Follow us on Twitter

Access our Document library

Meet the team

What the UK public sector could learn from Europe’s social media savvy

Posted by Jon Wilcox on Fri, 01/09/2000 - 10:51
Printer friendly


Neal Perry Episerver.png

Commercial brands have been quick to jump on the social media bandwagon, with numerous examples of engagement working well to generate better brand awareness and sales.

But it’s only recently that we’ve started to see public sector organisations realise the same benefits, building communities around important issues and helping people to help themselves.  Indeed, the democratic nature of the medium makes it a perfect match for those with a statutory duty to engage with the public and represent their interests.  

The question now is, in the UK, are public sector organisations doing enough to tap into the potential of social media?
 
UK Social Media Report
Our recent research into this topic as part of a wider audit of social media use on the web has produced some interesting statistics from the public sector site examined.
 
For a start, only one in ten have any kind of blogging presence - a huge missed opportunity to connect with citizens and communities when you bear in mind 8 out of 10 of sites audited are local councils.  Worse still, there was no other interactive channel like forums or live chat to make up for this deficiency, only the static contact details that one might traditionally expect.
 
In comparison to every other industry, Episerver found that public sector organizations had significantly lower scores than any other industry.  Elsewhere in the world, however, it seems to be a different case altogether.
 
Stockholm Calling
Over in Sweden, a couple of our public sector customers are showing what can be done with new technology and building online communities that can really make a difference.
 
On the Stockholm municipality’s homepage, it’s instantly clear that people are at the heart of the endeavor with a YouTube collage of the public and politicians addressing issues they consider important. 
 
Additionally, the site has an award winning area for comparison of publicly offered services. From kindergartens to sports facilities and many other public services besides, the general public can get immediate feedback via the ratings of other users. 
 
More and Mora
Second, and also in Sweden, the municipality of Mora is a great example of how to make the most of forums and blogs. Employees across the board, from the Mayor to youth workers, write about different policies and topics that interest them and connect with the electorates’ concerns.
 
Meanwhile, the interactivity continues with a forum where anyone can get in touch directly with their elected representatives via questions and answers pages.
 
Champions of Participation
Governments both central and local are being actively encouraged to have a more open, wider dialogue with citizens. Just look at campaigns like the “Champions of Participation”, initiative launched in 2007, which aimed to engage citizens in local governance, for evidence of this.  
 
Across the World, governments created groups to explore the problems and the potential for strengthening citizen participation in local government.  They then reunited the ‘champions of participation’ from countries in every continent to identify lessons and how sharing this experience might inform and shape policy and practice.
 
Social media is one tool where organisations can embrace such initiatives and is an especially effective one when it comes to engaging the younger public.
 
In this conversation economy, the ability to engage between state institutions and the individual is important. Through interactivity, citizens are creating greater links with their local communities and local governments are able to adapt to feedback with greater responsiveness.
 
Online engagement is the epitome of digital inclusion. Millions of people are already using social media applications, and their extension into government promotes citizen engagement within the local community, ultimately contributing to the local environment becoming a better place.
 
Neal Perry is Country Manager UK, Ireland & Middle East, for EPiServer