There was little support last night for the new mayor Cllr Heather Williams's request that the town council should in future eschew Facebook. Town councillors who spoke wanted to keep the use of Facebook. Doing otherwise, they argued, was undemocratic. What had councillors to lose? One asked, 'What are we worried about? Why do we need to be so secret?' Then, there was a compelling argument that Facebook encouraged engagement.
I must admit I had some sympathy with those who wanted to retain Facebook, till I heard Cllr Anne Roberts speak. Setting aside political allegiances, she's a hard-working, long-standing, well-respected town councillor and no doubt other hyphenated phrases as well.
She said that in the fast few months she had been personally targeted as a result of streaming on Facebook and some comments made to her left her 'extremely uncomfortable'. She was therefore against allowing people to see recordings of town councils.
It was that single statement that resulted in my own view that the town council should not make Facebook available other than as broadcast. It should not keep an archive for people to pick over and comment upon. According to the clerk, the law is now that if the council meets virtually, it needs to extend to the same right of access as if it were a regular meeting. There's no need for a recorded archive. So it was that I think the town council agreed to continue to use Facebook till they could meet again. I say I *think* because the debate was long and tiresome; and it was by no means clear whether the town council would make the recording available after the event.
As for engagement, before the pandemic, the average number of members of the public bothering to attend monthly town councils was nearer zero than one. Facebook resulted in between 20 and 30... which is fine, unless they wish to use the privilege to make mischief. Clearly, both Anne Roberts and the mayor (and presumably the former mayor) felt that was the case.