Presentation on the use of social media by Scottish local authorities by @john_fellows to a @cipr_scotland event on 30th August 2012.

1. John Fellows
Social Media and Scottish Local Authorities

2. why?

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

7. 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?

8. My hypothesis
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.

9. What I found out

10. (www.johnfellows.org)

11. Which Scottish Local Authorities
engage in two-way communication
through their use of Twitter?
Engage in dialogue
Limited engagement
No engagement

12. 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

13. 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

14. Which Scottish Local Authorities
deliver this activity by
communications professionals as
opposed to other teams within the
organisation?
Communications Team
Other/None

15. 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.

16. 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.

18. • 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

19. Why is How
this so could it
difficult? work?
Is this
important?