A handful of recently-launched websites pioneering the use of "social media for social good" are gathering strength as Birmingham builds its profile as a hub for digital public service media.

Be Vocal aims to highlight the work done by community organisations in using digital media and show how they can make use of data available from public bodies in what’s known as "data mashing".

The site, www.bevocal.org.uk, was developed by Birmingham social media consultant Nick Booth and describes itself as "a site about social media for social good in Birmingham and using the internet to turn public data into something useful".

Mr Booth, who is also a cofounder of investigative journalism site Help Me Investigate, said: "It’s do to with public data and what citizens will want to do with it."

As a practical example of data mashing to provide community benefit, Mr Booth pointed to a recent initiative to take government information on job vacancies and present it in a new form which offers practical benefits for people looking for work.

He said: "A very simple example of data mashing is where somebody has taken all the data that’s available on jobs in Job Centre Plus around the country and made it possible for people to put in their postcode and ask the site to show them all the jobs within a mile of where they live."

The website is supported by Digital Birmingham’s Open City project which is funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government as part of its Timely Information for Citizens initiative.

The initiative aims to develop new tools for citizens to engage with councils and contribute more effectively to local decision-making.

Digital Birmingham’s economic development manager Dave Harte said: "We want to respond to people’s needs rather than just create tools for the sake of it, and the website is helping us understand those needs and find the issues that we will address in the next stage of the project."

The BeVocal team has organised a series of local social media surgeries to demonstrate to community groups how blogging and other social media tools can be used to connect and communicate with local residents and opinion-formers.

Meanwhile another of Mr Booth’s projects - www.helpmeinvestigate.com - which he has worked on together with online journalism lecturer Paul Bradshaw and entrepreneur Stef Lewandowski, is continuing to build the number of investigations on its site.

The site, which aims to help the public organise and pursue an investigation into any subject, recently secured funding from the regional screen agency Screen WM and 4iP, Channel 4’s project to encourage investment in public service digital media.

Mr Bradshaw said: "It’s been live for around three weeks now and we have already had a couple of good investigations."

One of the most popular investigations on the website was prompted by a question about the streets in Birmingham where the most parking tickets are issued.

Mr Bradshaw also pointed to a couple of smaller investigations going on on the site which don’t have the same headline-grabbing potential but which have helped people understand issues that affect their every-day lives, such the impact of bus deregulation on the price of bus tickets.

And another website which has benefited from 4iP investment - www.talkaboutlocal.org - has expanded in size after recruiting Birmingham blogger Nicky Getgood, who runs the Digbeth is Good site, and Mike Rawlins of the www.pitsnpots.co.uk blog.