Reflections on #poltwt

A quite amazing thing happened on Friday 22 March that brought the law enforcement and policing community closer together. The world became a smaller place thanks to social media and a special event. But putting all the charts and graphs aside, what did it actually achieve?

The global police Twitter day, known by the hashtag #poltwt, was developed by Lauri Stevens and involved more than 200 law enforcement agencies and individuals which is quite an achievement. The stated purpose was to highlight the work of officers around the world but also to show how they are using social media to support policing activities. This was done from 8am on 22 March 2013 around the world.

For me it was an exciting day that brought with it some highlights and was a show of strength by bringing officers together from many countries. It was another step on the path of demonstrating to colleagues what can be achieved by using social media, and showing that it really is now part of frontline policing. Discovering and using social media is a journey and within any organisation people will be moving at different speeds along the road. Events such as the global Twitter day can help to accelerate things for some people.

Reading the tweets from around the world was fascinating as it highlighted both similarities and differences. There were some common themes:

• everyone wanted to make a difference and improve lives
• conversations and communication were seen as essential
• residents wanted to know more about policing and local officers
• photographs of dogs and horses are always welcome!

The interest in the event was evident in the tweets that were received and the level of involvement people wanted to have. In Greater Manchester Police we saw people sending message throughout the day, asking questions during a two-hour session, and being keen to learn more about what each of the neighbourhood policing teams were doing. It was great to see not just police officers taking part. Local people wanted to get involved by making their voice heard. This was also seen with the latest community reporters taking their time to go on patrol with GMP neighbourhood officers. They were then able to add their own perspective onto global police twitter day.

It was a 24 hours that brought the world of policing and law enforcement closer together and helped to develop the conversations between officers and the people they serve. I am sure there will be more to come now that the world has been made a little smaller. 

Risk and resources remain on top

Using social media is still something that many organisations are shying away from. They have concerns about dipping their toe in the water and then not being able to step away. They feel it would unleash something that cannot then be contained. It continues to surprise me the amount of companies that are holding back from embracing the digital world.

This week I had the chance to talk about social media with new police press officers on a training course. It is the third time that I have been able to do the same presentation in the past year or so. I wondered whether the questions I was asked this time would have changed and show that things had moved on.

During the presentation, I went through the three-year journey that we have been taking at work. Starting with the development of the first social media strategy through to it moving into daily business as just another communication channel. The group seemed relatively interested as I went through Twitter day in 2010, the riots in 2011 and the death of two officers in 2012 and documented the role for social media. It has been a roller coaster time and it reminded me how far we have come in the past three years.

However, the questions I was asked had not moved on much in the past year as the two main concerns remained resources and risk. Understandably people fear that social media requires a huge amount of resources to manage. My perspective on this is that it is just another form of communication and is therefore everyone’s responsibility. The only thing that needs to take place is a change in processes and priorities so that having additional resources is not an issue. Social media is not an extra burden it is a new way of doing business.

I do understand the preoccupation with the risks of social media. Much of this stems from the lack of control that individuals and organisations feel they have when they step into social networking. But it is important to remember that all forms of communication that organisations use come with risks that have to be managed in the best way possible. Just because things come with risks does not mean that we avoid doing them. Policing is a risky business that is focused on risk management so if anything it should be able to deal with the challenges of using social media.

The enthusiasm from the group was obvious and the desire to find ways to be more innovative in using communication channels. I just hope that the next time I get a chance to speak to the police press officers we may have moved forwards and be starting to discuss other issues than risk and resources.

Community takes control of communication

There was a significant change in communication that took place last week and it went relatively unnoticed. Greater Manchester Police took its first community reporter on patrol with local officers on Friday 8 March. It was a chance for the local resident to experience policing first hand and to see all elements both good and bad. But more than just experiencing it we wanted them to talk about it, to tell us and their community what they found, what it meant and how it made them feel. The individual was encouraged to use social networks to share their experiences. All this was done with no control over what they would say.

It is a risky venture but seen as extremely important if we are to really understand what matters to people and how they will judge whether the organisation has been successful in dealing with issues in their communities. As well as the potential risks to reputation in allowing this level of access, there was also all kinds of legal issues that had to be overcome. They would have been enough to put many businesses off doing it, and probably us as well if we had not been so determined to make it happen.

The result of the first patrol can be seen on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpbvDKT0Pl4&list=UU2nzRhf7x6_-ShxGo39rzKg&index=2 and also in the community reporter’s own words here http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/general-coffeehouse-chat-514/news-current-affairs-topical-discussion-12/900733-community-reporter-harriet-blake-went-out-patrol-her-local-officers.html

This was her views and thoughts, and the role for the communication team was just to gather the information and then share it through social networks. For me this is similar to the user-generated content that the media have been so keen on in recent years. It is people’s perspective and views but given from a more knowledgeable position. There has already been an overwhelming response from people wanting to get involved.

It might not seem particularly radical but for me it marks a significant change in the way we develop communication and engagement activity. This is not about sending out corporate messages but rather truly understanding the customer perspective and more than that it is demonstrating a level of transparency that many would be concerned about. It takes a mature organisation to be able to undertake such activity and deal with the possible negative comments. I am hopeful that we will continue to listen and consider all comments rather than worry about trying to ‘spin’ our way out.

This is the first of what we hope will be a whole series of patrols developing a group of community reporters who can tell their neighbourhoods what they have experienced and provide invaluable feedback on the service. There are so many opportunities that this approach presents once we accept that it is going to be a high risk venture. In a recent communication survey people overwhelmingly said they valued trust more than anything else in the conversations they have. And this initiative will surely help to build that, or at least I hope it will.

Social networks have played a huge part in helping the organisation connect with people as individuals and as communities. Without the arrival and impact of social networks this latest initiative would never have been possible. I want this to be the start of a new phase of communication as we move to be a more social organisation. To see how this initiative develops watch this space.

A future in PR? Possibly

It was interesting to read this week of the results of research which showed a lack of understanding about what the public relations profession is about. The research by ComRes found that among 16 to 18-year-olds 70 per cent could not answer the question about what was involved in a career in PR. The details were something that hit home this week when I spoke to PR students at Manchester Metropolitan University.

The purpose of my talk was to explain about my typical day and also highlight the issues that are different when working in in-house PR. It was something that I thought would be a challenge, particularly in trying to define the elements that are involved in my average working hours. The group of about 20 were in the first year of a journey to understand about the role public relations plays in modern life and to develop the relevant skills.

So, what is PR? Is it the same now as it was 20 or 30 years ago? Is it about celebrities or is about sales?

For me the whole area of communication is about improving lives and helping people make the right connections. If public relations is working well then it will bring people together and develop relationships. The public relations professional should be about making this happen to the benefit of the organisation or company and ultimately the individual.

I am continually working to ensure that the communication activity of my team supports frontline business and if it doesn’t then we have to question whether we should be doing it at all. Often people think that PR is about ‘fluffy’ things and in the current climate that it is about celebrity and image management. In short it isn’t. It is about helping to change behaviour or improving goods and services, and these are the things that in the right way make lives better.

Twenty years ago when I was starting my working life I would not have considered a career in PR. I wanted to be a journalist and for a number of years that is exactly what I did. But when I was watching the BBC Newswatch programme this morning (Saturday 2 March) I heard a reporter say, when faced with a harrowing situation where children had been abandoned in Syria, they were there to report not intervene. For me that is where PR and communication takes a different approach. It is there to make a difference and when faced with difficult or challenging situations it would seek to act to improve what exists.

When the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) start their education programme perhaps that is what they need to demonstrate. They need to show the impact that PR and communication can have on lives and how it can change situations for the better. I hope that is something that I managed to demonstrate when I talked about my typical day to the students in Manchester. PR is about positive relationships and making connections to improve daily lives.

With followers comes responsibility

It was an interesting moment today (Thursday 21 February) when I noticed the Sky News ticker saying that Lord McAlpine had dropped his legal action against people who had defamed him on Twitter. Well it was dropped for anyone who had fewer than 500 followers. An interesting approach – to focus on the network of followers that people had and I suppose the logic was that the fewer the followers the less likely that the comments would have been circulated wider.

When people join social networks and start to discuss life, events and make comments on the world around them it is a mundane decision. They hopefully will have considered what they want to achieve and how they want to get involved with social networks. I assume they will also be aware of any possible impact on their employer or other relevant groups. But using social networks is just a form of conversation. However, when it starts to grow and the network expands it can have a much more significant impact on that person’s life.

With followers comes a greater responsibility for what you say. You say it to them and they say it to someone else and it grows. All very positive when you have got something useful, interesting or entertaining to say. But with it there are legal implications that few people have really got to grips with yet. I have been lucky enough to have heard Steve Kuncewicz talk about the legal issues for using social media and it is an important area for people to consider. Contempt of court, defamation, copyright the list goes on and all are still relevant to comments on social networks. I would recommend following Steve on Twitter or check out where he may be speaking as his insight is valuable.

Providing staff with guidance about using social media personally is really critically. It is even more important to give legal training on the use of social media to anyone who is going to tweet or post on behalf of your organisation. The Greater Manchester Police Twitter feed (@gmpolice) has more than 120,000 followers and the main local account for Manchester City Centre (@gmpcitycentre) has more than 8,000. Every day information, feedback and conversations are posted onto the feeds and with each one there is a responsibility to have considered any legal implications. It can be quite a scary thought for staff which is why they need to be given as much support as possible.

Social networks have brought a number of benefits to communication between groups, individuals and organisations so we should not just shut up shop. Instead, we need to have our eyes open to what using social media means and what the implications are. So, for anyone who has more than 500 followers perhaps you need to consider the comment you are making before you tweet.

Every penny counts

In every communication department whether in-house or agency, public or private sector making every penny count has never been more critical. This is about more than just making savings or being careful with the finances. It is about showing the true value of communication activity and what has been achieved.

Evaluating the impact of communication is notoriously difficult and there are many different views about how it should be conducted. For some it is about the advertising value equivalent, or opportunities to see, for others it is about measuring whether there has been behavioural change. It is often the thing that gets overlooked when teams are busy and trying to deliver everything that is required. There is just not enough time to do evaluation as well as the day job.

When budgets get tight the cost of evaluating activity may also mean it doesn’t happen. So, even if you do have time then you may not have the money to be able to secure external support. It is very easy when faced with these difficulties to just continue with the status quo doing what worked in the past and hoping that it is having an impact.

I have written many times about how the challenge of having little or no budget can bring out creativity and innovation. Now is the time to do things differently and try new things to communicate. But also to make sure the evaluation will show whether the new things have had an impact. The arrival of social media has brought with it many tools and applications that can help with measuring the impact of activity. And while there is no one tool that will do everything for you there are many opportunities that exist to use a little bit of time to consider whether your communication is making a difference.

As we are faced with more months and possibly years of dwindling or non-existent budgets it is critical to show that any money is being used in a responsible way. It is understandable that there will be further scrutiny of whether communication is having an impact and whether it is value for money. There can be no hiding place for communication professionals  who must be able to explain what they have done and why, and have the relevant facts and figures to back things up.

During this week I have spent some time considering both how to evaluate the impact of communication and also questioning how the small budget that I have is being used. I am grappling with this every day and it has to be at the forefront of my mind with every activity. It is not a ‘nice to do’ rather it is a ‘critical to do’. Evaluation has to be prioritised so that every action can be justified, and so that every penny will count.

The horse meat crisis and a challenge to openness

It has been a strange week. As I was sat in the office, in meetings and working with staff all on the theme of how we can be more open and transparent about what we do, the horse meat in food saga was rumbling on. My focus was about ensuring that officers and staff have honest conversations with people and ask why not provide information rather than ask why to share it. While in Findus it appears according to the Daily Mirror tomorrow (Saturday 9 February) they knew about the horse meat issue and did not act until almost two weeks later.

The food industry has been dealt a huge reputational blow due to recent events which as I write it seems it has no way out of. This is partly because there is little public acceptance at a senior level that the misrepresentation was wrong and that someone needs to come out and appear on camera to discuss the situation. There needs to be clear accountability shown if we can start to move forward and above all this there has to be an honesty from across the food industry.

If in the next few days and weeks more revelations continue to surface about what is within the contents of food then the situation will spiral downward. Many times I have spoken about how during a crisis honesty and apologising when things go wrong are essential. There is no sense in trying to hide issues because they will be found out and aired within the media or through social media. During a crisis, senior staff need to face up to any issues they have and make sure they act before the public lose any confidence at all.

As I watch this food scandal play out in the media I am shocked by the approach the companies are taking in communicating during the crisis. I am not complacent about the work I am involved in but what I am seeing just would not be acceptable. My approach has always been to make sure the maximum amount of information that can be released and when apologies are required they are provided. The communication plan would be in place within hours and it would be rooted in openness and accountability with senior officers appearing on camera swiftly. All the activity would be focused on maintaining confidence as much as possible.

Delivering communication that is open and honest is not always an easy road to travel and will lead to challenge and criticism at times. However, it is only when you can face up to the positive and negative of what is being said about an organisation that you can really start to move forward. When an organisation has the maturity to truly listen to people then it can develop and build a level of trust while also being able to improve the service or product. Never has there been a better time to make sure you are listening to people as with the rise of social media they will come straight to you to tell you. I hope my week ahead can build on the past five days focused on open discussions and information sharing.