Social Media in the European Institutions

Prof. Dr. Fernando ChecaEuro-Mediterranean University Institute

Universidad Complutense de Madridfernando.checa@emui.ucm.es

Are we going to speak about this today...?

Or, better… ABOUT THIS???

In a complex World, in crisis, citizens feel more distant from the leading organizations

Political Changes….

"Hacktivism"

The New activism is directed to governments... worldwide

Arab Spring

Changes in arabs countries, so-called: Arab Spring

Main factor of communication: Facebook and Twitter

#15M: Spanish Revolution

• Before to the Spanish Local Elections, May 2011

• Movement #nolesvotes

• Citizens occupying Sol

• The result?

UsingTwitter in #15M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5w4amBIHj4&

Global Revolution?

#occupytogether

www.occupytogether.org

But now… coming back to the Web… First... do you remember the past?

Some typical features of Web 1.0

•Read-only Web

•Search for information and read it

•Static pages and no user-generated content

•User as a passive participant (one-way flow of information)

Ten years ago...UE Web Site: 2001

Source: http://www.archive.org

Today, the "hype": Web 2.0/Social Media

Web 2.0, refers to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users

New Media: BE SOCIAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo

Web 2.0UE Web Site: 2011: http://europa.eu/index_en.htm

Social Media: Characteristics

• Users are creating and managing information

• Applications used through a Web browser

• Social-networking aspects

• A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface

Social Media Characteristics

• Access to info

• Add new content (knowledge, opinions, experiences)

• Share your things (photos, videos, writings, musics, etc)

• Control the info (delete, promote, correct or complete)

• Summing up (Recomend the best places to travel, the most interesting news, etc)

• Put your affaires online (tasks, meetings, list of books, gift lists, etc)

User is the Main Actor

Web 2.0: Blogs

Web + log = Blog

• Blogs are websites where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order

• You write everything you want (without specialized knowledge)

• You are connected with other people (blogosphere)

• Primary textual, but no restrictions (photo, video, audio, etc).

The Blogosphere and EU

• EU offers 13 institutional blogs

• All blogs under the EU umbrella stick to a similar design, they do not offer the usual design of a blog: access to blogroll linking with relevant content outside of the organisation

• http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/malmstrom/

Social Media: Photo/Video Sharing

• A photo/video sharing service allows individuals to upload photos and video clips to an Internet website.

• The photo/video host store files on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view your files.

• Using Web 2.0 features, one can be part of communities of users (inside a certain category for example), interact with other users, etc.

Four Main Accounts:

•European Parliament: http://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/

•European Council Presidency: http://www.flickr.com/photos/europeancouncil

•EU Social: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46889122@N03/

•European Commission: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eu_development

+ 5200 pictures shared:

EU on Flickr

UE: Flickr

EU on Youtube

3 Main Accounts:

• European Council Presidency : 500 videos

• European Parliament : 456 videos

• official account of the EU: 345 videos

+ 2,390 videos shared:

Reproduced over 20 million times

UE: Youtube

Social Media: Social Networks

• Social Networks are social structures made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are joined by one or more specific types of links, such as values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friendship, etc.

• Example: Facebook... Are there more...?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

EU on Facebook

• 75 Open Profiles

• High level of comments

• Medium level of “Likes”

• Few level of replies

http://www.facebook.com/europeanparliament

EU on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/EU.Careers.EPSO https://www.facebook.com/JerzyBuzek

EU on MySpace

• One Account

• “Hub” to other Social Networks

• Few level activity

http://www.myspace.com/europeanparliament

Social Media: Microblogging

• Twitter … is a service for friends, family, co-workers and organizations to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequently answers.

• Users can inform followers of their current work, research, interest, reading, website, browsing, etc.

• … is network formed around a shared interest.

EU on Twitter

• 86 Accounts

• More than 78,000 tweets

• Following: 19,000

• Followers: +226,000

http://tweetlevel.edelman.com/

EU on Twitter

http://twitter.com/#!/Europarl_EN

EU on Twitter

http://twitter.com/#!/eu_eeas

Conclusion

• The world changes every day faster and global citizens demands their voice could be listened

• The spread of technology leads to the "hacking" is closer to citizens' movements

• Some institutions are beginning to get closer to citizens using new forms of contact (Social Media)

• The EU has developed a large number of these initiatives

• It need greater interaction and increased transparency

And now... questions ?