the use of social media to consult and engage with the public about development policy
TRANSCRIPT
The use of social media to consult and engage with the public about development policy
Department for International Development24th June 2015
David Girling@socialmedia4D
- Defining publics- Open policy making toolkit - Whiteboard Animations – Oxfam vs DEV- Seeding
Brief outline
Social Media Audit
Defining publics
Civil societyOpinion formersMediaMedia gatekeepersAcademicsPolicymakersFunders
Open policy making toolkit: social media listening and analyis
“More than 50% of people in the UK use social media every week, so it is an important source of information for policy makers. It can feed our policy understanding by building our knowledge and helping us to make informed decisions. It is often also used for communication campaigns.”
UK Cabinet OfficeMarch 2015
Issues to be aware of:• social media is not representative so the views you are
hearing are only of a certain section of the population at a certain time
• rumours and false information can spread easily over social media: be a cynic and check it against what you know; don’t rely on facts from a single unknown source
• most tools only sample a small section of the whole conversation on Twitter: this isn’t a problem if you’re looking at trends in large quantities of Twitter data but it is worth remembering that you’re not seeing every tweet
• tools that claim to do accurate sentiment analysis (assessing social media messages as positive or negative) are rarely accurate as computers are not good at recognising humour or sarcasm; check the results and if possible correct what the tool finds
How to do social media analysis
• Set your objectives• Work out who to monitor• Identify and understand your influencers• Check and adjust• Consider how to use the information you
are gathering
NATO Summit 2014: engaging through digital
What they did: Twitter to identify key influencers (councillors, business owners, community groups) #myWales
How it worked: Storify, NATO sausage, Mount Pleasant Primary
Why it worked: engagement, FCO networks
What were the benefits:
“This approach enabled us to overcome geography. Building a strong and responsive local network that was willing to publicise our messages locally….relationships that began via social media gave way to real life opportnuties”.
http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/digitaldiplomacy/case-study/nato-summit-wales-2014-engaging-through-digital/
Connecting Social Media to the Policy Cycle- Online forums- Facebook- Google Hangouts- Ensure that social media tools are
embedded in government processes- Building capacity in digital engagement- Make draft strategies and policies
available for comment and discussionhttp://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/connecting-social-media-policy-cycle
How to communicate research for policy influence
“The practice of data visualization is becoming increasingly important; moreover it is changing the way people receive and consume data….Data visualisation allows simplifying, measuring, comparing, exploring, and discovering data; it transforms data into information and information into knowledge.”
http://www.vippal.cippec.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Guia-05-serie-3-ingles.pdf
DFID Infographics
- Upload video to DEV YouTube on Friday 25th April
- Promote via @socialmedia4D @martinscott2010 @developmentuea @uniofeastanglia
- Schedule tweets over the weekend
- Promote on DEV LinkedIn and Facebook Page
- Send email round to DEV staff (John's round up?)
- Send email to Media Students and Media Alumni?
- Press Release?
- Blog Post?
- Contact various media people on Twitter e.g. BBC Trending, BBC Media Action, Media Matters, Media Trust, One World Media, Global Media Forum, Beth Kanter, Guardian, Guardian Professionals, Melinda Gates, Al Jazeera Stream,
- Co-ordinate tweets with Jason Toal and Sarah Menard in Canada and Diana - Post to JISC Mail and any other LinkedIn Groups you know of
What is the purpose of your multi-author blog?Use an open source blogging platform e.g. Wordpress Gauge people’s buy-inGet support from the topHow do you seed your blog?How do you measure success?
Summary
- Define your audiences early on- Make research findings relevant to
different audiences- Summarise effectively- Humanise the story- Need to embed behavioural change about
social media
Barriers
- Need a critical mass- Limitations of access- Internet cost - availability- Literacy
Further Reading
- Alliance for Useful Evidence (2014) Social Media and Public Policy: What is the evidence?
- Duncan Green (2014) What do What House Policy Makers want from Researchers?
- Beth Kanter (2104) International Organizations and Social Media: News, Engagement, and Social Data for Policy Change
- Ella McPherson (2014) Four things policy-makers need to know about social media data and real time analytics.
- IBT (2015) Social Media – making your voice heard
