Voluntary organisations are being encouraged to take advantage of a new website porthole providing young people with comprehensive information on events and activities in their area in a bid to increase youth participation in structured activities.

The Plings porthole uses information provided by councils together with information pulled from websites, social networks and digital TV to create a database of activities, known as Plings.

In the past, such information has only been available in an “unstrategic fashion” via local websites, leaflets, e-newsletters and notice boards, say Plings creators Substance, noting that quality, accuracy and compatibility varied.

But Neil Watson, director of Substance, called on the voluntary sector to secure the website’s success: “The key to Plings’ success in the future will be the engagement of the voluntary and community sector.

“The infrastructure has been built, but in line with the Big Society, community organisations and private sector providers must now take responsibility for making this work by regularly publishing information about their activities and events," he said.

Using social networking systems such as tag clouds, retweeting links, comments and even a blog, the site acts as an online community as well as events listing site. The site also features a series of Apps allowing young people to access the information via their iphone, to view activities in customised Plings calendars, locate the activities via the Plingorama map and rate the Plings they view, among other features.