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NZ Irish expat group spreads positive stories about Ireland
| Published: | 23 Apr at 6 PM |
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Following recent bad press about unemployment, depression and austerity in Ireland and reports on the latest Irish Diaspora, a New Zealand Irish group is publicising positive stories on social media.
A volunteer expat service providing help to new immigrants from Ireland is determined to counter depressing media reports about the state of the ‘old country’ by uploading positive stories. The Irish People Living in New Zealand group is a household name in the community and liaises with Enterprise Ireland and Auckland’s Irish consulate.
The Facebook page Positively Irish is being run by volunteer Ciaran Lowney, a New Zealand resident for many years. Ciaran is dedicated to giving her Irish expat readers a taste of happy stories proving there’s still life in the old country and it’s not all doom and gloom.
Her first team member, Karen, is originally from County Cork, and Ciaran’s now been joined by four admin volunteers living in Australia, the UK and the USA. The focus of the page is inspiring, uplifting stories about life outside and inside Ireland, and a website is now being designed.
Three weeks after the Facebook page went online, over 1,000 followers had joined up, half from Ireland and the rest for all over the world. Topics include positive economic news and tales of success and inspiration in Irish lives, all intended to accentuate the positive amongst so much negativity.
Politics is a forbidden subject, and the page has no links to any political party. Given the general negativity reported in many other expat destinations and the home countries of their expat residents, perhaps others may be inspired to start like-minded Facebook pages. Coincidental with recent reports that half the world’s population would emigrate given the chance, maybe expat-aimed positive social media pages could become the new trend in 2013.
A volunteer expat service providing help to new immigrants from Ireland is determined to counter depressing media reports about the state of the ‘old country’ by uploading positive stories. The Irish People Living in New Zealand group is a household name in the community and liaises with Enterprise Ireland and Auckland’s Irish consulate.
The Facebook page Positively Irish is being run by volunteer Ciaran Lowney, a New Zealand resident for many years. Ciaran is dedicated to giving her Irish expat readers a taste of happy stories proving there’s still life in the old country and it’s not all doom and gloom.
Her first team member, Karen, is originally from County Cork, and Ciaran’s now been joined by four admin volunteers living in Australia, the UK and the USA. The focus of the page is inspiring, uplifting stories about life outside and inside Ireland, and a website is now being designed.
Three weeks after the Facebook page went online, over 1,000 followers had joined up, half from Ireland and the rest for all over the world. Topics include positive economic news and tales of success and inspiration in Irish lives, all intended to accentuate the positive amongst so much negativity.
Politics is a forbidden subject, and the page has no links to any political party. Given the general negativity reported in many other expat destinations and the home countries of their expat residents, perhaps others may be inspired to start like-minded Facebook pages. Coincidental with recent reports that half the world’s population would emigrate given the chance, maybe expat-aimed positive social media pages could become the new trend in 2013.
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