Impact report Its not always necessary to prompt community members to offer up their thoughts. e organ admits hes lucky to work in a space where people love to talk, and members do so among themselves outside of project requirements. These conversations have taken a shift in tone in recent months, however. eople are very heavily invested in snacking, he says. istorically, what we saw was uite general discussion about things such as holidays and activities what people found themselves trying when they went away. But, in the past couple of months, weve seen a bit more emotion coming into it. Whereas before it was quite functional, now there almost seems to be a concern for other people within the community. People are checking in on other members and seeing how theyre doing asking not just about each other, but about each others families. When there are new products, it provides an outlet of joy. All of a sudden, a new product from Cadbury is really exciting; it provides them with happiness and emotion that perhaps the external world isn t giving them. InSites Consulting has run a number of Covid-19specific communities, both on behalf of clients and for its own proprietary insight, and Lawrence agrees that Sponsor hes seen a higher level of interaction than normal. This makes sense: people were at home more, and therefore spending significantly longer online. According to UK Online Measurement (UKOM)approved Comscore data, time spent online went from 3hrs 26mins per day in January to 4hrs 2mins per day in April. Julie Forey, director of insight at UKOM, says change of this magnitude is highly unusual. Typically, when I look at the data, it doesnt change very much from month to month; it might be about five minutes difference, she says. alf an hour is a big leap. Theres been an increasingly personal feel to the exchanges in communities, says Lawrence. People are thinking, I wouldnt mind talking to people that arent just my family. Maybe theyre going through some of the same things as me; how are they finding online shopping ow are they coping without the hospitality industry? What are they worried about in terms of healthcare, etc According to media psychologist Dr Pamela Rutledge, there can be a particular comfort in having these kinds of conversations. When youre talking to a stranger, you dont have the emotional obligations that you do to your family, she says. ou don t have to worry about the interpersonal dynamics or 24 Impact ISSUE 31 20_pp20-29_Report.indd 24 18/09/2020 11:39 JTD_In