Social Media & The Public Sector

Martin Thomas @crowdsurfing

An Exciting Futureo Social media as a transformational force within the

public sector Empowering communities & electorates

• Holding public bodies/officials to account• Revitalising local & national democracy• Shaping policy & spending decisions• Collaborating in delivery of services

Promoting understanding of public service challenges

Creating or enhancing servicesSaving money

An Organisational & Cultural Challengeo Social media is driving new behaviours &

heightened expectations

“Amplifying the volume of moaning”

Instant access, instant response, instant gratification “living life through shortcuts” MTV

“The trouble with McDonald’s is it’s too bloody slow”

Real time problem solving Real time expectations

An Organisational & Cultural Challengeo Social media is driving new behaviours &

heightened expectations Dramatizing institutions’ structural, operational

& cultural weaknesses

Connected Consumer meets Disconnected InstitutionConnected Consumer meets Disconnected Institution

“Digital communications is a destabilizing force in a bureaucratic environment. And I am sitting right in the middle of a bureaucratic environment.’”Senior corporate communications director

“We’re not set up for this shit”UK CEO

Thriving by Loosening Up

o Operational & cultural traits of successful organisationsTrustingOpenAgileInformal Collaborative

Tight Thinkers Need Not Apply

o Organisations & people that struggle with this new worldHierarchicalBureaucraticProcess orientedDistrustful

90%of public sector bodies restrict staff use of social media to some extent (Socitm 2010)

67% block access entirely(v. 20% in private sector) (Socitm 2010)

1. Trusting

o Bedrock of strong internal cultureo Allows shared responsibility & real time

decision making

The best company rulebook ever written?

Nordstrom Revisited

“Prescriptive rules have the effect of infantilising staff & make it harder for them to adapt to different situations. This goes as much for digital communications as for selling socks … Like the Nordstrom handbook we’re trusting staff to follow the spirit, not just the letter, of our guidelines”Meg Pickard, writing about The Guardian’s new social media guidelines, November 2010

How to Build an Empire

“Presumed Competence”

2. Open

o Transparency & honesty non negotiable Capable of transforming reputations Thicker skins essential

3. Agile

o Ability to improvise & operate in close to real time rather than institutional time

4. Informal

Authenticity & timeliness more important than production values

4. Informal

Being willing to show a human face

“On the internet people love to have a more personal relationship with their elected officials” (Barak Obama at launch of 2012 campaign video)

5. Collaborative

o Tapping into spirit of collective self expression

o Leveraging people’s willingness to shape service & product offers

The Power of Communities

Mutualisation: Collaborating with readers and communities to better understand, explore or reflect situations, topics, perspectives or experiences

The Power of Communities

• Over £200k saved• Over 250 photography ambassadors• 50 million views

A Great Big Caveat

20% of UK population is not online (Race 2012)

8.4m

88%

UK internet users do not use any form of social media

of UK internet users do not regularly participate in discussion forums

95%

20m

do not post ratings & reviews

eligible voters didn’t bother to turn out for last local elections in the UK

Thriving by Loosening Up

TrustingOpenAgileInformal Collaborative

@crowdsurfing

Get your organisation & culture right … & the social media will look after itself