A Few Words About John Popham

Back in 2011 , Bromford was starting out on a journey of using social media.

We really didn’t know where to start.

I’d been using Twitter for a couple of years in a personal capacity but didn’t know what I was doing or whether it added any value to my life or anyone else's.

I came across this guy called John Popham who at the time had about 2,500 followers, which I was amazed at (I think I had 10).

Why would so many people follow ‘John from Huddersfield’ — a normal bloke going on about dog walking, beer, trains, tech for social good and the benefits of digital inclusion?

I messaged him for some advice and — typically for those that know John — he gave up an hour of his time for free. He was the person that introduced me to the idea of digital storytelling — of giving everyday people who use digital tools the platform to tell their ‘story’.

He was years ahead of his time — most organisations are still fairly useless at storytelling, or unsure of what their story even is.

He encouraged me to start blogging — first on behalf of Bromford and then personally. I remember being gutted when my first post got less than 10 views and he told me to ‘keep telling good stories and eventually people will follow’. He was right — and he himself was the biggest comment contributor to my blog as it developed.

We were both increasingly fed up of industry backslapping awards and overpriced conferences so he also encouraged me to start a crowdsourced ‘powerplayers’ poll in 2013 to find the most socially connected and generous sharers on social media. He nearly topped it the following year , being narrowly beaten by Helen Reynolds.

I’ll never forget the night I was goaded into hosting a very boozy pop up awards show for the winners, an event John filmed but I’ve never watched as I don’t like watching myself. “Get over yourself” he told me “You were just you”. Maybe I finally will.

I was really upset to hear of John’s passing — I’d hoped that his endless positivity would see him defy the odds. We’d been more in touch the past few months as we’ve both seen the inside workings of the NHS in a lot more detail than we’d have liked.

John’s commitment to sharing his story puts me to shame but I guess I should be guided by his advice from all those years ago — ‘your story is individual to you so don’t be shy in sharing it, as no-one’s is any better or worse than yours’.

You’ll be missed John — and you told a really great story.