any neighbourhood. It’s always amazing to work together in a great community for everyone to feel safe and happy.
It is amazing how people can come together isn’t it at times?
Community spirit is so important in our lives. I have a neighbour who takes in my parcels for me, luckily.
My city never made it to the list.
Sometimes when you live that you can feel it more than others see it I think.
I love where I live. Community Spirit is cheering each other on and caring about each other Bringing each other up in times of need.
Aww I love that you have that going on – caring for each other is a big thing.
I am quite lucky, we have quite a close knit community in the area I live (although I live in apartments and there are some nightmare) but in the wider area its great.
It can be so hard living in flats at times can’t it? Just such close quarters.
The town I just moved from had a lot of spirit to go around. I miss that place; such great people.
It is hard to get used to a place which doesn’t have it when you are used to it isn’t it?
Unfortunately, my neighborhood is not like this. We tend to live our own lives separately and hardly we know anything about the person next door. Though we do want to connect and live in community spirit but it seems to difficult here to trust people
It can be hard can’t it – we are very lucky where we are now.