Okay so yesterday I saw Kleenex's social media hayfever mapping experiment which is along the same lines as Ben Marsh's uksnow and ukhols maps. The fact that major brands like Kleenex and Vodafone are trying things serves as a counterpoint to the likes of Habitat getting it wrong.

But what's the value in the Kleenex map?

Well, it does create interest and drive people through to a site which showcases their products and content. It also creates an environment where hayfever sufferers can talk about how bad they're feeling without seeming to whinge. People may also place more weight on the experiences of others than a TV pollen map.

Of course the downside is that hayfever sufferers are different to each other. Their experiences and the seriousness of their symptoms differ. So something that's 5/5 for one person may be 3/5 for another and may not be an accurate reflection of the pollen count or how likely other may be to suffer in the same way.

Also, this sort of data becomes obsolete quickly. As such people need to update regularly for the maps to display relevant content (or a shed load of people have to adopt it).

All in all, the creation of a platform for people to share experience and advice relating to an illness is a good idea and is ripe for further development.

Which brings me to the second part of this post. How can we use this sort of social mapping in the public sector?

One potential use which occurred to me is in crime perception and mapping. There is often a gap between how much we fear crime and how likely it is to happen. By using social mapping we could pose the question: "How worried are you about crime in your area?"

The response with hashtag and postcode can then be mapped and displayed alongside maps showing crime statistics. This then seeks to redress the imbalance between perception and reality.

Okay so that's a pretty simplistic outline, but what do you think? Is this a good idea? Do you have any other ideas?