A popular Harrow-centric social media site has celebrated a double milestone.

The brainchild of social media aficionado Chris Mitchell, Harrow Online is a “one stop shop” for all things Harrow related, and has prominent profiles on both Facebook and Twitter where residents can discuss the local issues they care about.

The Harrow Online Facebook page has just celebrated its sixth birthday, but the concept for a Harrow discussion group took its first tentative steps into reality a decade ago.

Chris, 34, stumbled upon the idea while working for the MOBO awards in a marketing capacity.

Having created a number of pages to discover fresh music talent in the area, the father of two was left with a Harrow page that he admits he did not know what to do with.

“I was unsure what to do with it but did not want to delete it because of its popularity, so I renamed it Harrow Online. That’s how it started,” he said.

Since then the “Harrow Online” Facebook page has been “liked” more than 21,000 times, although Chris says this is just the start, and is hoping to break the 100,000 mark within the next five years.

The popularity of his Harrow Online Twitter feed has also increased exponentially, with just shy of 20,000 followers tuning in for up-to-the minute Harrow news bites.

As a long-time resident of Harrow - having studied at Cedars School, Hatch End High School and Harrow College before starting a career in sales at the age of 20 - Chris now wants to dial up his social media ventures, turning them into a forum for Harrow residents to discuss all aspects of the town, and more deeply investigating the history of the borough.

“As it’s grown, I’ve found myself becoming more and more fascinated with how people feel about living in Harrow, and try to encourage open debate across our social media,” says Chris.

“This can sometimes backfire but I feel it’s important for people to have a platform to air their views.

“If you compare our reach and numbers to any other local media, we are above and way beyond anyone.”

So what does the future hold for this rapidly expanding community-based forum?

As well as hosting discussion and debate, Harrow Online has recruited the services of talented young writers to create original content delving deeper into the issues that really effect the area.

“We have a brilliant young writer by the name of Harry Turner that has been working with us for six months now, creating history based articles.

“We are looking for more writers to create other more current-focused articles and content for our website. I want Harrow Online to be your one-stop-shop for everything Harrow related and to work with local news media, events and businesses to a build a much bigger community portal.”