John Fellows

Social Media and Scottish Local Authorities

why?

That’s all very well John, but what about Scottish Local Authorities?

Questions

• Which Scottish Local Authorities engage in two-way communication through their use of Twitter?

• Have Scottish Local Authorities developed an approach to the use of Twitter which is built on the development of a social media strategy?

• Have Scottish Local Authorities developed a plan by which communications through Twitter is measured and reported on?

• Which Scottish Local Authorities deliver this activity by communications professionals as opposed to other teams within the organisation?

Organisations which have:

• developed an approach to the use of Twitter which is built on the development of a social media strategy,

• developed a plan by which such activity is measured and reported on,

• and where this activity is delivered by communications professionals

will display greater characteristics of symmetrical communications that organisations which do not.

My hypothesis

What I found out

(www.johnfellows.org)

Which Scottish Local Authorities engage in two-way communication

through their use of Twitter?

Engage in dialogue

Limited engagement

No engagement

Have Scottish Local Authorities developed an approach to the use of

Twitter which is built on the development of a social media

strategy?

Yes

No

In draft

Have Scottish Local Authorities developed a plan by which

communications through Twitter is measured and reported on?

Have conducted an evaluation

Have contributed to a joint evaluation

Have not evaluated activity on Twitter

Which Scottish Local Authorities deliver this activity by

communications professionals as opposed to other teams within the

organisation?

Communications Team

Other/None

Effective use of Twitter to engage in dialogue with other users, does not, however appear to strongly correlate with the development of a specific social media plan or strategy within the organisations studied. An examination of the level of interaction shown by each account shows that this is almost equal whether or not the organisation involved has developed a policy or plan to guide this work.

Local Authorities which have developed systems for reporting and evaluating their Twitter use are more likely to engage with their publics through its use, suggesting that those organisations which have sought to establish the benefit of such technologies have more greatly benefited from its use.

• Only 3 councils give all staff access to social media at work– The rest give access to around 20 staff in total

• @RWSti = only Council Chief Exec in Twitter

• Since original research in Dec 2011:– Direct engagement through Twitter has reduced

– Average 30% increase in followers

Why is this so difficult?

How could it work?

Is this important?