Carolina Guimaraes, master thesis: Social Media, a new tool for public organizations by Carolina Guimaraes

Social Media: A new tool for public organizations

Supervisor: Prof. Dipl-Ing Julian Wekel

Co-supervisor: Prof. Dr Michele Knodt

Social Media: A new tool for public organizations By

Carolina Guimarães M. Silva 1551846 Carried out with support of: Prof. Dipl-Ing Julian Wekel Prof. Dr. Michelle Knodt

Master Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Architecture Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in International Cooperation and Urban Development

August, 2011

Acknowledgements My strong beliefs on the exchange of ideas and thoughts for achieving a better product, led me to talk, consult, and question various people throughout my thesis journey. I am especially grateful to Dr. Gabriela Bloem for her continuous encouragement, Lauren Hammond for her support, and Dr. Michelle Knodt and Professor Dipl.-Ing. Wekel for their helpful guidance. A special thanks to my amazing Dad and Mom and incredible sister Bia, who have always been understanding of my studies and choices, even when they were a bit crazy and did not make much sense. A “Muito Obrigada” goes also to my extended family (particularly Tia Regina), that from far away sends me love and positive thoughts. I would also like to take my hat off to many other friends (or those who have become friends through the process), who were there for me and without them this thesis would have not been the same. They have supported me not only academically, but also in a personal level in various ways and to different extents. They were strong, when I was weak. Without further due, thanks to: Johannes K., Sabine R., Luana C., Luciana H., Robert H., Grace M., Candice C., Kari S., Ana Eugenia U., Daniela F., Raqui F., Gunther S., Veronika R., Pablo A., Gogo K., Michael M, Paula G., Maira A., Gordon I.,Eric K, and Björn K. I dedicate my thesis to creativity and to all the people who are seeking creative, innovative and out of the box solutions to deal with the world’s problems and contradictions.

Social Media: A new tool for public organizations

By Carolina Guimarães M. Silva

ABSTRACT:

Social media has grown not only in terms of numbers of users worldwide but also in influence. Its interactive and social nature provide opportunities for public organizations and reinforce commitments to transparency, accountability and participation, put forth via E-government and Open government programs. This thesis proposes six benefits for public organizations using social media: participation, image change, marketing, transparency, advice giving, and connecting with other organizations. These are later tested for empirical evidence against 15 organizations (13 in Germany, 1 American and 1 Canadian). ‘Information and participation improvement’ is outlined as the main objective pursued by most organizations, which calls for a social media participation model, categorized in three level: information sharing, opinion making and collaboration to decision-making. Through a second questionnaire social media participation levels are analyzed. Results show that most organizations are carrying out opinion making activities (11 out of 15), yet they hold mixed views regarding pursuing higher levels of social media participation (namely decision-making). The research concludes by identifying the present challenges and providing further recommendations for achieving further participation via social media.

Social Media: a new tool for public organizations Table of Contents Acknowledgements

Social Media: A new tool for public organizations

Introduction

Methodology:

Thesis Structure:

Objectives:

Chapter 1: Social Media Context and Benefits for Public Organizations

1.1 Electronic Government

1.1.2 E-‐government in Germany

1.1.3 Open Government

1.1.4 E-‐government, Open Government and Social Media

1.2 Social Media

1.1.1 E-‐government

1.2.1 From Static (Web 1.0) to Social (Web 2.0)

1.2.2 Social Media Definition

1.2.3 Social Media and the Private Sector

1.2.4 Social Media and the Public Sector

1.3 Social Media Benefits for Public Organizations

1.3.1 Participation

1.3.2 Image Change

1.3.3 Marketing

1.3.4 Transparency

1.3.5 Advice giving

1.3.6 Connecting with other organizations

1.4 Perceived Challenges

1.5 Chapter Final Comments

Chapter 2: Social Media in Reality: Questionnaire One

2.1 Overview

2.2 Findings

2.3 Questionnaire Interpretation

2.4 Chapter Final Comments

Chapter 3: Participating in Social Media

3.1 Participation

3.1.1 Definition

3.1.2 Context

3.2 Social Media Participation

3.3 Participation Models

3.3.1 Arnstein Model

3.3.2 Shirky Model

3.3.3 Social Media Participation Model

3.4 Chapter Final Comments

Chapter 4: Social media participation experiences

4.1 Overview

4.2 Findings

4.2.1 Reluctance to adopt participation

4.2.2 Participation Process

4.2.3 Implementing Participation

4.3 The Big question: Opinion making or Decision-‐making?

4.4 Chapter Final Comments

Chapter 5: Challenges and Recommendations 5. 1 Challenges

82 82

5.1.1 Challenge 1: Information

5.1.2. Challenge 2: Horizontal and Informal Interactions

5.1.3 Challenge 3: Transparency

5.1.4 Challenge 4: Power of Civil Society

5.1.5 Challenge 5: Scarce Human Resources

5.2 Recommendations 5.2.1 Recommendation 1: Participation as a philosophy

85 85

5.2.2 Recommendation 2: Together we think

5.2.3 Recommendation 3: Authenticity is key

5.2.4 Recommendation 4: Technology

5.2.5 Recommendation 5: Interdisciplinary Work

5.2.6 Recommendation 6: Setting the rules, but not stifling creativity

5.3 Chapter Final Comments:

Chapter 6: Conclusion

Chapter 7: Further Research

Bibliography

Annex 1: Organization’s Profile

102

Annex 2: Replies to questionnaire 1

108

Annex 3: Replies to questionnaire 2

121

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Introduction The explosions of social media platforms have moved from the personal to private sector to public domains. Social media refers to platforms that facilitate sharing, dialogue and collaboration between people. It has become a significant topic in the landscape of technology, communication, media, and participation. While social media platforms have proven to hold significant value during political campaigns1 and civil society demonstrations, this thesis will focus on how it can enable public organizations to use it in a daily basis as a vehicle to share information, deliver transparent services, open dialogue and participation between various audiences, and harness collective intelligence among for ultimate decision-making. This work places a strong focus in community and geography. Social media should enhance the distinctiveness of different areas and places, and help produce substantial benefits with and to local citizens and users. As much as technology might be regarded as an intangible asset, potentially creating a duality between virtual spaces and real places, this research promotes social media as a platform for virtual action yet with a strong connectivity to real place.2 The below presented ‘elements’, although not encompassing, describe important variables in the context of this thesis. Each element packs a very complex and intricate subject, which will be explained and addressed to fit the purpose of this thesis.

Political campaigns refers to the unprecedented success Baraka Obama, US President, had when carrying out his election campaign in 2008 via social media. (The Young Foundation, 2010) His campaign differ from previous centralized broadcast campaigning, by providing people the ability to rally through their own methods of choice. According to Dan Tapscott’s study (2009) Obama’s campaign made people feel a connection between their actions and outcome. 2

This argument is based on fears that geography was slowly becoming less important in the end of the nineteenth century. Some experts expected that technology would ‘kill off’ cities. Kevin Kelly, when stating the New Rules for the New Economy wrote: “The New Economy operates in a space rather than a place, and over time more and more economic transactions will migrate to this new space.” (Florida 28) While the author doesn’t disagree that the virtual space is gaining ever more importance, it believes that it is a complement to the real space.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Element 1: Cities/Urban Context This thesis takes place in the urban context3, where the public organizations explored in this thesis are already established. The urban context is regarded as a condensed space that provides service cores with shops and services, and is home to a variety of cultures and social needs. It is a place historically established, which on an economical level offers opportunities for commerce, and on a social level brings people together to exchange and interact. The diversity of global changes happening at the accelerated speed of globalization has created opportunities and challenges for the urban setting. Public organizations existing in this complex environment are also impacted by such external influences. In this way, cities, but also public organizations, find themselves at a complex and challenging crossroad, where certitudes and predictabilities have been reduced; new forms of governance that are inclusive of multiple stakeholders perspectives are sought, a creative environment supportive of a changing economy is aspired, and new partnerships between civil society, private and public sector are investigated. Element 2: Cities and Democratic Governance Represented democracy, an idea that has revolutionized political theory between ruling by the few to ruling by the many, has evolved through time. As settlements increase in size and complexity, opportunities are accompanied by challenges. Similarly, the concept of democracy was created based on a context, and when such context changes, the two might not match anymore, or at least not as it did before. The shift from the small more intimate and participatory city-state structures to the

3 The sizes of cities will be left open, as establishing a clear limitation between urban and not urban cities is not the focus of this work and will not impact conclusions. There are many approaches for defining an urban area, for example build-up area, or functional area, but again this goes beyond the focus of this thesis (Baofu, 2009, 4)

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

gigantic, impersonal and indirect governments of today, have had consequences for political life and public organizations. The problem becomes that the democracy of today cannot retain all the advantages, virtues and possibilities of a small-scale democracy. This thesis accepts democracy4, with its benefits and problems, but advocates for the concerted effort of participatory activities to correct the gap between what is and what could be.

A democracy must foster various entry points of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;communicationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to stimulate

the democratic machine and be reflective of its users/citizen needs and wants. Democracy in this thesis is also regarded as a philosophy with applications to various public organizations pursuing a responsive, accountable and transparent conduct. These organizations respect its electorate/users by representing their views and voices in decision-making processes. Public organizations, in this thesis, are not necessarily political, or have political affiliations per se, but are accountable for public organizations and are providers of public services (be it education, information, leisure)5; they are assumed to be accountable to the people that have brought them into power. Element 3: From Government to Governance The act of governing has evolved due a series of variables, which includes but is not restricted to globalization, new political cultures, pressures on the welfare state, etc. Besides other governance topic focuses, the reliance of partnership, networks and new forms of consultation and conversation is worth mentioning. The governance philosophy goes against traditional command and control public power, normally related to government, where centralization and rigid hierarchy are key characteristics.

Based on a Foucauldian view, analysts of governance argue for a

dispersed and relational notion of power, where various tiers of government and various stakeholders cooperate to achieve desired changes. Overall, the practice of governance

In this way, this thesis will not question if democracy is desirable or even possible, like Plato or Robert Michels might have argued. In other words, it will take for granted that democracy is a good mode of governance 5

Later on in the text, it will be revealed the types of organizations addressed theoretically and practically through the case-studies. However, just for a quick overview, organizations include: city administrations, universities, and metropolitan region administrations.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

promotes facilitation as opposed to control in the public realm, a rowing instead of steering activity. (Meehan, 2003)

Element 4: Technology The information age, also referred to as digital age, is characterized as a time of high and instant access of information and knowledge. Such information revolution is connected with the shift from an industry-based economy, brought by the industrial revolution, to a heavily dependent information society. The personal computer in the late 1970s and the wide adoption of the Internet in 1990s are major accomplishments in the information age. The latter creations have decentralized and sped up the amount and speed of information, where every computer with Internet has developed into a broadcast station, printing press, place of assembly with a global reach. (Rheinard, 1998) Other nomenclatures that are associated with similar concepts are Information Based Economy and Information Society. Both allege to the aforementioned concepts, which in sum means an economy based on information and telecommunication technologies. Also, it is an economy where creativity and innovative ideas, thoughts, products and processes can be translated into economic value and wealth. In the current information society, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are being consumed and slowly transforming the economy, social relationships and the way services are delivered. Changes in ICTs have slowly mirrored needs and wants of people, therefore becoming ingrained in peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daily life. As opposed to fear, empirical evidence has shown that the Internet reinforces information sharing and sociability. (Kluver, 2000) Elements brought together: As interactions in urban spaces grow and become more complex and systems slowly attempt to adjust to local and global variables in terms of number, content and Carolina GuimarĂŁes

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

influences, technology can facilitate the communication process between diverse actors with varying needs and backgrounds. In this way, the process results in a more cooperative understanding of each other and ultimately a more cohesive sense of community. Social media will be addressed beyond a technological instrument, but as a new and important communication tool. This research is innovative as it not only combines theory and practice, but it also develops a participatory model based on organizationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; reply that is later tested for empirical evidence. In this way, it provides more credibility for the recommendations later proposed. Given the freshness of this topic and the ever-changing nature of social media, this research is a work in progress, and provides grounds for continuous development.

Carolina GuimarĂŁes

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Methodology: Â The aim of this thesis is to generate knowledge about the use of social media as an alternative tool for pubic organizations to deliver its objectives. Once a ground foundation, as well as the advantages of such tool is covered, the topic of social media participation will be explored in more depth. Germany proves to be a very interesting scenario for this study as a recognized technological advanced country with a high number of Internet networks. Germany is shown at the OECD 2010 statistics as the third in a list of 34 countries with the highest number of broadband6 subscriptions. The topic of e-government is the core of the public agenda in Germany and in other developed countries pursuing Open Government initiatives. While there is much debate about the possibilities of technological government and participation, not much is explored in terms of the possibility of social media to aid in the delivery of public organizations goals and enhance participation. The author consulted literature reviews on the topics of technology, communication, new planning and new media. These helped provide context and structure to the thesis, but given the novelty of the topic and ongoing discourses, much information had to be taken from research papers, media reports, interviews with expert academic and public organizations, as well as bloggers and opinion makers of the theme in question. An initial review and understanding of social media for public organizations was carried out during the internship at Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain (RV-Regional Authority FrankfurtRheinMain) from September to November 2010. RV is a public corporation that coordinates the interest of 75 municipalities. While it carries responsibilities in various ambits, its main function is the creation of a Regional Land Use and Landscape Plan. More details about its divisions and activities are accessible in Chapter two. Similar to other public organizations, Regionalverband at the present time (2010-2011) is undergoing current structural changes while also trying to adjust to external variables (globalization, demographic changes, climate change, etc). The possibility of social

Broadband refers to using signals over a wide range of of frequencies in high-capacity telecommunications, especially used for access to the Internet. (Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, 1996)

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

media to aid in service delivery and participation exercises called the attention of Head of the Organizations to carry out investigation. To complement the discussion with empirical evidence, organizations were selected to take part on a questionnaire, which was sent out to 22 public organizations, and resulted on the successful reply of 15. It was carried through online software, Monkey Survey during October 2010. Questions were sent in written form to personnel within selected organizations responsible for coordinating or posting on social media. The results were collected, compiled and analyzed. Sometimes follow up phone calls were required to remind people to fill in and send back questionnaires. Organizations were chosen based on the following characteristics: public statute, and a ‘conservative’7 nature, in other words, organizations whom must abide to power relations, must carry an image and follow a constitution/statute set by a higher hierarchical body. Also these organizations were perceived holders of bureaucratic systems, namely organizations known as followers of innovation that must regard various viewpoints and take numerous steps, before embracing change. They ranged between city administration, metropolitan governance, public institutions, and private but with public shares and duties organizations. In this way, having a mix of various points of view and perspectives, yet with the same common denominator. They were mostly German, but two international organizations were also consulted, in Canada and the United States. It was important that similar organizations were sought out, in order to develop a strong case for social media for public organizations. To be present at a social media platform, requires not only technical but also staff behavioural changes, therefore realizing that comparable organizations have tackled or/and overcome such challenges would smooth transition and make the argument stronger for sceptical public employees and leadership. In this way hesitations and concerns could be appeased through the learning of others ‘sister or brother’ organizations. Also, aware that similar organizations were pursuing similar goals through this means, would provide the extra-push or at least 7

The author recognizes that the term conservative might be subjective and open to interpretation. Nevertheless, these organizations were selected according to the characteristics stated above and conversations with experts in the planning/participation context in Germany.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

question if public organizations (and potentially Regionalverband) could improve organizational outcome through this medium. A list of organizations profiles, who replied to questionnaire 1 and 2 can be found in Annex 1. The replies from the first questionnaire provided informed insights for further investigation. Information and participation improvement was stressed as the major communication strategy pursued in social media by the selected organizations. Based on this finding and the continuous research and analysis of social media interactions, a social media participation model was created in order to capture the various nuances of social media participation. To validate the model, a follow up questionnaire was carried out in order to gauge the level of participation taking place in social media platforms by public organizations. The second questionnaire was conducted during the months of June-July 2011 via phone interview or email with the same organizations that had replied to the questionnaire number one, with one interview conducted in person. Phone interviews were semi-structured and the duration depended on time availability of the interviewee; when compared to written replies, phone interviews offered the advantage of discussion and debate, whereas written replies were succinct and lacked details. Both questionnaires were conducted in the German language, excluding the two international organizations consulted. Phone interviews were conducted with the kind help of Dr. Gabriela Bloem, Michael Melchior and Gunther Stoll. Due to time and resource constraints, the author interviewed a limited sample of organizations and the organizationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; strategy and views were ultimately represented by one person per organization. Additionally, due to the novelty of the subject, some organizations were still pondering, reflecting and evaluating the use of social media.

Carolina GuimarĂŁes

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Thesis Structure: The main subject put for discussion in this thesis is the possibility to use social media as a tool to support public organizations objectives. In the view of this objective, it is essential to understand social media benefits and challenges for public organizations. Once a general understanding is presented, case studies are provided for a practical understanding of the topic. The practical results leads to a greater focus on social media as a participation tool. Once again theory is complemented with practices through a follow up questionnaire. Based on the replies to the questionnaire, challenges and recommendations are recognized.

The thesis is structured into four parts, comprising of seven chapters.

Social Media Context

Recommendations

and

Definition

& Challenges Participation Theory and

Questionnaire

Models

Questionnaire 2

Conclusion Further Research

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Chapters

Chapter

Chapters

1&2

5, 6 & 7

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Part 1: (Chapter 1) The first chapter is an overview of concepts and definitions to provide social media a background. The chapter explains about electronic government, and open government in this way situating the topic within a public perspective. Other terminologies and definitions are explored to differentiate and make sense of social media. Social media is addressed as an encompassing interactive mode of communication. The second chapter focuses on case studies from selected organizations. The goal is to complement the previous theoretical chapter with hands-on experience. In this way, attempting to answer questions such as: ‘Why social media? For whom is social media? How has been your experience?’

A summary of the findings is provided to give a

general understanding of where these organizations stand. Overall, patterns are drawn and discrepancies are mentioned. Part 2: (Chapter 2 &3) Chapter three tackles social media participation. Based on chapter two findings, a more defined focus for social media as a tool for public organizations is defined. A model is presented in order to make sense of two broad topics: social media and participation. An orderly sequence of participation steps in social media is presented. The model aims at categorizing participation by different levels of social media usage, and integration by the public organizations. The social medial participation levels: information sharing, dialogue and collaboration to decision-making. Part 3: (Chapter 4) Chapter four presents and discusses the findings of a second more qualitative questionnaire for a greater understanding of what organizations meant by ‘information and participation improvement’, when filling in the first questionnaire. Therefore, the same organizations were revisited to gauge their understanding on the mentioned item. Part 4: (Chapter 5, 6 &7) The fifth chapter based on the findings from chapter four identifies the challenges for organization and therefore provides recommendations for organizations to move forward in the participation model presented previously, thus paving the way for higher levels of Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

participation. Chapter six reflects on research findings through the questionnaire results and provides a future outlook for participation in social media, while chapter seven offers ideas and ‘food for thought’ for future investigations and suggests ways to continue the debate about social media within public organizations. Annex 1 includes the organizations’ profile, Annex 2 contains the replies for questionnaire 1, and Annex 3 includes the replies for questionnaire 2.

Objectives: The main objective of the thesis is to carry out research and discuss the reasons and motivations for public organizations to use and engage in social media platform to achieve their objectives. Overall Objectives:

•

To gain a general understanding of social media within the context of information society and e-government.

•

To discuss the concept of social media as an alternative form of participation.

•

To conduct empirical research with selected organizations to gauge overall social media perception, experience and participation usage.

•

To identify and analyze different levels of participation practices through social media.

•

To provide future recommendations for social media participation.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Social Media: A connector

Carolina GuimarĂŁes

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Chapter

Social Media Context and Benefits for Public

Organizations Information and communications technology (ICT) today plays a crucial role in society, industry and public administration. Without these key technologies, a dynamic and competitive economy and efficient public administration for the 21st century would be unthinkable. (Kluver, 2000) Similar to the concept of democracy, ICT is a broad topic, and thus will be tackled through the focus on social media. Social media today has gained prominent space as a new medium to enhance interactivity, improve communication, collaboration and accountability in both private and public realms.

1.1 Electronic Government 1.1.1 E-‐governm ent

The digital or electronic government mostly referred to as e-government, has opened up the doors for services accessibility and interaction with the public. The term egovernment is understood today as the use of ICTs in public administrations, such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing. (Rogerson, Prior, Fairweather, Al-Shehry 2006) Its objectives could be succinctly summarized in both improving internal networking and services processes and creating citizen opportunities for collaboration. When Fountain (2003) states that e-government is: “the full range of information and communication technologies and applications currently used in digital and electronic government as well as those information technologies, systems and applications on the developmental horizon,” he leaves the definition to be further explored and to encompass new ways of delivering services and processing information. At first instance, e-government could be regarded as a synonym to digital government, in Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

other words migrating piles of paper from the offline to online world: “ making the full range of government activities - internal processes, the development of policy and services to citizens - available electronically”. (Dunleavy, 2002 and Moon, 2002). A means for government to show competence and become part of a world where efficiency is vital to survive in a globalized globe. (Shulman, Sandoval, Hovy, & Ae Chun, 2010) Some academics have even argued that e-government was a follower to the ecommerce movement, given its objectives ran parallel: improve efficiency of service delivery, adopt a customer/citizen-oriented approach, save on operating costs, and increase its reach. (Carter and Belanger, 2005; Glibert & Balestrini, 2004). In addition, both private and public digital movements provided mediation of transaction over potentially great distances, and relied on an essential ingredient: consumer/citizen trust given the lack of face-to-face interaction. Prins (2001), Howard (2001) and Irani et al (2005), have argued that, unlike ecommerce, a practice highly adopted by the private sector as a commercial tool, egovernment has brought new questions and changes affecting especially the “structure, process, culture and behavior of the individuals in the public sector”. (as cited in (Rogerson, Prior, Fairweather, Al-Shehry 2006) E-government has inserted techonolgy at the core of public administrations. Not only does it aim for efficiency and service provision (e-administration), it also aims to activate participation and interactions with citizens. 8 It is within the latter focus that the discourse of this thesis find itself. 1.1.2 E-‐governm ent in Germ any

Even though this thesis communicates about the benefits for social media in public organizations in broad terms, the following chapters present case-studies in the German context. Therefore a small section regarding e-government in Germany will be provided

E-government can be categorized according to whom it is interaction with: government to business (G2C), government to government (G2C) and government to citizen (G2C). Rogerson, Prior, Fairweather, Al-Shehry 2006)

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

in order to provide a better basis to understand the following chapters. Germany aware of the growing importance of e-government in the information society, has recognized the need to create a strategy to help governments and public bodies to optimize their services. In 2000 the German government made E-government a central priority when it created the BundOnline2005, which by 2005 had introduced 440 online services

for

citizens,

business

and

government

agencies.

According

the

Bundesregierung website, there are more than 1000 government services currently available online. Almost all federal, state and municipal authorities count with a website portal and can offer various online services. The 2010 National E-government strategy in Germany, follows the European Union's Malmö Declaration of 18 November 2009, and advances economic interest and service

delivery. By 2015 Germany hopes be an European leader in e-government as it strives to be user oriented and cost effective, to ensure data protection and transparency, and to support citizens and business. Out of the items set forth as future objectives for accomplishing the 2015 goals is: “Citizens can use electronic media to participate actively in the policy process and in organizing the provision of public services. Such participation plays a key role in political perception.” (National E-Government Strategy, IT Planning Council)

1.1.3 Open Governm ent

Open government rules that citizens should have access to public data and documents to hold their governments accountable. (Lathrop, Ruma, 2010) This current movement is strongly linked with the freedom of information act, which holds that citizens can ask for disclosure of documents from their officials. (Branscomb, 1994, p 159) Transparency, participation and collaboration are the three cornerstones of Open Government. (Whitehouse, 2010) Barack Obama, US President, is referred to as the spearhead to the Open Government

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

initiative around the world9.

In January 2009, he put forth the Memorandum on

Transparency and Open Government, instructing the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to issue an Open Government Directive. (Orszag, 2009) In this statement, he showed strong commitment and strict guidelines to promote this initiative. The goal when pursuing open data (open government but with the focus on data) is to have the user in mind when sharing information for potential reuse in order to be legible and understandable with the potential to promote innovation. (Gray, 2009). Its ultimate goal is to strengthen democracy and promote efficiency in government. (Orszag 2009) Other Western democracies (Australia, Canada, Germany, UK)10 have also follow lead, and assured its own Open Government Policies. In Germany, the federal Cabinet proposed in August 2010 a program titled 'Vernetzte und transparente Verwaltungâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Networked Transparent Governance), aiming at modernizing government processes while

increasing

transparency,

effectiveness

and

efficiency

government.

(Bundesministerium des Innern, 2010) Such programs hope to improve vertical and horizontal government collaboration. The document more than once emphasizes the need to modernize communications and carry out activities following pace with globalization, communications technology and other western democracies.11 The importance of transparency, through providing easily accessible data and informing citizens about government activities, is believed to help with further citizen participation and cooperation. This initiative started in 2010 and hopes to deliver its objectives by 2012. The timeline includes setting a concept, which has already been done, to piloting open government projects in the ministry for the interior and finally moving on to a coordinated effort

Baraka Obama, USA president, in his first day at office, January 2009, issued a memorandum of transparency and participation. ( (Moncel, 2009) He also made a point about Open Government when he delivered a speech for the UN assembly in New York on September 23, 2010. (Office of Press Secretary, Whitehouse, 2010 (Secretary, 2010)) 10

Besides in Western democracies, Hanna Bowen (Bowen) shows how a company called Intermedia, financed by a NGO called AudienceSpaces is also pursuing the same objective in Africa through conducting research to see how public share and compile government information. (Bowen 2010). Also a conference in Europe to further debate the topic has been recently held in Brussels, Europe: (15 - 16 December 2010, Brussels) named: eGovernment conference "Lift-off towards Open Government 11

Page 27 of the report mentions how other countries are also taking an active role in open government initiatives.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

between federal, individual German states and the EU for electronic citizen participation. In 2012 the program foresees a common strategy for open government for all German states, and ultimately aims to have it implemented by the same year.

According to the

German Open Data Network , the document is still heavily bureaucratic, and results are still to be seen.

1.1.4 E-‐governm ent, Open Governm ent and Social M edia

While the concept of social media has not been fully explored yet, the concepts of Egovernment and Open Government provide background to make the case for social media in the public sector. E-government, a widely accepted solution dating back to 1990s, and Open Government, a more recent terminology that emphasizes and brings to the forefront some of the similar goals of e-government, set an interesting and pertinent stage for social media to thrive. (Lindenberg, 2010) In addition, social media has the potential to strengthen and support the main objectives and directives of both concepts when pursuing better citizen engagement, transparency and efficient communication. Also, e-government and Open Government are often conceived as a grand framework (federal or state level), distant from the average user, therefore social media can help make it more tangible and hold governments accountable for materializing their promises, commonly referred as ‘walking the talk’. While not all the organizations later analyzed as case studies (chapter two and four) are political administrations, or government per se, they hold a public status or affiliation with government, and therefore are also not free from this electronic movement and public commitment for modernization.

Open Data Network is a German non-profit network organization comprised of members from civil society, NGOs, academia, politics. It is non-political, grassroots and citizen centered organization with the main goal to discuss and create knowledge on the topics around open data, open access, open government, transparency and participation.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

1.2 Social Media 1.2.1 From Static (W eb 1.0) to Social (W eb 2.0)

Before moving further, terminology is defined for clarity. Technological advances experienced in the past 20 years have facilitated and enhanced forms of virtual content sharing distinctly different than the Bulletin Board System (BBS) of the 1970s. The BBS was one of the first web-based applications implementing the originally envisioned idea for the internet, a platform that allowed users to ‘exchange softaware, data, messages and news with each other’. (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p 60) The World Wide Web or Web 1.0 was an information space firstly conceived as a read only media, in other words only people knowledgeable on HTML coding13 were able to publish anything on the web (Al-Khalifa & Al-Salman). Given such barrier to entry, webpages were mainly developed by web developers and designers, and thus constituted a static, non-interactive, and proprietary medium. With time, new surges of dynamic interactions were experimented with until a new concept was developed: Web 2.0. Besides a reading space, the Internet also became a space for writing with lower barriers to entry. Through web 2.0 the Internet began to distinguish itself from traditional media, characterized for their one-way communication stream, to a platform characterized by interaction and participation of non-professionals. (Nabatchi & Mergel, 2010) According to Tim O’Reily web 2.0 is a boundary-less concept characterized by many principles and practices that possess varying levels of importance. The potential to harness collective intelligence, according to him is core for the understanding of Web 2.0. Other characteristics important to web 2.0 philosophy include:

cost-effective

scalability, remixable data source and data transformation, a framework of participation, decentralization of information and creativity of services, among others. (O'Reilly, 2005)

HTML coding is short for HyperText Markup Language, the authoring language used to create documents on the World Wide Web. (Webopedia)

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

In this way, users’ roles have been ‘upgraded’ to producers, and more dramatically from passive readers to active writers, where the focus goes beyond getting people connected, and becomes more about interaction, sharing opinions, getting feedback and exchange. Dr. Axel Bruns, hints exactly at this idea when he defines produsage, a term that combines a producer, consumer and distributor of content, which existence was made possible via the development of collaborative technologies or by using the web 2.0 philosophy. (Bruns, 2007) Overall, Web 2.0 presents a paradigm shift to technology, given that it introduces another way of perceiving the web.

Whereas Web 2.0 is about:

One way

Two ways

Reading

Writing

Companies

Communities

Client server

Peer to peer

Lectures

Conversation

Advertising

Word of mouth

Owning

Sharing

Homepages

Blogs

Credits: Mollierosev 2009

Web 1.0 was about:

1.2.2 Social M edia Definition

The name gives it away: social media is social. In other words, a media based on interaction with high accessibility and dissemination as its core characteristics. It is designed with the purpose to be shared, some examples of applications supporting social media handling include: blogs, social network, wikis, video platforms, etc. According to Serrat, (2010) ”It is the integration of technology with social interaction to create value. It rests on internet tools that enable shared community experiences through multidirectional conversations that create, organize, edit, combine, and share content.” Social media are websites or service that takes advantage of ‘Web 2.0’ philosophy. As summarized by Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) they are “a group of Internet-based

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content.” The greatest advantage of social media is that it bases its premises on humans interactivity by recognizing that people are gregarious by nature. These new social tools provide a framework for continuous connectivity, interaction, and learning opportunities. Clay Shirky during a TED talk14 presented about the power of Internet and how social media is found on its ability to communicate a message from many to many. (Shirky, 2009). His talk titled: “How social media can make history” addresses how social media has been able to leverage communication through its capability to produce local news by amateurs at real time in abundant amounts. He describes the revolution of media through time and significance; he starts by mentioning about the creation of the printing press, around the 14th century, followed by the invention of two-way communication stream,

first

writing

then

conversational, the telegram and the telephone respectively, then recorded media which encompasses media for

The picture above refers to Shirky’s (2009) slide presentation, referring to the 4 periods of media ‘revolution’ and in the middle of the presentation is a map of the Internet, which according to him is: ”the first media in history that has native support for groups and conversation at the same time.”

sounds, pictures, videos, and ultimately the TV and the radio. All of the mentioned media were not able to be simultaneous efficient at creating dialogue and harnessing groups. For example, the telephone was a conversational medium only (one to one) while the radio was a mass medium for groups, but no conversation. However, the Internet has broken such duality and combines both characteristics as its own. Also, as different media modes became digital (phone, radio, video, music), they started to exist side-by-side under one single platform, providing opportunity for cross-information and collaboration. Social media has potentialized the ability to bring different medias together on one single platform, increase the content and 14

TED talk is a series of presentations organization in an event by a nonprofit organization “ devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.” More on: http://www.ted.com/pages/jobs

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

perspectives of viewers and be a medium from many to many. Daniela Fergunson (N.D.) through the table below, presents the deferring characteristics of the various media

Credits: Daniella Fergunsson (N.D)

discussed by Shirky.

According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) social media can be classified within six categories: “ 1. Collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia), 2. blogs and microblogs (e.g. Twitter), 3.content communities (e.g. Youtube), 4. social networking sites (e.g. Facebook), 5. virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft), and 6. virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life). 15“ “ Whereas, Kotler, Kartakaya and Setiawan (2010) provide a more succinct and summarized categorization of social media according to their main purpose: expressive or collaborative. The expressive entails people sharing and interacting with each other, which includes: Youtube, Facebook, Flickr. Whereas, collaborative social media facilitate working together to achieve common objectives, examples include Wikis, Google Docs, and Crowdsourcing.

The technologies for the above categorization include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Given the context and social media malleability characteristics, an unique definition seem almost impossible to coin, and a grey area of categories and descriptions becomes slowly the standard, as possibilities for editing, adding and integrating are always possible, therefore the natural confusion and categorization for each platform. 16 There are many definitions for social media in current literature, and only a few were introduced

above.

They

are

categorized

based

usability,

communication,

collaboration information sharing, among other characteristics. This thesis will speak about social media in general terms, as an umbrella term that embraces various platforms that take advantage of web 2.0 philosophy. What they all have in common are friendly and easy usability, transparency, collaboration possibilities and interactivity characteristics. Technical terminology is only used when the need arises to explain certain arguments. Given that this is a social sciences paper, the focus is largely on social media’s benefits and potentials. 1.2.3 Social M edia and the Private Sector

It is natural to believe as shown in the article at Marketing Charts that smaller organizations are more open to adopting social media strategies. (Ecoconsultancy, Bigmouthmedia, 2009) As opposed to large companies or bureaucratic organizations, smaller companies’ organizational hierarchy (from senior to mid and entry level employee) is significantly reduced, resulting in more communication and exchange of ideas amongst the various employees, be it in formal or informal terms and encounters. In general, they are inherently more flexible and innovative at trying new forms of channels and technologies. Apart from size, and notwithstanding the fact that there are many large private institutions, private organizations within the context of the information society operate in a competitive market, and are in a constant run to innovate and respond to their customers’ demands. The high pace is instigated by the drive for higher profits, brand

A clear example of a platform that has gradually shifted its focus is Youtube. An. A media initially conceived for video broadcasting with some interactive features (social and media), yet those have added additional attributes to its site such as networking option between members.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

recognition, market share, among other incentives. Therefore the adoption of social media to innovate and to respond to customers needs not only makes business sense but also provides a benefit to its bottom line. Different than public organizations, private organizations are more competitive, free to change and create, and do not have their ‘leg’ tied so strongly by regulations and laws. 1.2.4 Social M edia and the Public Sector

Is social media for the public sector an oxymoron? The potential to distribute, create and exchange via social media might create a public sector paradox. While it offers the potential to leverage transparency, communication, collaboration, accountability and stimulate greater levels of civic engagement, the public sector still finds itself deterred by regulations, bureaucracy and tradition. (Mergel, Shweik, & Fountain, 2009). Social media platforms are continuously growing and changing; this dynamic movement might present a challenge to organizations not used to fast-paced changes. Government 2.0 is a catchy name for integrating web 2.0 philosophy to the public sector, namely social media applications. It means a new way of conducting ‘business’, and opening new horizons of opportunities in terms of “harness[ing] incremental data, leverag[ing] distributed workforce and citizen knowledge and integrat[ing] overarching government initiatives into a purposeful intelligence system.” (Hartley & Nordstrom, 2010) Within Web 2.0 lies a series of potentials for what public organizations ‘could be’. Its philosophy is already paradigm shift in itself for technology17, thus its adoption by public organization will evidently come with hesitations, as it will require new ways of thinking about organizations internally and externally interactions. (Bruns, 2007) Even though web 1.0 has been widely adopted by governments, meaning electronicbased government transactions with end users, thereby facilitating and speeding service 17

As mentioned by Bruns in his paper Produsage : Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation (2007): “A significant paradigm shift is now underway. The rise of what is now described as social software or Web 2.0 environments stands to have a profound impact on social practices, the media, economic and legal frameworks, and democratic society itself; however, it is as yet poorly understood and insufficiently theorized.”

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

delivery, electronic government will not be complete and will lag behind if it does not tackle the opportunities presented by the Web 2.0 philosophy via social media platforms. In addition, as stated by Slocum (2010): Government needs more beta18”

1.3 Social Media Benefits for Public Organizations The section below lists six perceived benefits for public organizations to use social media. To balance theory with current practice, the benefits asserted below will be inquired from public organizations through a questionnaire and findings will be described in the next chapter. Each benefit highlights a different incentive for undertaking social media. They are not mutually exclusive, but instead support one another. The organizations here referred to as public, are mainly but not entirely city administrations. The term also applies to metropolitan regions and institutes. However, the slight differences in the organizations’ nature/statute composition do not discredit the argument below. On the whole, all of the selected organizations are affiliated by a certain extent with public bodies, and their characteristics have been mentioned in depth in the methodology section and will be again reviewed in chapter two. Users here are referred to the people whom are taking part in social media. Also, it is up to the readers’ good judgment to understand the argument and to make appropriate adjustments when considering the end-users composition. For example, in the case of a city administration the users would be local residents, which also holds true for metropolitan governments, whereas in the case of a public institute, the users would be students, alumni and professors.

Beta refers to an experimentation level of a software development, where details are open for change and feedback, in this way it welcomes peer review.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

1.3.1 Participation

Participation in this text will be broadly defined as the process of engaging in different spheres of societal life: economic, political, social, cultural and others. (Sidorenko, 2006). Given participation is a broad topic, for easiness to follow, this section has been divided into four sub-sections:

A) Virtual spaces as places for interactions B) Information Sharing C) Dialogue D) Voices Echoing louder E) Community Building

These sub-sections take advantage of the rich urban context to describe how social media can produce fruitful results by bringing together setting, people and technology for public organizations. A) Virtual public spaces for interaction Pertinent to this section is Robert Park’s quote: “Great cities have always been melting pots of races and cultures. Out of the vivid and subtle interactions of which they have been the centers, there have come the newer breeds and the newer social types.” (Florida, 2005 p. 27) For the mingling to occur, social types to be created, and something substantial to materialize, there is a need for people to establish relationships, connections and exchange. Races and cultures are ingredients for a great urban context, yet if the melting pot does not allow for opportunities for sharing and collecting experiences, then positive externalities will be never fully realized. Potentials that might come out of the melting pot are extensive and specific to each community. Some examples include: commuting to work together, community gardening, neighbourhood parties, language Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

exchange, neighbourhood security, in general terms increased in courtmanship, and shared pursuit of public good. Public organizations can facilitate interaction by ‘greasing the wheel’ between its inhabitants through the creation of public spaces aimed at fostering interactions and potential long run by-products, as asserted by Carr et al. (1992: 45): “public places afford casual encounters in the course of daily life that can bind people together and give their lives meaning and power.” Even though, public spaces are still relevant in our societies, the current technological reality has increased the importance of virtual public spaces as hubs for exchange, which can alleviate the intimidation held by some people to integrate in ‘real’ public spaces. In addition, the interactions at ‘real’ public spaces are normally conducive to interesting debates and opinion exchange, however such rich discussions rarely reach public realm/tables. Also, such vibrant conversations are normally unstructured, imprecise, and spontaneous. In this way, social media platforms can serve as additional public spaces, or as the ‘informal ‘virtual public platform’19 or ‘water-cooler’

platforms to initiate relationships

between users with the potential to extend them to the real world. (Rosson and Zhao 2009) Namely, users of public organization platforms can exchange opinions and connect in a more personal, political or professional level through the shared context of the organization’s page. The users within this context are supposedly interested, given they are following/liking or engaging in some form in getting informed, participating and sharing experiences. Also such platform can serve as a journal for reflections of users experience and appropriation of cities, places and organizations, where the public can tell their stories, anecdotes and experiences, and where the public organization can find

Public spaces includes: “high streets, street markets, shopping precincts, community centers, parks, playgrounds, neighborhood spaces in residential areas, cafeteria play a vital role in the social life of communities”. Mean and Tims (2005) “propose they are a ‘self-organizing public service a shared resource in which experiences and value are created”. Social media can be considered a public space with ‘seemingly’ low barriers to entry, given it is free and open characteristics. In addition, technology is slowly becoming more accepted and widely used. 20

Water cooler refers to employees’ informal conversations taking place at the water coolers (place to get water) at the workplace, which leads to exchange of ideas and conversations. (Chalfonte, et al. 1993) (Rosson and Zhao 2009)

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

out about opinions, dislikes, and preferences. 21 B) Information Sharing Information is the currency of the network society. The dissemination of information lies at the heart of achieving open government objectives. Information sharing go hand in hand with information transparency, the latter will be further explored at section 1.3.4. There are many ways how information sharing can be beneficial for citizens or users in general. Social media features, based on Web 2.0 philosophy, allow the reuse and mashing of data22, in non-‘techy’ terms, meaning the easy flow and migration of information from one platform to the other. Currently many projects23 use social media tools to take advantage of public data in order to increase transparency, improve public participation and assist people’s lives. In this way, by making information widely accessible and ‘sharable’, governments can also count with civil society to help the public machine to work

(Mayo and Steinberg 2007). Through recognizing the

importance of social media, government can publish information and inform about information availability on their website on a social media platform and/or have their information connected from their social media platform to other citizens or users platforms. Overall, information availability is not only a source of public value but also generates business opportunity and creativity. (Osimo, 2008) Also, more communicative social media platforms can help organizations to share quick and simple information about emergency updates and casual and fun events, thereby helping people to populate and enjoy their cities while aiding them to make smarter

Howard Rheingold when defining the Well in a Youtube video referred to it as: “Feeling of the well is that you have got lots of neighbors and don’t go to borrow a cup of sugar, but you get lots of information, and information is like the sugar of ST the 21 century.” The Well is a conversation platform founded in 1985, and described by the Wire magazine as the most http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg1sM0mcrTM influential online community. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhWbQMrqyEc) 22

To mash data means to combine it from multiple sources in a browser and organize as simple browser interface. For example: www.housingmaps. com, combines Google maps with Craigslist rentals ( housing website) for a visual image of apartment for rents. (Crupi & Warner, 2009) 23

Examples of website that reuse public data to “enhance government transparency, stimulate public participation, and facilitate people’s everyday lives” are: PlanningAlerts.com, Theyworkforyou.com, Maplight.com, and everyblock.com. They organize information in a way to make it easy to use for citizens to take advantage of. (Osimo, 2008)

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

decisions. Some examples of useful information that could have an impact on people’s daily decision-making, include streets that are blocked due to traffic accident or natural disasters, protests happening, security issues, etc. The viral effect of social media, as well as people’s increasingly familiarity with such media, have the potential to spread news like wind. According to PEW research (Estabrook & Rainie, 2007) citizens attribute insurmountable value to information published on the Internet to help them solve everyday issues linked with government. As social media starts scaling up in hours spent on Internet24, publishing information in these platforms is a sound approach to follow. (Nielsen Inc., 2010) In addition, many social media platforms are connected with mobile devices, in this way providing instantaneous exchange between organizations and its users, potentializing the benefits already mentioned. C) Dialogue Social interactions are more likely to happen when a minimum denominator is present, be it social networks (physical or online) or common contexts. Over time, consecutive interactions produce trust on the platform and predisposition for cooperation. Places where people hold the feeling of community and willingness to interact with each other facilitates the creation of social capital.

Incremental growth of connectivity and

interaction is positively correlated with increased social benefits. Once a strong network has been established problems and emerging challenges can fall back into weaved networks, where participants can attempt to overcome issues, based on the eagerness of working together. Successful results and resilience to economic, social and environmental

challenges

are

found

through

collaboration,

interaction

and

conversations. Social media platforms can help establish or re-establish lost or new connections between people within a local environment, through increasing interaction and eventually

As demonstrated by Nielse Inc : “On average, global web users across 10 countries spent roughly five and a half hours on social networks in February 2010, up more than two hours from the same time last year.” The 10 countries include: Italy, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan.”

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

increase trust level25 by recurrent and ‘small’ interactions, for example on Twitter or Facebook, or less often but more in depth exchange such in a public organization blog. 26

An online conversation or/and interaction provides an opportunity for expressing

interests, learning others’ perspectives, and learning/creating common contexts. In the context of a user generated platform, the ‘more the merrier’, in other words the more people participates and are wiling to share, like or comment on it, a higher level of trust is developed among users. As presented by Social Signal: “As the density of online interactions increases, one develops the relationships and trust one needs to succeed, whether that be through customers' trust and engagement with one’s brand, one’s supporters' engagement with one another and one’s mission, or one’s team's engagement and collaborative power.” (Social Signal N.D.) E) Community Building Participation in online conversation can also provide a sense of belonging to users, namely a feeling of association to a group they connect or admire, what Alexandra Samuel (2010) calls “desire for positive ascriptive identity”. According to her, people want to be characterized and known by the group activity they engage in and have their personalities connected with it; such psychological pursuit creates an extra incentive for social participation. The more people feel connected and engaged through such social media platform, the more likely they are to participate and further engage. In addition, information sharing at these platforms tends to create a sense of brotherhood and solidarity amongst members, when informing other on matters of disasters, unconventional, fun events or update happening within the urban context, other users might feel a sense of gratitude and sensation of being cared for. (Mayo & Steinberg, 2007)

The Pew institute survey shows Internet users hold a higher trust level in their fellow (internet ) citizens than non-users. (Hampton, Rainie, Sessions Goulet, & Purcell, 2011) 26

Social media shows hidden connections, through networks of people, one can find out who is neighbor, for example, and realize you know similar people than him/her, as it makes loose ties especially visible.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

E) Making voices echo louder E.1 Socially Excluded The high visibility of social media and its interactive nature provides an ideal platform for social excluded people to tell their stories and potentially break stereotypes. If social exclusion emanates from the divergence between integration and differentiation, dialogue about the ‘different’ can aid in bridging the gap between the two sides of the equation; thus enabling the ‘excluded’ to slowly integrate into the core. Connected relationships will “better integrate excluded individuals into ‘society’ and strengthen the social fabric overall.” (Blokland & Savage, 2008) The awareness that the digital divide27 is stalling people from fully integrating into our current technological world, and further broadening divisions have led many governments to take action in order to bridge the gap. Providing or extending network connections to people (physical infrastructure) is the first step in the list to narrow the digital divide, yet, it should be accompanied by education and empowerment initiatives for fruitful and sustainable results. In this way full social inclusion will only come when socially excluded people are incorporated into the technological world. Governments around the world28 are taking steps towards bridging such divides through infrastructure improvement, access in schools, and assistance to rural areas, multilateral cooperation, among other strategies. (OECD, 2001) In this way, potential vulnerable groups, such as older people, homeless, vulnerable young, the disabled, single parents, refugees and asylum seekers and rural communities can take advantage of social media, given its

Digital divide refers to “the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICT). (OECD, 2001) 28

A report released by the World Bank stated in 2005 the need for digital improvements in the world and recommends new initiatives for the future. (World Bank 2005). Providing how international organizations are aware of the problems, and aiming to tackle through promoting guidelines and programs.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

popularity and easiness to use to become ‘newly included’.29 In these platforms, their opinions are placed alongside opinion leaders or/and authorities, providing the potential to ‘amplify democratic discourse with the inclusion of new voices in the public realm’. (Zuñiga, Rojas, Puig-I-Abril 2009) E.2 Youth and Digital Natives Active youth participation within the urban context is a general pursuit in most western democracies, which contributions have over the years been recognized as central for youth development. (Lansdown, 2003). Presently, young people find themselves in an interesting position. While previously they had limited ability to influence public authorities, now they count on social media to speak louder and have a voice. The Millennials generation following the Generation X (Howe & Strauss, 1991, p. 31) is a cohort known for its practice and knowledge of communications, media, and digital team playing actors. Digital Natives (Pernsky, 2001) is also a term referred to a generation born after the introduction of digital technology.30 Through the early contact with technology, this group of people are comfortable in this context and seek new opportunities through it.

Pernsky contrasts this concept with digital immigrants, an

older generation born before the introduction of the digital age unfamiliar with daily technology. According to his categorization, these two groups possesses different languages and ways of thinking, therefore must learn to work with each other in order to collaborate. Unfortunately, young people all over the world are experiencing the consequences of 29

An interesting project that aims to tackle the digital divide through tackling urban deprivation is taking place in the Netherlands, and is called Digitale Trapvelden (Digital Playgrounds) project, an initiative of Roger van Boxtel, the former minister of Large Cities Policy and Integration. This initiative has spearheaded many other local projects including e-mail addresses to homeless people, a local newspaper and study visits. (Drewe, Fernandez-Maldonaldo, & Hulsbergen, 2010, p 24) 30

Howe and Strauss as well as Wilson and Gerber assert that this generation was born between 1982 and 2003. While st they are debates regarding the exact range, all agree they are natives of the 21 century. (Wilson & E. Gerber, 2008) 31

At the report Generation Internet by Gasser, he states that: “In Germany, virtually every house- hold with young people aged 12–19 has at least a mobile phone, a computer and, naturally, Internet access”. It is estimated that they will have spent 20,000 hours in contact with digital technologies by the time they get to adulthood. According to Gasser the same amount of hours required to become a professional pianist. (Gasser, 2010)

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

economic downturn reflected through increased unemployment, work insecurity, and reduction of the welfare state. (Lansdown, 2003). On the upside, they count with a rich body of experience unique to their circumstances, and have views and ideas that derive from their situations. The recognition of this group as important social actors combined with a platform easily maneuverer by them provides the ideal mix to bring constructive outcomes to tackle their problems32. The benefits of social media can be advantageous for various minorities and excluded groups; the above only highlighted a few target groups to exemplify the point. Recognition without action or worse, piecemeal participation in areas concerning youth or socially excluded lives, leads to stalemate and increased public disappointment. Therefore, it is with this medium, where public organizations can start to understand varying views to ultimately involve them into decision-making processes on areas of their concern. 1.3.2 Im age Change

Given social media use has grown out of the interest of people to communicate with each other, and is still used as a very informal tool for interaction, the mere presence of public organizations in such platforms manifest their willingness to come closer to where the public is, in this way pursuing opportunities for informal and formal interactions (Sheridan, Novak, Alonso, 2008). As mentioned previously, public organizations have been using the web for visibility purposes, to facilitate and speed up public services, by shortening bureaucratic procedures and to host and introduce data in a more digestible way. However the incorporation of social media presents completely new possibilities given its dynamic, informal, and wide-reaching characteristics, among others. In general, participation sessions/meetings attempts to change the public perception of government/public organizations by creating opportunities for citizens/users to feel empowered in helping to construct their own environment and being part of decisionmaking processes. Even when these meetings are not representative of all users and

While public organization might be concerned with young people educational experience, they take very little efforts to ask this target group about their ideas, opinions and ways of thinking and acting on a specific issue. (Lansdown, 2003)

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

citizens’ views, it supplies public organizations with dynamism and a true perception of reality33. As it extends the concept of democracy or democratic leadership (through participation) to a more continuous process, as opposed to once in every four years, when elections are due or when ‘big’ organizational changes are needed. Also at these meetings, the public have a chance to meet and interact with public authorities and experts, allowing them to realize that they are ‘people’ just like anyone else, thus allowing for a more horizontal interaction. Social media, therefore provides a great opportunity to make such undergo possible, by taking advantage of a platform of choice that provides the chance to stimulate a closer interaction and impression of ‘building with’ the public organization, in this way trying to narrow the gap between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Also, through the language used in this platform, branded by its colloquial exchange, organizations can make ‘bureaucratic’ or dry text sound or appear more informal; also the public has the opportunity to understand subjects through the words and explanation of others. Also, it provides the added value of a one-place platform for collecting and responding to comments in a timely fashion. Aiding public organizations by increasing the reach of campaigns and potentially speeding the process of participation. 1.3.3 M arketing

Social media also provides an ideal place to market local events and promote community businesses and districts. Through such platform public organizations can support its own people (students in case of educational organizations) and economy, in that way reaching a win-win situation. Building local economies has been a principle on the rise in many parts of the world, to re-connect people and create an invigorating economy, where producers and buyers have a more personal relationship. Among many other social benefits, when adding climate change to the list, local production and consumption becomes a stronger cause to support. (New Economics Foundation 2009) It is understandable that public organizations representing an entire community should not state preferences, therefore making it hard to market individual businesses. 33

It is very easy for government officials or/and employees of public organizations to distance himself/herself from reality when they are locked in a closed room working on a policy and program level.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

However, it can support events happening at a location in a city where local businesses are invited, promote districts of the city where local businesses are located, and encourage the principle of purchasing of local. It is the uniqueness of being local that make cities different and interesting, for example: the weekly farmers market, the creative ‘quarter’ of the city. While marketing strategies are built on a constructed idea of what ‘we can be’ or the people ‘we can attract’, little attention is given to ‘what we are’ or the people we currently ‘have’. Social media can help balance this futuristic view with the present reality, one that is more reflected and recognized by its population/users. This local approach is also strongly related to the local economy direction (mentioned above) and overall public participation discussions, given the activities happening on the ground and the content of public-citizens-users interactions can provide substance and strength to build local identity. 1.3.4 Transparency

In the age where technology has narrowed the gap between the provider and the receiver of information by widely supporting the creation, dissemination and accessibility of information, keeping facts within “closed doors” is not only a defective strategy, but can also cause popular backlashes. Also within the context of shrinking public spending and economic slowdown, transparency becomes a core value for public credibility. In other words, public organizations must be transparent with the tax-payers’ money and views in order to cultivate trust in difficult times. Creative and responsive solutions in terms of allocation of resources (human, capital, economic) should be made visible for users for consistent trustworthiness. The common citizens’ aversion and feelings towards government bureaucracy might not come as a surprise to the reader. The Young Foundation Report, titled ‘Listen Participate, Transform, A social media framework for local government’, shows that the general citizenry have higher expectation regarding government services and wants accountability on their part. While public organizations are still testing the waters with social media platforms, and incremental use seems to be the norm within organizations, transparency regarding their agenda becomes vital to build a strong social media foundation. Therefore, being clear

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

about content management and exchange, as well as carrying decorum, shows a willingness to listen and take risks while involving public participation. Besides information sharing, transparency can be also grounded through genuine recognition and acceptance of mistakes, in this way providing accountability and developing sincere relationships with government. Overall, transparency leads to trust, which in turn helps to increase participation. As pointed out Welch, Hinnant and Moon (2005) interactivity and transparency are positively associated with citizens’ trust in government. Therefore, social media can serve as a bridge to lead the way between greater transparency and increase publicuser participation. 1.3.5 Advice giving

This section might seem similar to the previous benefits already mentioned: dialogue and information sharing. While related, this section offers slight advantages. When designing the survey, it was important to highlight social media as a hub platform to ask public organizations for information, provide advice exchange and offer suggestions. Similar to physical suggestion boxes or website places for providing suggestions or asking questions, social media can be a one place for asking and giving advice to the public. Also qualitative comments or advices from the users can inform public organizations about issues not previously thought of with the potential to include other variables into the discussion. New perspectives can shed light on undiscovered potentials in seeking solutions, given that the focus of the qualitative method is on questions that address: how, what and why. Public institutions can take advantage

such

comments or questions to formulate or tweak questions and redirect them to the public,

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

in order to gauge overall concern. Such comments can also be brought up and discussed during face-to-face participatory meetings. Overall, qualitative feedback gives a more personal touch to the relationship between government and people, as opinions from people are considered more on an individual basis, making people feel that they are heard and taken into account, while helping the organizations ask tailored and pertinent questions. Some organizations care about the number of votes for each proposed idea (number of likes and re-tweets for example), weighing quality of posting by number of votes (likes), but that is not to say that single ideas or ideas with less votes are of no value. As previously mentioned, each social media platform offers tools that should be explored based on the organization objective. The most popular ones, Facebook and Twitter, see table below, provide the opportunity for qualitative feedback, which has the potential to get attention and lead to many ‘likes’ and a long thread of comments, or not. However, qualitative comments should not be ignored based on the lack of votes, and attention should be given to the content of its information.

“If we take a look over Facebook’s shoulders we can see the rise of Twitter especially against MySpace (in Australia, Canada, Germany and Italy) and the slow but constant growth of LinkedIn (in Australia, Canada, UK). (Cosenza, 2011)

(Cosenza, 2011)

1.3.6 Connecting with other organizations

As more organizations enter the world of social media, the easier becomes to connect with other interesting organizations pursuing similar line of work. Also, as these platforms metamorphosed into search tools themselves, they become the ideal place for befriending and collaborating with others34. Social media also helps public organizations 34

Facebook, and Twitter, for example, provide search tools that can help people and organizations find out about common interest and needs, through key words, that can help find out similar organizations or people leading in this field.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

expand its ‘nodality’- “the extent to which they are at the center of social and informational networks” (Margetts and Dunleavy 2002). Through expanding to social media, public organizations have the opportunity to promote their services and liaise with people on similar circles. In addition, it is not rare to see public organizations carrying out similar work without being aware of equivalent activity already having been completed or taking place somewhere else, and worse yet by another institution at a nearby location. Therefore communication through social media can help lessen such redundancy and improve efficiency. Through organization status updates, members/users multiple membership and connections and/or online research35, organizations can learn about each other existence, work and ultimately cooperate or build on each other work. In this way, avoiding repletion, reducing costs, and learning from other mistakes.

1.4 Perceived Challenges Organizations, especially public, tend to be afraid of the unknown, and in general be risk-averse to new ideas that raise questions, and that can ‘shake up’ power and organizational structure. Some perceived challenges for entering the world of social media range from cultural resistance, required new software and hardware that do not allow for web 2.0 applications, to institutional and legal barriers. These obstacles include policies, security and privacy of information. They are legitimate concerns, that should be addressed through policy, process, education and training.

Hashtag is a simple way to organize and categorize information in Twitter. One must write a # sign in front of a word, and/or idea and then they become links to the entire stream of Twets that share the same #hashtag. In this way, a hashtag makes subjects easily searchable.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

In general it is the fear of stepping in the dark in general, which has nothing to do with social media per se, that holds back innovation. However, public organizations do not need to re- invent the wheel as they can follow the steps of credible and trustworthy organizations that have spearhead the way. Thus, the reason for conducting the attached survey with public organizations already using social media, in order to gain hands on knowledge of their perceptions and experience (Boudreaux, 2009). Some organizations have developed their own guidelines for appropriate social media conduct, where it states expectations, boundaries, and recommended conduct for employees: how to behave while interfacing on blogs, wikis, social networks, and virtual worlds. Such guidelines tend to balance responsible behaviour with collaboration and innovation. 36 Arguments have been made that social media will hinder work productivity within public bodies ( (Nucleus Research, 2009)), however similar arguments had been used for Internet and email usage years ago37. (Puig-I-Abril, Rojas, & De Zuñiga 2009) This proves the point that risk should not and cannot be avoided, but minimized through the effective management of people, rather than restriction of technology. Also, concerns regarding employees posting should be tackled with training and policy.

See IBM 2010. IBM Social Computing Guidelines. Available: www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html.

Rojas and Zuñiga (2009) cite Bogart and Orenstein (1965), Robinson (1976) and Putnam (1995 ) when discussing on how television, at previous times, the new innovation of the past, was regarded with skepticism due to its negative effects on social capital and decreasing government trust, referred as: “social ill’ .

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

1.5 Chapter Final Comments This chapter’s aimed at providing context to social media, explain pertinent terminologies for a more comprehensive understanding, and ultimately offer an overview of benefits and potentials for social media usage by public organizations. In summary, social media should be seen as an opportunity for public organizations to follow pace with technology and users demands. The integration of social media to current strategies has the potential to leverage outcomes to unprecedented ways. While concern and hesitation are natural reflexes, the knowledge and practices of social media need to be understood with a deeper comprehension of the effect such communication means can bring to the table. The next chapter will continue to explore social media usage, yet through a practical overview.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

WHY?

For Who?

WHAT?

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Chapter 2: Social Media in Reality: Questionnaire One 2.1 Overview After laying a comprehensive foundation regarding social media, this questionnaire aims to balance theory previously stated with hands on experiences regarding social media usage. This questionnaire was carried out in October 2010. The objective was to gain a more refined understanding of the reasons, perceptions and objectives of social media usage by public institutions. Therefore, questions among others addressed were:

• • • •

When? Why? For whom? How?

The questions progressed from more concrete and defined question to more open and qualitative. It included a mixture of open questions and multiple choices, with always the option for discursive replies. The questionnaire was conducted with the help of a free web application called Survey Monkey. The free account counted with a few constraints that shaped the questionnaire design, such as a maximum of ten questions, meaning that some questions were posed in multiple parts. Organizations were selected based on similar background, nature and kind activities to Regionalverband.

Regionalverband

FrankfurtRheinMain

(Regional

Authority

FrankfurtRheinMain), which was until April 1st, 2011 named Planungsverband FrankfurtRheinMain (Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Conurbation Planning Association), is a public corporation that coordinates the interest of 75 municipalities. While it carries responsibilities in various ambits, its main function is the creation of a Regional Land Use and Landscape Plan. The organization has worked in close cooperation with all its municipalities and Regionalversammlung Südhessen to create the first Land Use Plan

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

for an entire region in Germany. The plan should be in implementation by mid- 2011 and envisions a framework for the region until 2020. Besides planning, the organization is interested in data monitoring and international project partnerships with the EU for example. 38 The conservative nature and conduct of Regionalverband was perceived through the author’s hands-on experience working at the organization and exchanges with internal personnel39. “Conservative” was defined as:

•

Valuing traditional viewpoints and attitudes

•

Being cautious about incorporating change or/and innovation,

•

Having bureaucratic processes

•

Being accountable to either the public directly or other organizational body,

•

Being responsible for a wide agenda of encompassing themes, where decisions are taken based on a complex analysis of interests among: social, cultural, economic and environmental perspectives.

Through the continuous defining and filtering based on the above criteria, a list of 70 organizations was reduced to 22. Out of them, 20 were German and 2 were international from Canada and USA. Overall, 22 organizations received the questionnaire, with a successful response rate of 68% (15 respondents). Out of the fifteen respondents, thirteen were German organizations and two were international organizations (Metrodenver and Metro Vancouver). They can be further classified in the following categories:

For more information regarding the Landscape Plan and more detailed activities, please refer to: http://www.regionfrankfurt.de/Quicknavigation/English 39

Professionals in different department were consulted informally, to aid the author to understand and learn about the character and nature of such organization (beliefs, ways of conducting business, outlook, processes)

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

1. Governmental Organizations i. Goethe Institute, Institut Stadt Geschichte (ISG) 2. Semi public, semi private i. Hamburg Tourism 3. City administration: i. Kassel, Ingolstadt, Bremen, Gross Gerau, Nürnberg, Frankfurt 4. Metropolitan region i. Ruhr, Rhein Neckar, Hamburg, Metrodenver, Metro Vancouver, Nürnberg 2.1.1 Limitations The questionnaire was sent to mainly the communication and press office of each organization, with the intent of reaching the department responsible for the current social media strategy. Therefore, the views expressed might be limited to their perspective and people from other departments might not agree with the below statements. At annex 3, there is a comprehensive list of the people contacted. Also, the sample size of the below survey is not representative of Germany, and even though it might confirm or deny certain held beliefs, results should not be generalized to an entire nation.

2.2 Findings Individual questionnaire replies are available at Annex 1. Questions have been grouped into 2 parts: initial questions (more general and broad) and experience questions (more personal and qualitative). Part 1: Initial Questions: (Questions 1-4) Q.1 Since when is your institution present in social media (Facebook or Twitter)? Is there a link on your official page to the Twitter/Facebook page? If not, why? Q.2 What communication strategy is your institution pursuing with this type of presentation? (Tick as many as applicable). Other? a) Improvement of communication channels and participation with local citizen b) Image Change of your Organization c) Marketing d) Advice Giving e) More transparency and credibility f) Better exchange of information with other local and international organizations

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Q.3 What kind of topics do you normally post in this type of medium? Q. 4. What is your target group? a) (> 20 Years) b) (21-50 Years) c) (< 51 Years) d) General e) No specific target group strategy

Replies: As mentioned previously, social media carries a broad definition. However, the popularity of both Facebook40 and Twitter have resulted in their names being used as a generic term to express the entire concept of social media. Although they are part of the social media concept, they are only two individual platforms

Similar to stereotyping,

their use as synonym to social media provides a visual aid for people, in this way making the concept more tangible to grasp. Also both Facebook and Twitter are quite complete social media platforms, granted they provide their users with many application tools such as: microblogging, networking, chatting, creating special pages, among other characteristics. For the interviewee to grasp the concept of social media a few concrete examples were provided, such as mentioning Twitter and Facebook. However this question offered the option of a discursive reply, where respondents could mention about any other social media platforms if they were further involved in. The first question hoped to gain a better understanding regarding the longevity of Facebook and Twitter usage. The replies demonstrated that most organizations had their first presence in either or both of these platforms during the last three years, the 40

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Facebook is the number-one social network destination worldwide and accounts for nearly six hours (5:52:00) per person with the average user logging in more than 19 times per month.â&#x20AC;? (Van Grove, 2010) 41

Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term is referred to a whole, for example Kleenex, a specific Trademark, is used to express the entire concept of tissues. In this case, Facebook and Twitter have become synecdoche to express social media.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

oldest presence dated back to

Year of Adoption of Facebook and Twitter

2007

(non-German

organization) to the youngest admission in September 2010.

2007

2008

2009

2010

7% 13% 13%

total,

out

the

respondents, ten added social media in 2010.

67%

The

second

part

this

question investigated if organizations linked their websites with the mentioned social media platforms, through the display of Facebook or twitter logos or some other form of representation. The question hoped to gauge if organizations felt comfortable presenting the social medias links in its primary virtual image. This question presented a low response rate out of the fifteen responses, only five responded positively, one responded negatively, and eight did not answer. After learning about their social media launch, the questionnaire moved on to find out the reasoning behind the organizations’ social media presence, or as posed, the communication strategy pursued in this type of presentation. This question provided multiple choices with the opportunity for writing further comments. Participants were allowed to choose more than one option. Unsurprisingly most organizations ticked more than one option, provided the wide possibilities of social media. Only one organization checked one option. Given that organizations normally ticked more than one objective, the sum of all votes does not add to 100%. The most popular objective was Information and Participation improvement with 12 ticks. For the organizations that selected others as an option, bellow are the options stated: (1) Strengthen Identity; (2) Reach other target group (teenagers) and (3) Improve Image, be perceived as a non authoritarian, but as a friend who can support and help you, by continuing to provide services and information about events “ The state Administration wants to be your friend”, (4) “Framing discussions so that policy development and communications efforts are in sync - i.e. developing communications approaches that goes beyond simply 'selling' developed policy but is integrated into the policy development cycle. This involves developing narratives with the public and listening to

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

public narratives to better understand dominant framesâ&#x20AC;?

Q.2 What communication strategy is your institution pursuing with this type of presentation?

The third question sought to understand the type of content that was being posted, promoted and exchanged at such platforms. Given it was an open question, it varied widely, ranging from events, city tips, local news and updates, information on public services (e.g. opening times changed), routings, movies, tips. When asked about the audience they were aiming to reach, 69.8% of the respondents asserted they were pursuing an open audience. None of the respondents chose pursuing social media exclusively for an audience younger than 20 years old, yet that was a selected option when combined with other options (e.g. younger than 20 with between 20 and 50) Experience Questions (Questions 5-10)

Q. 5. How do you rate your success so far? a) Good b) Medium c) Low

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Q.6 How do you measure success? a) High number of followers/likes b) More participation in events announced through this medium c) Better/easier/more efficient network with other organizations d) Young image perception e) More email/requests for information f) Citizens perception of ‘politics’/’planning authority’ changed Q.7 Is the use of social media part of a larger marketing and/or communication strategy? Q. 8. How often do you update the page? Are the updates proofread or edited by someone before posting? a) Daily Updates b) Weekly updated c) Irregularly updated d) Yes, they are edited to fit the organization's profile e) No, they are not edited Q.9 Have you had security problems in your system, or have experienced any type of problems since you have started using social media? Do you forecast any future problems? Q.10 Would you recommend a similar institution to yours to invest in Facebook or Twitter platforms today? Please give us your reasons! Do you have any further comments?

Replies: Out of the 15 participants who indicated their level of satisfaction, 53% reported being satisfied, and the other 46% reported an intermediate level of satisfaction. No participant checked the bad experience square. The following question contemplated to learn how organizations were measuring their progress. Most of them indicated that it was through the number of followers and likes in

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

twitter and Facebook respectively, and second in line was the letter ‘e’ representing the number of email and information requests received after social media presence. The questionnaire then moved on to understand if social media was found within the context of a strategy or if it was a loose approach. Given the hype of social media, it could be said that many organizations ‘dove’ into it, or followed a bandwagon without really understanding the meaning and expectations behind it.

Interestingly, most

organizations responded positively, 43% affirmed that social media was indeed framed within a communication strategy. The eighth question was composed of two parts and aimed at looking at how well organizations were adapting to the speed and spontaneity of this medium. The first part looked at the frequency of updates and the second part delved into looking at the authenticity and freedom of the social media. Regarding the regularity, most replied daily updates, and concerning the second part of the question, (62%) answered no editions are made to the postings. As presented in chapter one, social media does not come without its qualms. Question nine intended to learn about obstacles in the pursuit of social media. Most organizations stated that they had not experienced any complications yet, four other comments worth citing mentioning constrains/difficulties: time (resource) spent, difficulty measuring social media results, privacy issues, and employee restriction. At last, the tenth question intended to examine organizations’ own social media experience, through placing them at the position of consultants and asking for their expert advice. All had something positive to say, besides Metrodenver, whom abstained from the reply. The words that were mainly used to express such qualitative reply were: future, communication, image, communications, goals, etc. The below replies are worth taking a look, as they reflect an interesting as they strengthen theoretical arguments previously made.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Q. 10 Replies: Goethe Institute

Yes, free and effective!

Institut für Stadt Geschichte Hamburg Tourism

Yes

City Bremen

Absolutely. Social media is the future. The numerous tools provide any business or institution opportunities to present themselves. You should definitely try a lot of tools and then decide whether a site is worthwhile. It is important to be here and to identify trends and adapt to! Anyone who uses only one medium is threatened (Second Life, MySpace!)

City Kassel

Yes. Additional information medium. New "clientele".

City Ingolstadt

definitely yes. Social media is now simply a part of modern Internet communication. Yes, lower costs, enhanced image!

City Gross Gerau City Nürnberg

Yes, faster, more recently, closer to the customer / user - but also a lot of effort in the control and maintenance issues - that must be considered.

Yes, with the major Web 2.0 offers new target groups are reached. Especially in the very short-term or real-time communication platforms offer the opportunities that did not exist before.

City Frankfurt

It all depends on the content you have and how much of what and who you want to achieve and if you can prior hold a consultation with the Executive circle, press officer, professional office. It is important to have the right "tone". There must be a personal (not private!) tone, you have to be trained and reasonably communicative, and know these medias - preferably through own previous private experience - know. Otherwise you end up being punched in the stomach ... Therefore, recommendation: don’t create your account today when you don’t know both medias (Twitter and Facebook)

Metropol Ruhr

Facebook and Twitter have become standard. Recent communication with visitors to the site is possible. Even institutions like the Ruhr Regional Association should use these channels of communication.

Rhein Neckar Metropolregion Metropolitan Hamburg

Yes. Reasons: There is a great value for users to participate in the discussion rather than being on the outside. Who has the human resources capacity, should try out Twitter and Facebook, to reach a different audience. It is certainly very much on the subjects that you want to communicate - I think is appropriate tourist themes than "administration issues".

Metropolitan Nürnberg Hamburg tourism

(replied provided during second questionnaire: We are still collecting experience, but we would recommend it.) Yes, faster, more recently, closer to the customer / user - but also a lot of effort in the control and maintenance issues - that must be considered.

Metrovancouver

City of Vancouver's 'Talk Green to Us' campaign seems to have had good uptake. The question is whether or not it leads to meaningful participation. Arnstein's Ladder of Participation is a good model to use assess this activity. http://lithgow-schmidt.dk/sherry-arnstein/ladder-of-citizen-participation.html

Metrodenver

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

2.3 Questionnaire Interpretation While the above section attempted to compile the questionnaire results in an unbiased manner, this section will follow up with an overall interpretation of it. Overall, the results confirmed the expected assumptions, namely that social media has been recognized by public organizations as an important communication and participation medium. Even though recent, these organizations have demonstrated willingness to continue to interact and learn/hear opinions from public users, as they almost unanimously expressed : ‘information and participation improvement’ as the main goal while pursuing social media. Interestingly, they also recognize that social media is not a youth fad or something for a specific audience, but an ever more adult or generally public platform. In terms of content, it seems that organizations combine information provision on various fronts to serve and meet various purposes and needs. Regardless of whether it is to announce recreational events, or to provide useful information that can help users with daily decision-making (traffic updates, weather information or office hours), one thing is clear, these organizations aim to create a sense of affiliation (ultimately community) by engaging and interacting with their users. In a way, they want through the use of social media to improve the experience of the real place, be it a city, university or place of organization’s influence. By having in mind their users, social media begins to create a shift in the organizational mentality towards a more citizen and user-oriented organization structure. Unexpectedly, no organizations ticked the ‘bad’ box when revealing their experience in social media. They all indicated to be happy or ‘medium’ happy with the success of social media. The ones that ticked the medium box, brought up the following commentaries: not enough users of Twitter in their region; other modes of communication are still more used (newsletter and RSS), but no other mode can beat social media when it comes towards real time information, and too early to measure. The comments hint that even though there are elements of uncertainty regarding social media, there are hopes and a positive outlook about what can be realized through it.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

While the number of followers and likes might represent a high level of acceptance, trust and support, it does not necessarily translate into actual engagement. Undoubtedly, a successful social media platform should count with high numbers of users, who should also be active and exchanging with one another and ultimately populating events and the city. Therefore there must be a combination between the number of users and amount and quality of exchange, and also the number of users actually engaged and present in meetings and events. Interestingly, it seemed that public organizations are following the rhythm of social media by posting daily and being authentic by responding instantaneously and informally to the reader. However one must keep in mind that who is doing most of the posting is the press or communication department, therefore they have the know-how on what to post to positively influence the image of the organization. But at the same time, they should balance self-confidence with humbleness to acquire fans and followers, and find the right tone: informal, interesting but informative at the same time. An interesting reaction to the question number eight came from the city of Frankfurt that expressed its dislike for the idea of editing posting or needing approval for updates: “ Approval? Social media relies on trusted "authors" and use it to communicate independently and unrestrictedly. So the ones who support approval (social media proof reading) must urgently read what social media actually means.”42 Overall, the obstacles initially perceived by many public organizations might have been overcome or been tackled through experience and potentially a strategy. This is not to say that some organizations did not mention persistent challenges, previously mentioned on the section above. However, even the ones that mentioned difficulties did not hesitate to recommend the same media to other similar organizations, when replying to question number 10. As shown on the box above, the replies of such question showcase the positive future opportunities associated with the topic of social media.

Original version in German: “Freigabe?? Genau das macht doch Social Media aus, dass man den "Autoren" vertraut und diese eigenverantwortlich, unabgesprochen und ungemaßregelt kommunizieren. Also, wer Freigaben fordert, muss dringend nochmal Nachlesen, was Social Media eigentlich ausmacht.”.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

2.4 Chapter Final Comments From a general perspective, this questionnaire offered a positive overview of social media for public organizations use. Nevertheless, it did not give much insight in terms of the level, meaning and commitment of social media participation. It left the reader unclear to what extent organizations are taking into account the user perspective, and how this perspective is actually percolating down the organization.

Carolina Guimarães

1 2

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

* 83*5& :06 4)"3& )& 4)& $0..&/54 8& 5)*/, :06 $0--"#03"5& U IF Z U P

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The picture above contrasts Arnsteinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s model of participation to a second model that incorporates the technological reality of today.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Chapter 3: Participating in Social Media

This chapter elaborates on the findings from chapter two regarding the consistent reply: information and participation improvement as the main communication strategy pursued in social media. This chapter begins by describing how participation will be tackled, in order to make sense of the two models later presented (Arnsteina and Shirky).

laying such a foundation (participation definition and models) this thesis offers it own model for social media participation, which encompasses all the previous discussed items in the chapter.

3.1 Participation

3.1.1 Definition

Participation is defined in general terms by an engagement process between public organizations and its direct users/constituents/citizens within the urban context. This thesis advocates for a concept of participation that is flexible, informal, constant and up to speed with local and global complexities. In this thesis participation is found within the scope, at most of a “logical extension of the democratic process in a more local, direct, deliberative way” (Brabham 2009 p 243) and at least of the involvement of citizens in the planning43 process to ensure widely acceptance for it future use. Participation can be an exchange process of voluntary or legal nature put by public organizations, which consequently counts with non-biding or biding resolutions. In both cases, it provides participants the opportunity to share experiences, knowledge, ideas, values, hopes and opinions. In this way, each contributor can gain a better understanding of the perspectives of other participants and be exposed to different angles of an issue. It is also an opportunity for the public or users to ‘audit’ public organizations’ actions and reasoning. 43

Planning in the context of this thesis means the act and/or exercise of planning, but not excluded only to urban planning.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

At the present time, social media should be regarded as a supplement to informal participatory processes. It has been already utilized as a complementary tool, some successful examples of social media activity worth mentioning are: Talk Green44 (Vancouver, Canada) and participatory budget

(Cologne, Germany) both very recent

and ongoing processes. This is not to say that should media should not aid in formal participatory processes (stated by law), such as the building code in Germany, nevertheless the author believes that through tackling first informal subjects, public organizations can learn from experience, in order to later move to formal processes. Also, not all selected organizations must carry formal processes, thus by focusing on informal processes a minimum denominator can be set. In addition, even formal processes can learn with social media in informal project, so as to understand how they can be flexible to allow changes according to user needs. Two-way interaction, be it on- or off-line, is important to produce insightful reflections and outcomes. It is through these exchanges that people educate themselves about the various implications and consequences of problems: “Actively engaging the sometimes crowd can actually enhance government's problem-solving ability and is an enriching aspect of democracy.” (Goldsmith, 2011)

3.1.2 Context

A growing complex urban environment facing demographic, economic and political change demands more than an one-off, single-type participatory exercises. Instead, there is a need to diversify participatory methods in both quantity and execution, in order to satisfy the needs of contemporary society. (Atlee 2003)

In this way, social media

provides an additional venue for participation.

The program Talk green is a “ network of community conversations, events, opportunities, and experiences. To shape Vancouver’s Greenest City vision and help it become a reality – block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood.” http://talkgreenvancouver.ca/greenest-city-story 45

Bürgerhaushalt.org (http://www.buergerhaushalt.org/) is the name of the website that compiles all the various participatory budgets happening in Germany, while not all are online, a great part of them are. Cologne is an example worth citing provided for its successful online participatory work, which for the last 2008 consultation counted with a high turnout and ultimately positive outcomes were reached. For more detailed information on a report issued for a conference, document can be found online at: (http://www.intellitics.com/blog/2009/10/02/participatory-budgeting-in-cologne-germany/)

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

As presented by Rand and Gaffikin (2007 p283), we currently live in a universal paradox, where “the promotion of collaborative practice rooted in values of cohesion, solidarity and inclusivity in a world that can be seen as ever more individualist, socially fragmented, competitive or in other words uncollaborative.” While the previous assertions might discredit the purpose of conducting participation exercises, not all situations and people fall under such category. In addition, generalizations should not be made considering that some groups or individuals might act more selfish in one situation, yet more prone to solidary in another. While this thesis recognizes the hardship in facilitating participation and fostering an environment of cooperation. It advocates, based on Chantal Mouffle’s principle, for the supports of conflict and contestations, namely divergence of opinions and dialogue, for the actual realization of a democratic result. (Miessen, 2007) The actual practice of agreeing to disagree and attempting to find a middle ground between the various perspectives. The organizations here explored as case studies exist within the urban context, however their mandates might be much smaller than the entire urban geographical context into which they are inserted. For example, the Institute (headquarters) of Goethe is located in Munich, but its zone of control is mostly limited to its institute borders, and its users are students, employee and professors, in this thesis referred as users. Nevertheless, they count with global branches, are active on various issues, beyond language exchange, and liaise with various levels of government. Therefore, they are influenced by various global and local pressures, which affect their business activities and service delivery.

3.2 Social Media Participation In chapter one, various benefits were cited under the participation item, which included: virtual spaces as places for interactions, dialogue, voices echoing louder, and information sharing and community building. In this chapter, these sub-participation divisions will be presented under the varying levels of participation. Communication is vital when contemplating democracy, therefore the need to create Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

various channels for interaction is important. Social media as a growing tool of communication can definitely assist public organizations in opening up and diversifying its communication channels.

However for significant exchange to materialize into

something substantial (be it a theme to be discussed by higher-ups in public organization, or law, policy, etc), instead of getting lost in just ‘talk’, it must be accompanied by action and commitment from the public side, given its broad definition. Therefore it is important to highlight the varying levels of participation, as it can be arbitrarily used to fit specific purposes. Hidden under a broad umbrella term, participation can range from very superficial interaction to real participatory action. Arnstein and Shirky’s participatory models will be introduced in the context of social media for public organizations, to provide background to the participation model produced by the author at the end of this chapter.

3.3 Participation Models 3.3.1 Arnstein M odel

According to Arnstein’s well-known Ladder of Citizen Participation (1969), participation is a question of power distribution; meaning citizen power and higher citizen participation are positively correlated. The ladder ranges from less to more participation, and the same holds true for power, less to more citizen power. The three broad categories are: 1) Non-participation, which extends from manipulation to therapy, where authorities ‘educate’ its audience on activities happening on the ground, based on a condescending or disinterested views of public opinions. 2) Tokenism, a less subversive yet still very superficial level of interaction, where communication is still very one-sided, to the last rung of participation described as citizen control. 3) Citizen power depicted as more friendly, healthy and malleable interactions between both parties. Citizen control is broken up into three sub-categories: partnership, delegated power and citizen control. In a nutshell, these last levels of the ladder feature Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

negotiation, engagement, trade-offs, and decision-making activities between both parties. It is within these last three stages that citizens feel that power is redistributed and shared between the two sides of the equation, and their views are included, given: “participation without redistribution of power is an empty and frustrating process for the powerless”. (Arnstein, 1969)) Arnstein’s concept shows that more participation and power sharing will score higher on the ladder model. Given social media has changed the direction of dialogue, as a many to many communication mode (Shirky, 2009) and counts with transparent and collaborative characteristics, it can already be placed higher on the ladder of participation. (Fergunson, N.D). 3.3.2 Shirky M odel

In his book “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations”, Clay Shirky (2008) proposes three levels of social media activity: sharing, cooperation and collective action. Each rung entails a different set of actions, and incrementally demands more engagement from users. 1) Sharing Low levels of participation characterize the first level: sharing, which entails distribution and dissemination of information, news, photos, commenting, etc. In this phase, users are free to share without commitment to a greater group. From sharing to cooperation, a certain level of affiliation is created through the initiation of dialogue, and continuous exchange. 2) Cooperation At this second level, a certain level of coordination is necessary. Conversation exchanges happen at real-time, and an increased sense of community and belonging is slowly formed. An outcome of co-operation could be Wikepedia’s articles46; such collaborative production is achieved by group effort, where all (as a group not individual) can take recognition and responsibility for the outcome. 46

Wikepedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. (Wikepedia)

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

3) Collective Action Collective action is the highest form of participation in the Shirky’s model, thus it consolidates co-operative exchanges into something more concrete. Once challenges are overcome at the co-operation level, namely collective decisions stalemate, attempts to move forward can be pursued. Collective action represents an upgraded form of collaboration and user commitments. Decisions are binding and groups must be willing to take responsibility to act on discussed matters. A few examples of collection action consist of “political flash mobs that have occurred in Belarus, Philippines, and Iran”. (Fergunson). The main idea behind Shirky’s (2008) book is to show that even perceived complicated interactions, due to logistics issues, such as collection action, have been simplified by opportunities offered by social medias: “You can think of group undertaking as a kind of ladder of activities, activities that are enabled or improved by social tools. The rungs on the ladder, in order of difficulty, are sharing, cooperation, and collective action.” (Shirky, p 49)

Social media has also reduced transaction costs, which in turn enhance the ability to cooperate and act together. Overall, Shirky’s model through its three participation stages, offers varying options for user involvement and engagement with different levels of coordination between them.

3.3.3 Social M edia Participation M odel

Both aforementioned models showcase incremental participatory levels, where each level builds upon each other for further improvements and concrete outcomes. It recognizes that people can participate in multiple ways, with multiple approaches and strategies. While both models are presented from a user/citizen point of view: “citizen power’ (Arnstein) and sharing, cooperation and collective action by users (Shirky). The model developed here is designed for public organizations, thus will have their perspective in mind. However, it builds on nomenclature and principles stated by both models. This thesis advances that social media participation should be pursued incrementally, in

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

a gradual and orderly fashion, starting from information sharing to dialogue to ultimately collaboration and decision-making. Following each stage (as opposed to skipping stages) would help public organizations understand and learn through experience, improve capacity building, while being clear regarding its intention/social media presence to ultimately harness public trust, improve public image, and promote further participation. Overall, diminish risks and gaining individual support and buy-in. As previously mentioned, social media in this thesis should be regarded as a complement to other already in place participatory strategies used by public organizations to enhance organizations outcomes. The different tools for tackling organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objectives should be combined in order to be fully inclusive, as opposed of competing against each other. As time elapses, some strategies might be replaced by others, given arising needs, preferences, and norms among other variables that will have a lasting impact on approaches pursued.47 Each level focuses on creating a structural way of thinking about social media and participation and provides examples of tools presented in the most popular platforms Facebook and Twitter - in order to make the concept more concrete and visual. However other social media platforms that support mentioned principles are not only supported, but encouraged. The timing for proficiency under each stage will not be determined, given there are many factors that can influence its progress (i.e., the number of employees working in social media, hours devoted to social media, amongst other variables). Also, this model assumes that at present time public organizations are increasingly more accepting of innovation, willing to change its public image and more open for collaboration.

As mentioned by Howard, A. (2011) on his article, as time elapses, organizational employees will need to adapt to social media and incorporate it to their daily work like they have done previously with the phone, for example. Specialist positions for such knowledge will slowly fade away, provided social media becomes the norm and more disseminated and integrated throughout the organization.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

•

Stage 1: Information Sharing

While writing this thesis, it became clear that many public organizations had followed suit to the social media ‘hype’ without a very clear strategy of goals and expectations. In this way, starting by experimenting the media, with an attitude: “if everyone is doing it, why shouldn’t we do it?” Learning by doing is indeed sometimes a good way to pursue, but without clear guidelines it might be hard to move forward or know what to do and expect. By initially using social media as an additional communication medium before climbing up in the participation ladder might actually be a good first step. At this stage, social media applications will be underutilized, given its potential and various platforms advantages. However, social media provides many interesting applications for information sharing previously not available in web 1.0 platforms, namely multidirectional and immediate exchanges. Features such as hash tags48 in microblogging (Twitter) can help the government start a new debate, add to a current debate pool, or/and search what is being discussed on that topic. In this way public organizations can learn what, who and how a topic is being discussed. Also, sharing becomes easier when, under each post, an opportunity to press a ‘share’ button is provided; also, the button ‘like’ is a way to express support, a voting tool of sorts49. The names for these tools vary according to the diverse social media platforms. The importance of information sharing is nested on the principle of transparency, in real terms, the exercise of sharing with the ‘represented by’ or ‘users and clients50” about decisions in progress, conversations and news that are being taken, discussed or/and reported, respectively. Social media helps reduce information asymmetry, by increasing the number of people with access to important information, breaking the culture of

Hashtag has been previously defined in the definition table. Hashtags provide structure to microblogging by making conversation searchable in real time and historically, and locate other people who are interested in similar ideas. 49

Google Plus is a new social network by Google that will soon release business pages, for public organizations and businesses use. The voting button in Googleplus instead of like is called +1. 50

The word client sometimes is perceived negatively and restricted for the private realm, however the users of services provided by public organizations can also be considered clients, provided there are receiving a service.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

decision making behind closed doors and keeping its audience constantly updated. Due to democratic process and administration bureaucracies the period between participation and implementation of projects is sometimes remarkably long, which might cause issues at the moment of implementation, and social media can help tackle this gap through more constant updates. Also, as these platforms are populated, the information sharing is exchanged from both sides of the equation, where receivers’ and producers’ roles are exchanged. In this way, users are respected also as important producers of information51. Thus, the greater the amount of relevant information52 is shared, the higher the level of appreciation and further devotion of users. With the combined efforts of increased public data transparency (open directive initiative) these platforms become central to announce or potentially to re-use important government data. Organizations can post on their pages about availability of new data on the website, making more users aware and able to take advantage of it. Consequently, such information becomes a basis for continuous participation and collaboration. Although underutilized, this experimental social media phase assists in shaping a sharing and open organization culture. Besides the mentioned benefits, this stage helps public organizations create or solidify a communication strategy that includes social media. The pursuit for open government and transparency should provide the right impulse to answer the said ‘hard questions’. In it, social media should be regarded not merely as a technological issue, but as a way to assist organization communications through participatory exercise, and therefore it should not be limited to technological considerations. Cultural change and fears should be rightly addressed. 53

As presented by Clay Shirky (2009) during his Ted talk presentation, with web 2.0 philosophy every time a consumer of information enters the internet, a new producer enters as well. 52

Relevant information relates to news, updates that is perceived as useful and interesting to be presented in this medium. Filling up social media platforms with information that does not concern its users just for the sake of it, can also be counter-productive. 53

Arguments have been made that social media is a waste of employees’ time. However, that type of hesitation and fear was also previously experienced for previous access to email, phones, etc and its not unique to social media.

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Sometimes theory does not follow practice, even though questions should have been addressed before using social media altogether. They are still very relevant on the initial experimental phase of social media usage. With personal experience to rely on, public organizations might be able to better address pertinent questions on their own, as opposed to having to ask experts for content advice. However it is vital that they are finally addressed here, so a solid and consolidated social media strategy follows. Here, success is mostly measured quantitatively through the quantity of useful, timely, and pertinent information shared and posted. Also, given this initial stage goal to lay a good foundation and captivate users in order to ultimately create a sense of user community, the number of visitors, followers, and ‘likes’ become important.

•

Stage 2: Dialogue

At this stage, public organizations should already be familiar with social media and the possibilities of its applications, through its mere presence within such platforms and by observing other similar organizations’ activities. As information is continuously shared, there are more opportunities for interaction and dialogue through social media tools. The ‘comment’ tool on Facebook, for example, lies (physically) besides the sharing feature. Similar to Clay Shirky’s second stage characteristics, here a strong sense of community and belonging grows, as each side (i.e., users and public organizations) respect each other’s opinions, make further comments and ‘like’54 each other postings. Opinion making is likely to form in a network context where information is highly available and dialogue is promoted. Questions can be deliberatively posed (by public organizations) to estimate opinions on certain issues, or they can/might arise from conversations amongst users or/and users and public organizations. It is key for public organizations to be where opinions are exchanged and formed, and also to understand who (individual or group) might be leading or swaying opinion formation. In this way,

As mentioned previously the ‘like’ button represents a signal of support in social media.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

public organizations can better understand sentiments and opinions’ root causes to be able to rightly address them. At this stage, public organizations are better equipped to exchange and open up the channels of communication. They also have a better idea of what their users expect and how they can be of help. At this step, organizations might have already come up with a social media strategy, or have pondered risks and sensitive issue by publishing a disclaimer for their social media platforms55 regarding the type of tolerated behaviour and language conduct. However this stage might pose an obstacle for organizations still fearing to let go of (some) power and/or are scared of real communication exchange. Good dialogue is based on authentic, attentive and constant interaction between two parties, where replies are a reflection of committed thinking and analysis. In a platform where transparency and spontaneity is central, superficial dialogue is easily recognizable. Therefore, the need to invest time initially to reap benefits down the line, where a stronger sense of community is present, moderation is replaced by user engagement. As stated on the “Citizen Service Meets Social Media: Best Practices for citizen engagement” report: “Often the best response, at least initially, is simply to listen. The citizen-to-citizen nature of social media means that if you wait, another member of the community may respond, converting the conversation from a negative tone to a more neutral or positive tone.” (Rightnow Technologies Inc., 2010) If other members still do not address comments, depending on the language or content, it can be facilitated by moderation. However, over moderation of social networks may risk a loss of credibility as a free platform for users to express

Example of a disclaimer on the Stadt Frankfurt platform: (“Wir freuen uns, wenn Ihr Euch aktiv auf der offiziellen Fanseite der Stadt Frankfurt am Main beteiligt - Euch mit unseren aktuellen Beiträgen konstruktiv auseinandersetzt und eigene Kommentare auf der Pinnwand veröffentlicht. Wir bitten jedoch alle Verfasser von Kommentaren und Einträgen, das jeweilige Thema seriös und sachbezogen zu behandeln und die gängigen Kommentarrichtlinien zu beachten (www.frankfurt.de/Kommentarrichtlinien). Beleidigungen und jegliche Form der Diskriminierung werden nicht geduldet. Bei Verstößen müssen wir die entsprechenden Kommentare leider entfernen. Vielen Dank für Euer Verständnis!”)

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

views and opinions. Also, with the increased use (e.g., more daily postings), in-house awareness of the medium (e.g., employees talking about it, getting involved through trainings, acquiring social network accounts, etc.) and enhanced institutional popularity in social media (e.g., increased followers, like memberships), social media knowledge and skill should start to permeate throughout the organization’s structure. Namely, more people and more departments start to take advantage of such media by asking the initially responsible department to publish posts, becoming more interested through following or liking it, amongst other signs of encouragement and/or start a platform of its own to support its activities in the organization. The incremental adoption by in-house employees, followed by change in perspectives with regards to social media (debunk and eventually disappearance of held (negative) connotations and myths associated with social media)56, and incremental addition to individual daily work, slowly builds institutional support for social media. As social media gains momentum with increased institutional support, it moves from a peripheral communication to a more central communication strategy. In this way, it becomes a gradual part of the organization’s identity, which is further associated with concepts of informality, interactivity, and cooperation. The active embodiment of social media, as important part/complement to the participation strategy, aids in building a new image of a more open and user/citizen driven organization.

•

Stage 3: Collaboration to Decision Making

At this stage, public organizations are less scared of social media and are willing to take bigger steps in the name of transparency and collaboration. In addition, they are eager to incorporate more complex types of social media platforms that are more tailored for collaboration on a specific issue. These platforms, commonly referred to as crowd sourcing, can incorporate various applications such as social networking, comment

More information on myths of social media can be found at: (Ochman, 2009) http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090218_335887.htm

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

posting, voting, etc. Crowdsourcing was coined by Jeff Howe in the magazine Wired in 1996 (Brabham 2011)57. He defines it at: “a new Web-based business model that harness the creative solutions of a distributed network of individuals through what amounts to an open call for proposals.” (Brabham 2008 p 76). In other words, crowdsourcing is a way to harness crowd wisdom or collective intelligence. Various platforms are apt for amalgamating ideas, and providing the tools for innovation and creativity to flourish. However, some platforms are better than others at crowd sourcing ideas due to their design and usability58. More conventional social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, can also serve the same purpose, as opinions, feedback and concerns can be redirected and amalgamated for review of decision-makers. Although the concept might be new, the principle behind it is old. Crowdsourcing at its core is similar to open discussion participatory meetings, where many opinions are discussed at the same table. At present, this table becomes a digital platform with great potential to inspire large-scale change through using communications in an innovative way. It represents a shift from employee to crowd activity, as stated by Howe (2006): “crowdsourcing represent the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers.” The platform is intended to pool ideas, suggestions and ultimately solutions to problems under the responsibility of the organizations in question. While public organizations’ experts count with content expertise, they might lack context experience. It is within the gap between theory and practice that crowdsourcing makes sense.

Facebook and Twitter, two platforms previously mentioned can also be used for crowdsourcing purposes. For example, a question can be asked on a Facebook page, besides the public organization platform for differentiating the focus. Or decisions can be taken based on extensive support (likes) or re-directed to the public. http://www.techipedia.com/2009/social-media-crowdsourcing/

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

A problem must be clearly stated, and data should be made available in order for it to be crowdsourced. (Brabham 2011). Once ideas start to ‘pop up’, they are put up for review, where the crowds can sift through to vote on the best ones and/or to add more substance/content to the ideas already in place. While some might be good creators of ideas, others might be better commentators or analysts of provided ideas. In this way, the crowd builds on each other’s strength and seeks to recognize best solutions. There must be a commitment from the public organizations’ side to consider the ideas mostly voted. However, it does not mean abdication of control, as implementation of results is under government discretion. For a productive crowdsourcing process, the crowd should be left alone to create and produce ideas, yet it is up to the organization to define level of commitment to most popular ideas. Public organizations should closely follow the most popular ideas, and whenever not possible due to administrative, financial or any other form of constraints or limitations, a clear explanation should be offered to the public. It is assumed that by now public organizations have built self-confidence when using social media, and are more confident in juggling unpredicted situations. The recognition of a more empowered, reliable and aware user is matched by a more flexible perspective towards power control. At this stage, public organizations are more receptive and encouraging of public opinion and ideas permeating its systems.

The table below shows the different stages for social media participation, and how the series of small actions with different tools can lead to incremental participation gains. While the table provides a general framework in terms of thinking about social media in stages, it does not offer a full disclosure of other social media platform examples, currently in practice around the world. The goal is to show that even within the same platform, such as Facebook and Twitter, many tools can be utilized for different purposes. Even at the last stage where the crowdsourcing concept was introduced, it can be done with still ‘beginners’ platforms such as Facebook or Twitter per se. Certainly, the results are not the same (it might change in the future, yet Facebook already count with polling tools) , but it provides the ability for decision-making in terms of collecting opinions/feedback and taking them to decision-makers within each organization. In this way, it provides importance to the users’ opinions and exchange and it gives decision-makers a chance to understand what users are saying and wanting (ground perspective). Social media is the enabler, but organizations must be willing to take advantage of such platform, and have an open structure for the exchange in social media to have lasting participatory effects within the organization. Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Social Media Participation Model:

Collaboration to Decision Making

Information

Dialogue

!Initial stage of social media !Additional communication tool !Keeping the public informed !Feeling the ground !Understanding Social Media Platforms and Tools !Initial Stage for community building !Building self-confidence

!Horizontal Interactions (back and forth activities) !Engaging audience !Personal and Informal contact with users !Opinion-making

!Public trusted as important contributors for decisionmaking !Co-producer not user !Public side seek for users context help !Collaboration in development of alternatives and identification of preferred solutions.

Benefits

!Openness and transparency !Change of Organization Image !Information reaching where people are (higher reach) -Viral !Both parties are co-producers of information

!Dynamic Exchange Openness !Citizen Respected as !Important Contributors of opinion !More developed sense of community and user loyalty Organizations find out and listen from first hand accounts !Personnel in social media learn more about organization services !New and fresh ideas to the organization

!Public organizations have a better idea where to invest money and time (offer opinion, solutions, resources) !Build knowledge base !People build on each other's comments and expertise level (various angles of a same issue) !Users experts in context !Users feel more involved and empowered Accountability Further Participation

Barriers/ Risks

!Uncertainty about platforms !Novelty to organizational structure !Negative perception !IT issues

!Open up communication channel !Open for criticism !Potential to destabilize power structure !Could increase vulnerability of organization image

!Higher commitment from government to listen and discuss popular views and ultimately implement to the maximum extent possible (or at least discuss reasons why not)- them in detail !Provide users with clear response â&#x20AC;&#x201C;otherwise might suffer backlash

Counter Risks

!Creation of solid strategy that addresses human resources, cultural change and technological issues.

!Dialogue Moderation combined with a disclaimer stating accepted behavior and language !Rely on community building and sense of loyalty for image defense

!Properly addresses ideas suggested and be clear/transparent when discrediting or invalidating them !State limitations and constraints

!Sharing, Like, News Feed tools, Videos (Any tool in a platform that allows easy and viral sharing of information)

!Comments (Facebook/Youtube) Re-tweets (Twitter); (Any tool in a platform that allows for open, authentic conversation mechanisms)

!Facebook- pages asking a specific question or for a specific issue/ Twitter asking for comments on a specific cause, or a Crowdsourcing platform

!Quantitative: number of useful, timely information posted and shared

!Qualitative: meaningful, authentic exchange

!Qualitative: meaningful input, original views, creative perspectives

Characteristics

Social Media Tools

Measure

O B S :

Carolina GuimarĂŁes

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

3.4 Chapter Final Comments: This chapter assumed participation through communication as the correct path to follow for fostering a healthy society, which creates win-win solutions for public organizations and civil society, including an informed, empowered and satisfied citizenry that feels represented and encouraged to continue to participate. The social media participation model introduced above, combines an old but still very relevant, public participation model (Arnstein), with a new social media activity model (Shirky), to provide a framework for sequential opportunities in the world of social media. The model presented aims at both facilitating the categorization of social media participation, while also serving as an implementation model for organizations to progress to higher levels of participation. As the model becomes more complex and organizations move further, higher risks owing to power sharing and vulnerability, as well as increased work trying to capture different opinions, reflect upon and ponder many views, are matched by increased trust, empowered citizens and more accepted and widely adopted solutions.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Carolina Guimar達es

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Chapter 4: Social media participation experiences 4.1 Overview This chapter discusses in qualitative terms social media participation, through a diagnosis from the second questionnaire. It was expected that all participants from the survey were carrying out at least the first level of participation, namely information sharing, previously presented in chapter three, and probably already engaging in the second level of participation: dialogue, here referred as opinion-making. Participation is a term that normally holds a positive connotation59 and, as previously stated, can take up various meanings and be used with no real significance to serve various organization purposes. This questionnaire tackles this inconsistency to clarify the real participation status via social media. In this way, the survey moved beyond information sharing to investigate how these organizations are responding, integrating and internally discussing comments, opinions, and suggestions exchanged through the use of social media. Organizations were also asked to categorize their own participation level in social media, by inquiring if they were carrying opinion making or decision making activities. The people targeted for interviews were selected due to their responsibility for or direct involvement in the social media activities in their respective organizations. Although this provided the most informed perspective in this regard, it is acknowledged that, as only one person per organization was interviewed, the view of the organization was based on that individual’s point of view. The interviewees here are referred as social media personnel. The survey is not a representative sample of Germany, Canada or United States yet it

By positive connotation the author means that normally a practice that is welcome by user/citizens in general; as well as organizations tend to see it as a way to understand the needs and wishes of its users. However, as it has been presented previously not all organizational employees feel the same way. Users might also feel discouraged to participate or disappointed when previous organizations have carried out participatory processes, but have not implemented discussed options due to a variety of reasons. As declared by Arnstein, participation without sharing of power is insignificant.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

provides some interesting insight for the topic of social media and participation. The table below presents the names of the organizations and participants for each organization. As a general rule, phone interviews were more conducive to dialogue and thus provided more details.

In this way, the length and details of the responses

depended upon on the willingness of the respondents and the time they had to address the questions. Often written replies were concise, incomplete, and led to further questions. Annex 3 show the interview method carried out for each organization.

Institution Name

Contact

Position

Goethe Institute

Nadine Eberspächer Michael Leiter

Internatet Cooperation Management (InternetKooperations-Management) Public Relations

Björn Körner-

Editor bremen.online (Redaktion bremen.online)

City Kassel

Erika Wackerbarth

Internet Editor (Internetredaktion )

City Ingolstadt

Herr Friedel

(Press and Infromation) Presse und Information

City Gross Gerau

Herr Hallbig

Wirtschaft förderer, Kultur, Amstleiter Finanz

City Nürnberg

Herr Robert Hackner

Head of the Internet Office (Leiter des Internet-Büros)

City Frankfurt

Herald Ille

Press and Information services (Presse- und Informationsamt)

City Hamburg*

Herr Holstein

Head of the Leiter Senate Press (Senatspresse Hamburg)

Metropol Ruhr

Martina Kötters

Leading Internet Editor (Chefredaktion Internet)

Metropolitan Hamburg

Tanja Blätter

Geschäftstelle der Metropolregion Hamburg

Metrovancouver

Gordon Inglis

Multi-Media Services Division Manager

Metrodenver

Janet Fritz

Marketing Director

Metropolitan Nürnberg

Jutta Vennemann/ Dr. Kern

Speaking Person for Marketing Association/Managing Director (Ansprechpartnerin im Marketingverein/ Geschäftsführer)

Hamburg Tourism

Julia Loewe

Internet Content Management and New Media (Content Manager Internet & Neue Medien)

institut für stadt geschichte City Bremen

*(City of Hamburg was not interviewed in the first questionnaire.) Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

4.2 Findings When transcribing and reading over the interview results, a few themes were identified, and for an easy understanding they were sorted in three different categories:

• • •

Reluctance to adopt participation Participation process Implementing Participation

Citations from interviews are provided below to support the findings. The full transcriptions of the interviews can be found in the annex 3. Largely organizations were interested in the topic, happy to reply to the questionnaire and to communicate about their social media activities. The City of Kassel, Metropol Ruhr and Goethe institute went to the extent to ask the author for the survey results, in order to adapt or/and optimize their social media strategy. 4.2.1 Reluctance to adopt participation

•

Hesitation and fear

Social media is still conducted with strong hesitation and fear. Organizations with political associations demonstrated concerns for such a powerful political tool. Considering the speed and viral effect of social media, organizations fear losing the message and ultimately power. “With social media you lose control of the message” (City of Ingolstadt) “Politics is not a chat show” (City of Hamburg) This statement can be interpreted as a continuous lack of trust by politicians or city administration in the ability of social media to be used as a serious tool for real public participation and collective action. There still seems to be a huge gap between social media integration as a serious tool for participatory planning.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

“We live under a represented democracy, which means that we trust in our elected representatives to make good decisions on our behalf. However, social media provides too much opportunities for intervention in this process” (City of Frankfurt) The City of Frankfurt is a strong and active social media community, but still holds the view that even though social media can provide more dynamism to the system, this speed can be detrimental for concrete outcomes. The City of Gross Gerau is hesitant even to solicit opinions or feedback, and prefers to withdraw from asking and engaging.

•

Fear of new ways of doing things

A stronger popular voice (organization defame, criticism, embarrassment, etc.) seemed to be the fear held by political organizations, while for non-political organizations, such as Goethe Institute, the obstacle was different. The opening up and inclusion of more voices at the organizational ‘table’ provides opportunities for users to suggest new ways of conducting business, ways that might be better and more reflective. Nevertheless, the staff and organizational structure might be reluctant, protect old ways of conducting activities and not welcome ideas from outsiders whom might not ‘know’ the organization, or have experience on the subject.

4.2.2 Participation Process •

Let’s not get political!

Organizations that carry a light, informal and neutral tone proved to be more appreciated by the social media community. Organizations, according to interviewees’ assertions, must not take sides; they must harness various views and opinions, while keeping in mind their organization political leadership or house/marketing objectives, in order to construct an inclusive and friendly virtual community. “‘How was your weekend?’ (Is an example of a popular and well-replied question put

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Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

forth by the city of Ingolstadt.)

•

Time consuming

Another recurrent concern voiced was the worry for time constraints in keeping up with the rhythm of social media. Organizations shared concerns about personnel finding time in their already busy schedules to post in social media. The Goethe Institute, for example, discourages personnel to post more than once a day. Also, even though Metropol Hamburg, realizes the increasing importance of social media, it does not want the work required for social media to expand in size to the extent that new personnel have to be hired. This item also refers to the point mentioned above regarding fearing new ways of conducting business, as the reluctance to adapt is present through such concern.

•

Charisma and dedication

It was perceived that the charisma of the social media personnel, dedication, (high) frequency of postings and the employee’s belief in this form of media were characteristics positively reflected on the engagement of the virtual community and the number of followers and like. It was clear especially for the city of Ingolstadt, Frankfurt and Metrovancouver, that the personnel dedicated own time and energy to foster a solid community.

•

‘We’ feeling!

The ‘we’ feeling refers to sense of belong and community building. Frankfurt and Ingolstadt are two great examples of cities that have created engaged platforms in Facebook. They count with a high number of likes and users’ postings, and the tone of the page is friendly and collaborative. “The idea of government has changed in the last 30 years and it should be communicated to its citizens. Government should be regarded as a friend and not as enemy. “ (City of Frankfurt)

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

The city of Frankfurt refers to ‘we’ concept as the formation of a unit, where government, public authorities and users (in this case citizens) are all regarded as part of a group, not different from each other. Interestingly, this communal feeling was also mentioned by the Metropol Ruhr interview, who revealed that in addition to encouraging information sharing, it attempts to achieve the ‘we’ feeling. However, according to the principles of participation in social media such pursuit should be a consequential result not a means in itself. The ‘we’ feeling should be the fruition of active dialogue and exchange. For example, the active engagement of the city of Ingolstadt in social media, especially in Facebook, has fostered a solid virtual community, where the users respond to other users’ criticism and facilitate their own conversation, which translates to less city personnel moderation.

•

Realistic

Participation should be carried out through the active practice of listening to varying opinions and answering reflective. Users seem to expect truth and self-criticism from social media personnel, meaning that they are not alienated from the flaws and errors of their own organizations. As presented by the City of Ingolstadt, users do not welcome ostensive open city marketing or promotion of a special political party. 4.2.3 Im plem enting Participation •

Problem solving

Social media has proven to be a good platform for problem solving. Independent of its use, be it for traffic information, weather condition or weather-related accidents or a burnt street light (examples mentioned by city of Ingolstadt, Frankfurt), it has worked as an engaging tool for citizens and public organizations to communicate with each other and tackle city problems. Through these small exercises of information exchange, a feeling of solidarity and friendliness is created. “Someone sent me a picture from a burnt lamp via Twitter, I was able to identify it, forward the concern to the right department and then post a picture of the fixed lamp. The person was extremely grateful and thanked me online.” (City of Frankfurt)

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

•

Who am I to decide?

Unfortunately, not many of the employees who replied to the survey were the decisionmakers themselves in their respective organizations. While they were in close contact with the ideas and apprehensions voiced by the social media users, they were not the ones responsible for making or even suggesting organizational decisions, based on users views/concerns/feedbacks. As expressed by the city of Nürnberg: “The city administration is the ‘conducting organ’ of the city, exercising the political will of those who lead. In this way, the administration has no capability to decide or act upon the information posted and/or exchanged in social media.” Also, most all of the interviewees mentioned comments were rarely discussed or brought up in internal discussion with decision-makers. “The after thought of each posting is minimal and still in small scale”. (Metrovancouver) Both Institut for Stadt Geschschite (ISG) and Metrodenver are exceptions to this rule, the personnel replying and exchanging in social media were both higher-ups (i.e. decisionmakers holding executive position in the organization). While in Metrodenver replies are stored in a Word document and the personnel take into consideration the comments for their marketing strategy, at ISG the person in charge does not seem to see the value in the comments with respect to improving their organization nor their decision-making discussions. Metrovancouver expressed that even though the communication department is in charge of the social media exchange, senior management is aware about social media importance and would sign off on anything of significance. However, it contradict itself by saying: “Metro is a conservative organization re communications.” Alluding to the fact that even though, decision-makers are aware of the standing of social media, the conservative nature of the organization might deter further engagement and ultimately decision-making.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

•

I can’t measure, so I can’t engage!

Not surprisingly, organizations that were less engaged and critical of social media were not reaping the benefits and also got continuously discouraged to further commit to these platforms. City of Gross Gerau, ISG, and Hamburg Tourism were explicit examples of this. The city of Gross Gerau, for example, due to its restricted schedule of social media postings, operating business hours of 9 to 5 pm weekly, and irregular postings, has not experienced a increased number of ‘likes’ in its Facebook platform, and it expressed discontent by saying: “Even though its Facebook pages counts with 12-13,000 visits per day (according to Facebook statistics), it only has 103 fans.” Metropol Nürnberg is still in a testing social media phase, thus could not elaborate on the level of engagement, but according to the interviewee would like to take advantage of social media for future opinion-making and decision-making activities via social media..

•

Replies to Public Inquiries

Most inquiries were addressed instantaneously; whenever it was not, it was due to time constraints or personnel not knowing the exactly what to reply, thus requiring further investigation and/or consultation. Whenever there was a case where the personnel dealing with social media had been working with the organization for a long time (e.g. Metrodenver), or the communications, marketing department was well staffed, the need to forward the replies or ask other staff members diminished. (Metrovancouver)

•

Lack of structure

Personnel at the forefront of social media will attempt to address all inquiries, but will also redirect them to other staff in case they are not sure of the answer. However, it was perceived and mentioned twice (in the case of the Cities of Bremen and Frankfurt) that currently there is no in-house structure for dealing with incoming requests and questions. This supports that the idea of social media has not yet been fully thought through. Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

“The forwarding is done on an ad hoc basis” (City of Bremen)

4.3 The Big question: Opinion making or Decision-‐making? The assumption that all organizations were carrying out activities in social media beyond information sharing proved to be wrong. Organizations were only given the chance to self-assess

themselves

between

opinion-making

and

decision-making,

most

organizations (12 out of 15) selected the former. Three organizations clearly expressed to be pursuing informational activities only through social media (Metropol Ruhr, Hamburg Tourism, and Metropolitan Hamburg). This research gauged whether opinions coming through social media platform were percolating down the organizational structure, and being used for decision-making purposes or as content for discussion internally. The various replies demonstrated that only on rare occasions selected information and public opinion reached decisionmakers, which was reinforced by the organizations themselves when they selected opinion making as the main pursuit in social media in their response to the selfassessment question. No organizations affirmed that they were carrying out decision-making activities through social media. Some organizations mentioned that they were deciding on ‘soft’ decisions (words used by the city of Bremen), for example page design details (City of Bremen) or in event location (city of Nürnberg). However, no exercise that could lead to decisionmaking, such as discussing social media content with internal employees especially decision-makers, asking a question to users regarding a specific topic or creating a platform to harness collective ideas, were conducted via social media. City of Frankfurt mentioned regarding a decision making project, Vielfalt Frankfurt, which have received the support from the press department but it was only a side comment, and not part of a cohesive participatory strategic effort between the social and press departments. Interestingly, when asked to self-assess themselves, organizations that were conducting some form of light decision-making, or that had already carried out decision-making activities (e.g. Metrodenver, Frankfurt), stated that they were only conducting opinionCarolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

making via social media. Through such choice organizations confessed that they were aware that it could be done, but were still not using this platform for such purposes. Out of the 12 organizations who self-assessed themselves as opinion-makers, it proved evident for 3 organizations (ISG, City of Gross Gerau and city of Hamburg) through their other replies that they were indeed much more an information platform than an opinionmaking platform, or in an in between stage. The differences between what the organizations assessed themselves (orange) and what author perceived (green), through the replies to the questionnaire, is marked in the table below with different colors. Comments are provided when there is a discrepancy between the organization self-assessment and the author’s perception. Some organizations that were well engaged with its users through dialogue and feedback exchange were also marked on the table below by the author as conducing more than opinion making activities. Presumably such engaged organizations would have a high participation rate if they decided to carry out decision-making activities. Table: Social Media Participation findings Self-assessment by organization

Author’s Analysis

In between

Opinion Making

In Between

Decision Making

Future Decision Making

Goethe Institute

Information

Yes

institut für stadt geschichte

City Bremen

City Kassel

Carolina Guimarães

Provided they were not given the option to choose information as their current social media activity status, Maybe they choose opinion making, yet through their reply, it became clear they are still in the information stage usage. / Yes No

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

City Ingolstadt

City Gross Gerau

City Nürnberg

Yes

City Frankfurt

Yes

City Hamburg

Yes

Metropol Ruhr

Metrovancouver

Carolina Guimarães

Due to the high engagement and charisma of the personnel, the author was surprised to realize they will not pursue social media for decision-‐making purposes. Thus, the author marked a higher stage of participation than they self-‐assessed themselves. Even though they self-‐stated to be pursuing opinion-‐making activities, it seems that such is happening in a very superficial levels, and is still an information mainly platform. / City of Frankfurt is an interesting example of an organization with an engaged virtual community, yet their base their success in their non-‐ political issues/attitude, and tackling 'soft, day to day' subjects. The press department has already helped with a crowd sourcing initiative, and could see conducting more of such initiatives in the future. Even though the interviewee stated that decision-‐making will be pursued in the future, it still holds high hesitation to do so. Also, organization seems to be cautious about social media and its usage, thus the author marked a level in between information and opinion making, provided it seems the organization is far from achieving decision-‐making via social media. For the author came as a surprise that social media will not be used for decision-‐making purposes, provided that this organization seemed innovative, and wanting to take more roles in social media' however as stated by interviewee the organization still holds a ‘conservative nature.’

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Metrodenver

Yes

Metropolitan Nürnberg

Yes

Metropolitan Hamburg

Hamburg Tourism

Even though the organization self-‐ assessed itself as using social media for opinion making purposes, it has already carried out decision via social media and asserted that will continue to do so. It probably self-‐assessed as opinion making given it doesn’t carry decision-‐making activities so often. This organization is currently in a testing phase but would like to pursue social media in the future for both decision making and opinion making purposes. / /

In chapter two, the reply to question 7: “ Is the use of social media part of a larger marketing and/or communication strategy?” demonstrated that out of the fifteen organizations interviewed, six already had a social media strategy while four were planning on creating one. This reply, when compared with the replies gathered in this second questionnaire, insinuates a contradiction or even a differentiation of thinking. While a strategy can be thought of as an encompassing framework, it can also be a simple document that states a few rules for liability purposes. Overall, it seemed after this research that the strategy mentioned by organizations was indeed more within the range of the latter concept: a document that dealt about the social media in a very superficial level, but did not address how social media could be used to leverage participation, nor how could such comments and feedback percolate the organization structure to arrive at decision-makers. Most organizations were perceived as ‘free floaters’ in the realm of social media, which lacked a structural afterthought.

4.4 Chapter Final Comments This chapter looked beyond the superficial promotion of social media to understand the reality behind the virtual platform. Through this process it discovered that organization are mostly still carrying out opinion making activities, or still informational activities, with hesitations regarding moving forward towards collaboration and decision making. Surprisingly even the most engaged organizations such as city of Frankfurt and Ingolstadt hold doubts about pursuing decision-making activities via social media. Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Carolina Guimar達es

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Chapter 5: Challenges and Recommendations

Public organizations are neither keeping up with the pace of social media nor are able to overcome institutional hurdles for the better diffusion of social media content exchange. In this context, several challenges have been recognized, and questions have been raised regarding the efficient use of social media as a participation tool. This chapter discusses the challenges and provides recommendations for the optimal usage of this tool. The below challenges and recommendations are tailored to the visited case studies.

5. 1 Challenges Various intrinsic organizational challenges were uncovered during the course of this research. Provided the novelty and the features of social media participation, five main challenges were pinpointed based on research of previous works, interviews and author’s perceptions: Information, interactions, transparency and power of civil society.

5.1.1 Challenge 1: Inform ation

Information has gained new characteristics, thus posing significant challenges for public organizations: -Decentralized:

There are more people producing information beyond professional

writers or journalist, which has produced the term produsage, previously clarified..60 -Personal: Provided the increased number of ‘amateur’ writers, information has gained new perspectives and styles of writing. Thus, readers have a wider array of options to chose from and relate to. -Local: People are keen to read local news and be informed about its surrounding, in 60

Produsage was previously clarified on page 17.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

order to be informed and involved about it. -Real time: we live in a time where the rhythm/speed of information has increased to unprecedented levels. In this way, users expect information at real time with a minimum lag period. 61 The decentralized, real-time and personal information challenges organizations to be up to date with occurrences happening under their area of responsibility, and to be sympathetic towards non-experts and various perspectives of information. 5.1.2. Challenge 2: Horizontal and Inform al Interactions

One of the core characteristics of social media is the horizontal exchange, a dialogue between two or more people who exchange at the same level (non-hierarchical) and in an informal tone. While organizations might already have or be in the process of adapting to a more fluid and less formal/hierarchical organizational dynamic; social media bring such philosophy to practice. Therefore organizations not ready to open up for incoming feedback, critiques and reviews to outside users and/or even to internal employees (besides assigned social media employees) might feel threatened by the intensity of such powerful tool.

5.1.3 Challenge 3: Transparency

Social media serves as a virtual and almost permanent repository for users comments. Feedback and criticism are open for public review posted on the organization’s platform ‘face’. Organizations fearing feedback on potentially its most ingrained and deep problems, will limit their actions on social media platforms to diminish chances for organizational embarrassment.

There are many examples where news was firstly reported by previously ‘consumers’ of media, who through social have become also producers of information. Clay Shirky on this Ted talk mentioned how during the Chinese earthquake in May 2008, the BBC got their ‘cue’ through postings on social network and Twitter by civilians, provided people were posting, texting and taking pictures as the event was happening at real time. Even before the US Geological survey center had anything up online regarding the matter, the topic was already widely spoken and shared on social media.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

However, this exercise also provides the chance for organizations to recognize, learn and modify imperfections while getting free peer reviewing and expert consulting. This open platform challenges organizations’ status quo, by providing the space for public scrutiny (‘watch-dog’ exercise) to propel change. In addition, feedback should not always be regarded with a negative connotation.

5.1.4 Challenge 4: Pow er of Civil Society

The idea that power, in terms of information, should be retained in the hands of elected representatives or employees is not only unfit to a democratic structure, but also does not lead to successful long-term results. In addition, the sharing of information and the enablement of dialogue shifts the pressure from employees or elected officials from ‘know it all’ to harnessing collective intelligence to seek alternatives. The desire and the ability for civil society to organize might pose a threat to various public organizations not willing or not knowing how to interact with such a strong ‘voice’. This new empowered crowd desires to be involved and informed regarding issues that influence their life and environment; when public organizations are not able to process, manage or/and respond to such incoming feedback, opinions and/or comments, groups of people might lead a life of their own. In other words, they can organize themselves and promote actions to further their interest.

5.1.5 Challenge 5: Scarce Hum an Resources

Organizations scared of the needs of a demanding social media user will forego dialogue due to personnel time constraints’; provided that users want to know how their feedback is put to use in decision-making and criticized when they feel misled by the nature of the exercise. (Ashworth, 2000) However, this is a question that must be addressed by organizations adapting to new changes and challenges, and not to the employees per se. Provided social media increasing importance and its growing potential for user participation, more energy and

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

time should be redirected to such medium.

5.2 Recommendations The findings from chapter four confirmed that organizations are still learning about social media, and many times find that they cannot cope with the challenges brought by it. The recommendations below address the challenges mentioned above.

They must be

adapted on a case--by-case basis and used at different levels. Incremental learning will improve success in social media participation, but: 1. How do public organizations move across the social media participation levels? (From information to dialogue to collaboration and decision-making.) 2. How do public organizations best understand its users need to catalyze into something productive? Through the research process, the author coined five recommendations to address the previously recognized challenges.

5.2.1 Recom m endation 1: Participation as a philosophy

Public involvement without doubt is an important concern for public organizations. However, the materialization of such concept is where the difficulty lies. Besides the non-binding participatory methods, participation many times has been pursued as ‘icing on the cake’. A sporadic and punctual activity carried out by organizations willing to find out about its citizen users needs and wants, nevertheless not ingrained in the organization culture or not widely welcome by its employees. Typical public involvement processes hold inherent problems (Braham, 2009), (Booher & Judith, 2002) (Boyd, 2008)which tend to discourage organizations pursuing such initiatives. As pointed out by Brody (2003) ‘high levels of participation may increase conflict by having disputing parties at the negotiating table’ and ‘frustrate planners by slowing down the decision-making process’. Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

However, the same way that participation can bring drawbacks, the benefits previously discussed in prior chapters are valued higher and show to overcome the cost and/or obstacles of public participation processes. In addition, organizations must work through arisen issues, provided such reality the ultimate implementation of the project or activity. Public organizations culture to only present a finished result misses out on the opportunity for the continuous improvement and feedback of the public. As presented by: “Everything is a beta today because almost everything can be improved on the fly.” (Slocum, 2010) The idea is to recognize and praise employees already engaged in social media within each organization, and continue to encourage their efforts while learning from them regarding the conversation happening in such platfroms. Provided they are representing the organization’s face in social media, they should be listened and consulted by other employees but espcially decision-makers. The organizations that have already cultivated a regular public, should continue to engage with their users and empower them to continuous to provide important, and critical feedback to the organization, as well as participate in future crowdsourcing projects. Participation must be an act of constant engagement and placed at the core of the organization culture in order to reap the benefits from the constant real time horizontal exchange.

5.2.2 Recom m endation 2: Together we think

The quote ‘We are all in this together’ synthesizes the message behind social media collaboration. Whereas public organizations might be experts in content, the crowds are context-savvy by their familiarity with the urban setting. This local knowledge offers circumstantial perspectives, provides vital understanding of meanings, and is rich with anecdotal experience and narratives. To assume that professionals are the only ones able to develop creative solutions for organizational problems is not only erroneous but also out-dated. As pointed out by Lévy (1995/1997: 13-14): ‘no one knows everything, everyone knows something, [and] all knowledge resides in humanity’. Crowd wisdom is

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

a combination between aggregating solutions and peer-reviewing them for a polished and democratic result. The local and ‘non-expert’ knowledge strengthens the (re)-discovery of innovative solutions that often are superior and more cost-effective than traditional problem-solving development. (Lakhani & Panneta, 2007)Organizations must trust in the emergency of solutions from a large body of solvers, for the provision of not only interesting insights, but also for promotion of an engaged and empowered community culture.

5.2.3 Recom m endation 3: Authenticity is key

Users presume that organizations platforms should hold human attributes when engaging in social media. Organizations are expected to post often, have an honest and authentic ‘personality’ and reply to posts/comments/tweets at reasonable time. As stated at chapter four, the frequency, number and tone of the postings/comments will reflect on the sense of community and adherence to a page/group/blog. As hard as it might be to conceptualize such user requirement, it can be understood as recognition to organizations that value transparency and authenticity. It means a chance to prove to its constituents/users that their mission statement translates into practice. This consistency will stress the authenticity of the organization through aligning its assertions with its actions. 5.2.4 Recom m endation 4: Technology

Social media is here to stay, and therefore should be taken seriously as strong future media. Whereas television and radio were previous important media for officials to disseminate information and also showcase importance, social media importance is gaining an ever more importance amidst various audiences groups. Decision-makers

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

should buy into the idea that conventional media are slowly decreasing in popularity62, and invest time in learning the intrinsicacies of social media.

5.2.5 Recom m endation 5: Interdisciplinary W ork

Organizations that foster an interdisciplinary working culture will count with wider acceptance, support and usage of social media. Interdisciplinary work is inclined towards new ideas, and attempts to work through complexity by looking at the varying angles and perspectives of an issue. Understanding the limitations of each discipline and being able to seek solution in other fields of work enables creating new knowledge, and new modes of relationships and alternatives. (Giri, 1998) 5.2.6 Recom m endation 6: Setting the rules, but not stifling creativity

Creating a tailored framework for social media participation is good work practice. Besides being a conscious effort of staff taking the time to address such important issue, it will calm worries and concerns help by employees and organization identity. However such framework must balance off clear guidelines, to help employees and users understand accepted behaviour and language, while not stifling employees’ creativity to explore the various social media platforms to improve service delivery. In addition, conferences and exchanges with similar organizations should be supported and attended by organizational employees to share ideas, challenges and solutions.

Conventional media is also changing their nature, provided that more and more people watch TV online. A studied carried by Hessischer Rundfunk points out that an increasing number of spectators watch TV online. More info: http://www.ard-zdf-onlinestudie.de/. Also, just in Germany 43% of internet users have created their profile in a social network platform, compared to 39% in 2010.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

5.3 Chapter Final Comments: The recommendations aimed at bridging the gap between status quo and increased social media participation. These digital networks and platforms have provided new rules to the urban context in terms of speed, quality and quantity of information, feedback and dialogue. This research put forth a technology-driven alternative to the traditional public participation processes that favours a new and user-centered tool.

Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Social media: the oil that lubricates the system to provide more interactivity between society (users) and public organizations for smoother and more efficient operation.

Carolina Guimar達es

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Chapter 6: Conclusion

The aim of this thesis was to analyze the reason behind public organizations pursuing social media platforms primarily in Germany, but also Canada and United States. While various reasons were found, information and participation improvement was realized as the primary pursued objective. While only a small number of case studies were investigated, it provides the reader with a general perception of the status of social media in public organizations. This thesis hinted at the idea of democracy or a democratic structure by focusing on the importance of participation exercises through presenting an alternative communication tool. Social media provides an opportunity for improving participation through providing clarity, speed, accessibility and quantity of information exchanged and debated, dialogue, and facilitating decision-making activities. As a general rule, public organizations are engaging in social media as they realize the apparent need to create, distribute and exchange. However when participation was further investigated and broken down in stages, it was revealed based on the interviews with varying public organizations, that social media remain an opinion-making platform, and sometimes even serving basic information dissemination purposes. Moving from questionnaire one to two, it was possible to perceive the slight participation nuances previously packaged under: ‘information and participation improvement’. The role of social media as a decision making tool has proved to be still underutilized. Social media is mostly being used as an additional communication platform, and the content exchange is neither reaching far nor wide within the organizations hierarchy. Social media comments are normally feared, and hold negative connotations, when not, they are found in creative organizational sectors cultivated by inspired staff willing to harness a virtual sense of community, nevertheless in an isolated manner. The combination of fear of too much opinion, power-sharing, lack of human resources and know-how, together with disbelief in the power of this media are shown as the main obstacles hindering further social media usage and organizational adherence to achieve higher levels of participation. Carolina Guimarães

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

New complexities and issues brought by the 21st century (budget cuts, loss of welfare state, climate change, immigration, etc.) will require new ways of conducting business, delivering services and interacting with users/citizens. In combination with technological change, which has brought new duties and priorities for public organizations, the response is likely to require more engagement, participation and interaction that is flexible, horizontal, constant and responsive to answer to a rapidly changing context and population needs. Social media provides a great potential in fulfilling the need to build with the public , instead of fixating about the need to release only a finished product. The dialogue along the way is rich in user experience with the potential to continue to polish the end product, in addition to being in agreement with the technological reality. In this context of change, with various challenges but also opportunities to be addressed, taking new and bigger strides towards higher social media participation can and should be undertaken by public organizations to achieve new forms of cooperation, and joint solutions.

Carolina Guimar達es

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

Chapter 7: Further Research This study may hopefully act as a catalyst for further and more comprehensive research into social media as a public organization tool, and act as a contribution to participation alternatives. One of the main outcomes of this study is the gap between the different levels of participation being used by social media, indicating there should be more indepth study of the subject. A few possibilities for further research in this subject are discussed below. This study was exploratory, and further research with a larger sample of public

organizations in Germany, Canada and United States would potentially provide a clearer picture of the context in these respective countries. Also, it would be interesting to categorize organizations in terms of levels of influence (local, provincial/state and federal) to realize the correlation between level of engagement in social media and the level of organization influence. The author would assume local organizations would demonstrate higher social media engagement level. More perspectives and angles would be interesting to analyze, such as looking at the viewpoint of more than one employee per organization and the end-user perspective. The recommendations at the previous chapter focused on organizational structure and behaviour change for social media participation to percolate throughout the organization structure and reap full participatory benefits. Based on it, it would be interesting to study the specific characteristic that enables public organizations to be considered leaders or masters in the use of social medias as a participatory tool. Finally, the contribution of this thesis to the study of social media is the aperture of discussions in various areas such as the use technology, social media per se, within the realm of public organizations, participation through social media tools, and the varying levels

Carolina Guimarães

social

media

participation.

Social Media: A new tool for Public Organizations

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Estabrook, L., & Rainie, L. (2007). Information searches that solve problems: How people use the internet, libraries, and government agencies when they need help. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Dunleavy, P. (2002). Better Public services through e-government. National Audit Office Press., Comptroller and Auditor General,, London. Dahl, R. (1989). Democracy and Its Critics. New Haven: Yale University Press. Diamond, L. Building Trust in Government. Standford University, Political Sciences. Vienna: United Nations. Directgov. (n.d.). The Freedom of Information Act. Retrieved August 4, 2011, from Directgov: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/governmentcitizensandrights/yourrightsandresponsibilities/d g_4003239 Drewe, P., Fernandez-Maldonaldo, A. M., & Hulsbergen, E. (2010). Battling Urban Deprivation: Ict Strategies in the Netherlands and Europe. Journal of Urban Technology , 10 (1), 23-37. Fergunson, D. (N.D.). Planning Pool. Retrieved from Why Mix Urban Planning and Social Media?: http://planningpool.com/about/mix-urban-planning-social-media/ Florida, R. (2005). Cities and the Creative Class . Oxford: Routledge. Fountain, J. E. (2003). Electronic Government and Electronic Civics. Harvard University, National Centre for Digital Government, Working Paper Number: RWP03- 001, Cambridge,. Gasser, U. (2010). Generation Internet. They’re young, they’re networked and they were born into a world of computers. What we can learn from Digital Natives. BMW Magazine 1, pp. 64-68. Gedarovich, R. (2011, June 4). Socialmediatoday. Retrieved August 1, 2011, from Internet Week Panel: The Social Media Simplicity Toolkit: http://socialmediatoday.com/robert-gedarovich/304791/internet-week-panel-socialmedia-simplicity-toolkit Giri, A. K. (1998). Transcending Disciplinary Boundaries: Creative experiments and the critiques of modernity. Critique of Anthropology , 18, 379-404. Glibert, D., & Balestrini, P. (2004). Barriers and benefits in the adoption of e-government. The International Journal of Public Sector Managemen , 17 (4). Goldsmith, S. (2011, February 16). Connecting American Leaders, Governing. Retrieved July 2011, from The Wisdom of the Crowd in New York City : http://www.governing.com/blogs/bfc/wisdom-crowd-new-york-city.html

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Institute for Telecommunication Sciences. (1996, August 23). National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Retrieved August 1, 2011, from Institute for Telecommunication Sciences: http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/dir040/_5880.htm Irani, Z. L., T, E., Jones, S., & M, T. (2005). Evaluating e-government: learning from the experiences of two UK local authorities. Information Systems Journal , 15, 61-82. IT-PlanungsRat. (Septermber 2010). National E-government Strategy. IT Planning Council Decision. Hampton, K. N., Rainie, L., Sessions Goulet, L., & Purcell, K. (2011). Social networking sites and our lives. Pew Research Center. Pew Research. Hartley, H., & Nordstrom, A. F. (2010). Slideshare. Retrieved 2011, from Gov 2.0 eGovernment Social Media Platform Deployments and Future Opportunities: http://www.slideshare.net/egov/gov-20-egovernment-social-media-platformdeployments-and-future-opportunities Hinnant, C., & Welch, E. Internet Use, Transparency, and Interactivity Effects on Trust in Government. System Sciences, 36th Annual Hawaii International Conference. IEEE Computer Society. Howard, A. (2011, August 9). The Atlantic magazine. Retrieved August 10, 2011, from How Governments Deal With Social Media: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/08/how-governments-deal-withsocial-media/243288/ Howard, M. (2001). E-government Across the Globe: How Will “e” Change Government'. Government finance Review, , 17 (4), pp. 6-9. Howe, W., & Strauss, W. (1991). Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069. New York, NY: William Morrow and Company. Howe, J. (2006, June 2). Crowdsourcing:Tracking the Rise of the Amateur. Retrieved August 12, 2011, from Crowdsourcing: A definition, : http://crowdsourcing.typepad.com/cs/2006/06/crowdsourcing_a.html Howe, N., & Strauss, W. (2000). Millennials Rising: The Next Generation. Howe, N., & Strauss, W. (2000). Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation. New York: Vintage. Hood, C. (1983). Tools for Government. Macmillan. Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons , 53 (1), 59-68. Kluver, R. (2000, June). Globalization, Informatization, and Intercultural Communication. American Journal of Communication . Kotler, P. K. (2010). Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Carolina Guimarães

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Lakhani, K., & Panneta, J. (2007). The Principles of Distributed Innovation. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization , 2 (3), 97-112. Lansdown, G. (2003). World Youth Report, Youth in Decision making ( Chapter 10). United Nations. United Nations. Lathrop, D., & Ruma, L. (2010). Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice. Sebastopol: O'Reily Media. Lévy, P. Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace. (R. Bononno, Trans.) New York: Plenum. Lee, G., & Kwak, Y. H. (2011). An Open Government Implementation Model: Moving to Increased Public Engagement. IBM Center for the Business of Government. Lindenberg, F. (2010, August 21). Open Government: Regierungsprogramm quer gelesen. Retrieved June 4, 2011, from Open Data Network: http://opendatanetwork.org/2010/08/open-government-regierungsprogramm-quer-gelesen/ Nucleus Research. (2009). Facebook: Measuring the cost to business of social notworking-Report J57. Nucleus Research. Nucleus Research. Nabatchi, T., & Mergel, I. (2010). Participation 2.0: Using Internet and Social Media to Promote Distributed Democracy and Create Digital Neighboorhoods. In J. H. Svara, & J. Denhardt (Eds.), The Connected Community: Local Governments as Partners in Citizen Engagement and Community Building. Arizona State University. New Economics Foundation. (2009). The Great Transition. London. Nielsen Inc. (2010, March 19). NielsenWire. Retrieved July 1, 2011, from Global Audience Spends Two Hours More a Month on Social Networks than Last Year : http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/global-audience-spends-two-hours-more-amonth-on-social-networks-than-last-year/ Mayo, E., & Steinberg, T. (2007). The Government’s Response to The Power of Information: An independent review. CabinetOffice UK, London. Mayo, E., & Tom, S. (2007). The Power of Information: an Independent Review by Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg. UK's Cabinet Office, London. Margetts, H., & Dunleavy, P. (2002 ). Cultural barriers to e-government. National Audit Office, Comptroller and Auditor General. Meehan, E. (2003, October). From Government to Governance, Civic Participation and 'New Politics'; the Context of Potential Opportunities for the Better Representation of Women. Paper no. 5 . Belfast: Queen University of Belfast. Mergel, I., Shweik, C., & Fountain, J. (2009). The Tansformational Effect of Web 2.0 Techonlogies on Government. Social Science Research Network. Carolina Guimarães

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Miessen, M. (2007, February 01). Articulated Power Relations - Markus Miessen in conversation with Chantal Mouffe. Mollierosev. Internet 1.0 & Difference Between Web 1.0 & Web 2.0, Buzzword or More? . Geek Chick Chic. Moncel, R. (2009, January 23). World Resources Institute. Retrieved August 1, 2011, from President Obama's Open Government: Welcome First Steps: http://www.wri.org/stories/2009/01/president-obamas-open-government-welcome-firststeps Moon, M. (2002). The evolution of local government among municipalities: rhetoric or reality? Public Administration Review , 62 (4). Ochman, B. (2009, February 19, ). Debunking Six Social Media Myths. Retrieved January 20, 2011, from Blooomberg Businessweek: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090218_335887.htm OECD. (2001). Understanding the Digital Divide. OECD Publications. Office of the Private Commisioner of Canada. (2010). Office of the Private Commision of Canada. Retrieved August 1, 2011, from Open Government Resolution of Canada's Access to Information and Privacy Commissioners, September 1, 2010: http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2010/res_100901_e.cfm Osimo, D. (2008). Benchmarking eGovernment in the Web 2.0 era: what to measure, and how. (S. P.A.U. Education, Ed.) European Journal of ePractice , 4, 1-11. O'Reilly, T. O. (2005, 09 30). O'Reily. Retrieved May 01, 2011, from Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software: http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html Orszag, P. R. (2009, December 8). WhiteHouse. Retrieved August 1, 2011, from Open Government Directive: http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-governmentdirective Puig-I-Abril, E., Rojas, H., & De Zu単iga, H. G. Weblogs, traditional sources online and political participation: an assessment of how the internet is changing the political environment. New Media Society , 11 (4), 553-574. Putnam, R. Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital. Journal of Democracy , 6 (1), 65-78. Pimbert, M., & Wakeford, T. (2001). Overview :Deliberative Democracy and Citizen Empowerment. PLA Notes , 40, 23-8. Prins, J. Designing e-government: on the crossroads of technological innovation and institutional change. Kluver Law International .

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Samuel, A. (2010, June). Alexandra Samuel -Love your life online. Retrieved June 01, 2011, from Group identity and the psychology of social media: http://www.alexandrasamuel.com/world/group-identity-and-the-psychology-of-socialmedia Schellong, A., & Girrger, P. (2010). Government 2.0 in Beta Phase. Public Sector Studies Series (CSC). CSC (Business Solutions Technology Outsourcing). Secretary, Office. . (2010, September 23). White House. Retrieved August 5, 2011, from Remarks by the President to the United Nations General Assembly: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/23/remarks-president-unitednations-general-assembly Serrat, O. (2010). Social Media and the Public Sector . Asian Development Bank. Sidorenko, A. (2006). Empowerment & Participation in Policy Action UN Programme on Ageing. International Design for All Conference 2006, Rovaniemi, Finland . Shulman, S., Sandoval, R., Hovy, E., & Ae Chun, S. (2010). Government 2.0: Making connections between citizens, data and governments. Information Polity , 15, 1-9. Sheridan, J., Novak, K., & Alonso, J. M. (2008, December 4). W3C eGovernment Interest Group. Retrieved July 10, 2011, from Social Media in eGovernment: http://www.w3.org/2008/09/msnws/papers/egov-social-ws.html Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. New York, NY: The Penguin Press. http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_hist ory.html Shirky, C. (2009). How social media can make history. (C. Shirky, Performer) TED Talks. Slocum, M. (2010, March 9). The state of open government in Canada David Eaves on Canada's open government success stories and the folly of non-beta thinking. Retrieved July 12, 2011, from O'reilly radar: web 2.0: http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/03/the-state-ofopen-government-i.html Social Signal. (N.D.). Social Signal. Retrieved July 12, 2011, from Engaging online participation: the research: http://www.socialsignal.com/methodology-grounded-research Report, W. Y. World Youth Report. Rightnow Technologies Inc. (2010). CitizenService Meets Social Media: Best Practices for Citizen Engagement . Rheinard, G. (1998). The Well. Retrieved from Democracy is About Communication: http://www.well.com/~hlr/texts/democracy.html Rogerson, S., Prior, M., Fairweather, N. B., Al-Shehry, A., & R. (2006). The motivations for change towards E-government adoption: Case Studies from Saudi Arabia. eGovernment Workshop. London: Brunel University. Carolina Guimar達es

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Rosson, M. B., & Zhao, D. (2009). How and Why People Twitter: The Role that Microbloggin Plays in Informal Communication at Work. Association of Computer Machinery International conference on Supporting group work. Tapscott, D. (2009). Growing up Digital: How the new generation is changing the world. New York: McGraw Hill. Terz, M. (2006). Information Based Economy and Educational System. Science and Technology Policy Studies Center, Middle East Technical University, Department of Political Sciences and Public Administration. The Young Foundation. (2010). Listen, Participate, Transform: A Social media framework for local government, A Local 2.0 think piece. Union, I. T. (2003). World TeleCommunication Development Report. International Telecommunication Union. Geneva: World Summit on the Information Society. Van Grove, J. (2010, March 19). Mashable. Retrieved June 13, 2011, from Social Networking Usage Surges Globally [STATS] : http://mashable.com/2010/03/19/globalsocial-media-usage/ Welch, E., Hinnant, C., & Moon, M. (2005). Linking Citizen Satisfaction with EGovernment and Trust in Government. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, , 15 (3), 371-391. Wilson, M., & E. Gerber, L. (2008). How Generational Theory Can Improve Teaching: Strategies for Working with the “Millennials”. Currents in Teaching and Learning , 1 (1). World Bank. ( 2005). Communication Infrastructure Needs in the Developing World: Public and Private Roles. World Bank, Global Information and Communication Technologies Department.

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Annex 1: Organization’s Profile 1.Governmental Organizations: Goethe Institut: It promotes the study of German abroad and encourages international cultural exchange. It fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on its culture, society and politics. It has played a role in the cultural and educational policies of Germany over the last 50 years. Goethe-‐Institut sets internationally recognized standards in the teaching and learning of German as a foreign language. Goethe-‐Institut monitors trends in Germany and encourages cultural collaboration across the globe by organizing programmes of events and making contributions to various festivals and exhibitions in the fields of film, dance, theatre, literature and translation. source: http://www.goethe.de/uun/enindex.htm

Institu für Stadt Geschichte (ISG)

The Institute of Urban History, formerly "the city archives," is one of the most important German municipal archives. It collects, develops and provides written and pictorial sources for the Frankfurt city's history. Its holdings range from the ninth Century to the present. source: http://www.stadtgeschichte-‐ffm.de/

2. Private (semi-public) Hamburg Tourism The Hamburg Tourist Board was created on January 1, 1989 through a merger of Hamburg-‐ Information GmbH (HI) and Fremdenverkehrszentrale Hamburg e.V. (FVZ). While HI had previously focused predominantly on core advertising and PR objectives for the City of Hamburg, the FVZ, an association with a current membership of over 1,100 representatives of the city's tourist sector, provided services to tourists once they arrived. The merger which formed the HHT also included the private sector thereby creating the most modern municipal tourism organization in Germany. 40% of the corporation's shares are held by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, 11% by Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH, 29% by Tourismusverband Hamburg e.V., 10% by DEHOGA Hamburg Hotel-‐ und Gaststättenverband Hamburg e.V., 10% by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, 6% by the Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH, and since spring 2007 5% are held by the Hamburg Marketing GmbH. Thus, the city's tourism initiatives are jointly organized by the most important opinion leaders in the field. source: http://www.hamburg-‐tourism.de/

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3. City Administrations City of Bremen The City Municipality of Bremen (German: Stadtgemeinde Bremen) is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-‐Oldenburg metropolitan area (2.4 million people). Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany. source: http://www.bremen.de/aktuelles

City of Kassel Kassel is a town located on the Fulda in northern Hesse, Germany, one of the two sources of the Weser river. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel administrative region (Regierungsbezirk) and of the district (Kreis) of the same name. In 2007 the town had approximately 198,500 inhabitants and has a total area of 107 square kilometers (41 square miles). Kassel is the largest town in the north of Hesse (Nordhessen). source: http://www.kassel.de/stadt/

City of Ingolstadt Ingolstadt is a city in the State of Bavaria. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the centre of Bavaria. As at 2007, Ingolstadt had 455,000 residents. It is part of the Munich Metropolitan Area, which has a total population of more than 5 million). Regional center with about 120,000 inhabitants, the city of Ingolstadt, especially enjoys the site as a car (AUDI) international reputation. The Ingolstadt region is outstanding in the national and international transport network and integrated one of the fastest growing regions of Bavaria. Besides the automotive industry in particular bear the aerospace industry (EADS), the food manufacturing industry (Hipp) and the petroleum-‐refining industry to the economic strength of the region. The Ingolstadt region lies in the Munich Metropolitan Region. The Planning Association Ingolstadt region, the major regional and local companies, universities and public figures are members of the European Metropolitan Region Munich eV. This association is organized in an association of better positioning in the national and international competition. source: http://www2.ingolstadt.de/startseite.phtml, Planungsverband Region Ingolstadt <http://www.region-‐ ingolstadt.bayern.de/region/reg10.htm> Accessed 10, August, 2011. March 3, 2011.

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City of Gross Gerau

.Gross-‐Gerau is a central point in the dynamic, innovative and economically powerful Rhine-‐ Main area. Its population is of 25,000 inhabitants. It is a kreisstadt, meaning s the district seat of the Groß-‐Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-‐Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area. sources: http://www.gross-‐gerau.de

City of Nürnberg

Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg ) is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine– Main–Danube Canal, it is located about 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population (as of December 2010) is 505,664. The "European Metropolitan Area Nuremberg" has 2.5 million inhabitants. Nuremberg as a lively city of about half a million inhabitants, with a visible history of almost one thousand years. Nuremberg is known as a city "of wit", where inventiveness and the researchers' curiosity have found a home. Nuremberg holds a high performance economic location. Nuremberg is proud to be an open, tolerant city with a very high quality of life. source: http://www.nuernberg.de/ Key Data for Investors -‐ City of Nuremberg", Nuernberg.de, 2011, Nde-‐keydata

City of Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-‐largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,295,000 in 2010. The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt/Rhine-‐Main Metropolitan Region which has a population of 5,600,000 and is Germany's second largest metropolitan area. Situated on the Main River, Frankfurt is the financial and transportation centre of Germany and the largest financial centre in continental Europe (London being the largest). It is seat of the European Central Bank, the German Federal Bank, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Trade Fair, as well as several large commercial banks. Frankfurt Airport is one of the world's busiest international airports, Frankfurt Central Station is one of the largest terminal stations in Europe, and the Frankfurter Kreuz (Autobahn interchange) is the most heavily used interchange in Europe. source: http://www.frankfurt.de/

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City of Hamburg The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, one of the 16 states of the federation, is the second largest city in Germany with its 1.7 million inhabitants. In this sense, it is a city as well as a state. Economically and culturally, Hamburg is also the centre of Northern Germany. 3.5 million people live in the 755 square kilometers large metropolitan region of Hamburg -‐ for them, Hamburg is a shopping and cultural metropolis. source: http://www.hamburg.de/

4. Metropolitan Regions Metropol Ruhr The Regional Association Ruhr (Regionalverband Ruhr) is an affiliation of 53 towns in the Ruhr. Its "Ruhr Parliament", the assembly of the member towns, guarantees regional consensus and fair coordination of interests within the region. The Regional Association Ruhr takes responsibility for regional cluster projects such as the "Route Industriekultur", the industrial heritage trail, the "Emscher Landschaftspark", the Emscher landscape park and the chain of the dumps and "Landmarken", landmarks. Since its foundation in 1920, its prominent goal has been to improve living conditions in the conurbation of the Ruhr region. The former coal districts and recreational parks, the extended woodlands and nature reserves and also numerous further projects for the expansion of the recreational infrastructure bear true witness. The 53 towns of the Ruhr region are working together as the recently defined Ruhr Metropolis for transformation through culture. source: http://www.metropoleruhr.de/

Rhein Neckar Metropolregion The Rhine-‐Neckar Metropolitan Region (German: Metropolregion Rhein-‐Neckar), often referred to as Rhein-‐Neckar-‐Triangle is a polycentric metropolitan region located in south western Germany, between the Frankfurt/Rhine-‐Main region to the North and the Stuttgart Region to the South-‐East. Rhine-‐Neckar has a population of some 2.4 million with major cities being Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg. Other cities include the former Free imperial cities of Speyer and Worms. The metro area also encompasses parts of the picturesque Baden and Palatinate wine regions and territory from the three federal states of Baden-‐Württemberg, Rhineland-‐Palatinate and Hesse. The region is named after the rivers Rhine and Neckar, which confluence at Mannheim. Since 2005, the region is officially recognized as a European Metropolitan Area. It has a strong local identity as a successor of the historical Kurpfalz state. source: http://www.m-‐r-‐n.com/

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Metropol Hamburg The Metropolregion Hamburg (German for Hamburg Metropolitan Region) is the compilation of 8 rural districts in the German federal state of Lower Saxony, 6 districts in the federal state of Schleswig-‐Holstein and the city-‐state of Hamburg in northern Germany. This area covers an area of ca 19000 km² and is home to 4,266 million inhabitants.. It is located in the intersection of the main European transport routes between Scandinavia, Western, Eastern and Southern Europe. The high quality of life since 2001, has made possible for the population to grow by 2.3 percent to more than 4.3 million people. It is considered the economic center of northern Germany. source: http://metropolregion.hamburg.de/

Metropol Nürnberg Created in 28 April, 2005 the Nuremberg industrial region was admitted by the Minister Conference for Regional Development, abbreviated MKRO, to the select circle of eleven German metropolitan regions. Already today, it belongs to the 10th largest industrial centres in Germany. The metropolitan core is comprised of twelve rural districts and eight independent cities. The metropolitan network is comprised of eight rural districts and three independent cities. An organization model has been developed, with the democratic core section as the governing council. 54 rural district administrators, lord mayors and mayors decide there about the strategies of the European metropolitan Region of Nuremberg. In six specialized forums, around 400 persons from the entire metropolitan region work closely together. It is impetus for different developments concerning social, cultural, economic and technological aspects. source:http://www.em-‐n.eu/index.php?id=34&L=1 Metrovancouver Metro Vancouver(Greater Vancouver Regional District before, GVRD ) delivers regional services, planning and political leadership on behalf of 24 local authorities. The GVRD was incorporated by letters patent dated June 29, 1967 and its Board of Directors held its first meeting on July 12, 1967. At that time, there were 950,000 people living in the Lower Mainland. Today, more than two million residents, and is expected to grow to 2.7 million by 2021. The GVWD was incorporated pursuant to the Greater Vancouver Water Act in 1924 and comprises 17 member municipalities and one electoral area. Drivers: integrity as a foundation, passion for work and pride, respect for the needs, interests, values and opinions of the public and compassion in all our relationships are our guideposts. The GVWD was incorporated pursuant to the Greater Vancouver Water Act in 1924 and comprises 17 member municipalities and one electoral area. source: http://www.metrovancouver.org/Pages/default.aspxtechnological

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MetroDenver The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (Metro Denver EDC), an affiliate of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, is the nation’s first and only regional economic development entity in which many area economic development groups have joined together to represent, and further, the interests of an entire region. Its partners include 70 cities, counties, and economic development organizations in the seven-‐county Metro Denver and two-‐county Northern Colorado region. Its work aims to create a competitive environment that attracts companies and jobs is backed by the region's business community, with primary funding coming from private-‐sector investors, as well as participating cities and counties. Strategic initiatives are developed among our partners, with final decision-‐making authority by an investor board of directors. Each of the Metro Denver EDC’s economic development partner organizations is committed to the economic vitality of the entire region. As an ambassador for the area, each should be ready and able to communicate the benefits of Metro Denver first and individual communities second. source: http://www.metrodenver.org/

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Annex 2: Replies to questionnaire 1 In the interest of being concise, only the replies (in original language) are displayed for each interviewee, thus please refer to the questions below for reference.

A table

compiling the replies to question 2 is found after the transcriptions. Questions: Q.1 Since when is your institution present in social media (Facebook or Twitter)? Is there a link on your official page to the Twitter/Facebook page? If not, why? Q.2 What communication strategy is your institution pursuing with this type of presentation? (Tick as many as applicable). a) Improvement of communication channels and participation with local citizen b) Image Change of your Organization c) Marketing d) Advice Giving e) More transparency and credibility f) Better exchange of information with other local and international organizations Q.3 What kind of topics do you normally post in this type of medium? Q. 4. What is your target group? a) (> 20 Years) b) (21-50 Years) c) (< 51 Years) d) General e) No specific target group strategy

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Q. 5. How do you rate your success so far? a) Good b) Medium c) Low Q.6 How do you measure success? a) High number of followers/likes b) More participation in events announced through this medium c) Better/easier/more efficient network with other organizations d) Young image perception e) More email/requests for information f) Citizens perception of ‘politics’/’planning authority’ changed Q.7 Is the use of social media part of a larger marketing and/or communication strategy? Q. 8. How often do you update the page? Are the updates proofread or edited by someone before posting? a) Daily Updates b) Weekly updated c) Irregularly updated d) Yes, they are edited to fit the organization's profile e) No, they are not edited Q.9 Have you had security problems in your system, or have experienced any type of problems since you have started using social media? Do you forecast any future problems? Q.10 Would you recommend a similar institution to yours to invest in Facebook or Twitter platforms today? Please give us your reasons! Do you have any further comments?

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Organization Goethe univsersitat

Institut für stadt geschichte

Hamburg Tourism

Q.1

Seit 2008

Seit September 2010

Seit Anfang 2010 -‐ mit Verlinkung von offizieller Seite auch auf Twitter & facebook

Q.2

Information und Beteiligung verbessern

die Wahrnehmung Ihrer Organisation ändern

Q.3

Aktuelle Nachrichten

Ausstellungen und Informationen über das Institut für Stadtgeschichte insgesamt

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ Marketing Veranstaltungstipps

Q.4

Gesamte Öffentlichkeit

(> 20 Jahre)

(21-‐50 Jahre)

Q.5

mittel

Q.6

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/ Viele Zugriffe

Viele Zugriffe

Mittel Zahler der Fans/Follower könnte noch schneller wachsen; Beteiligung/Ansehen (durch Kommentare & Reetweets) aber dafür gut Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/ Viele Zugriffe

Q.7

Nein

Die Strategie ist eine verbesserte und erweiterte Zugänglichkeit zu Präsentationen unseres Hauses

Ja, von www.mein-‐ hamburg.de, der neuen Social Media Seite von Hamburg

Q.8

Täglich aktualisiert/Veröffentlichung ohne vorherige Freigabe

Unregelmäßig aktualisiert/Abteilung Öffentlichkeitsarbeit

Täglich aktualisiert/ Veröffentlichung mit vorherige Freigabe/ Julia Loewe

Q.9

Nein

Q.10

Ja, da kostenlos und effektiv!

Ja, da schneller, aktueller, näher am Kunden/Nutzer -‐ aber auch viel Aufwand in der Kontrolle und Themenpflege -‐ das muss berücksichtigt werden.

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Organization

City of Bremen

City of Kassel

City of ingolstadt

Q.1

Twitter: Seit Februar 2010 aktiv (vorher nur Accounts/Namen gesichert) Facebook: Seit April 2010 aktiv (vorher nur Accounts/Namen gesichert) Der aktuellste Tweet wird in einer Box auf der Startseite präsentiert, außerdem gibt es eine Übersicht unserer Web 2.0 Aktivitäten.

-‐ Seit 15. Februar 2010. -‐ Ja, wir verlinken sowohl auf Facebook als auch auf Twitter.

seit einigen monaten

Q.2

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ die Wahrnehmung Ihrer Organisation ändern/ mehr Transparenz erzeugen

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/Marketing/mehr Transparenz erzeugen

Q.3

Nachrichten aus der Stadt, Hinweise zu Behörden (veränderte Öffnungszeiten bspw.), Gewinnspiele, Ausgeh-‐Tipps, Kino-‐ Tipps, Hinweise auf Kolumnen, usw. Gesamte Öffentlichkeit

Aktuelle (Presse-‐) Meldungen und Ankündigungen von Terminen und Veranstaltungen.

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ die Wahrnehmung Ihrer Organisation ändern/ mehr Transparenz erzeugeN Veranstaltungshinweise, Echzeittweets aus Empfängen etc

Gesamte Öffentlichkeit

Q.5

gut Steigende Followerzahl bei Twitter, steigende Fanzahl bei Facebook. Gutes Feedback durch Nutzer, Mitbewerber imitieren unseren Stil.

gut Stete Zunahme von "Likes".

gut Zugriffszahlen, Feedback

Q.6

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/Mehr Teilnahme an angekündigten / Veranstaltungen/ Viele Zugriffe/Mitbewerber imitieren unseren Stil Ja und nein. Strategie ist angedacht, wurde aber bisher nie formuliert.

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/Viele Zugriffe

Ja.

Nein

Q.4

Q.7

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Q.8

Täglich aktualisiert/ Veröffentlichung ohne vorherige Freigabe/Veröffentlichung mit vorherige Freigabe/Wir arbeiten in kritischen Fällen mit einem "4-‐ Augen-‐Prinzip". Die anwesenden Social-‐Media-‐Betreuer sprechen sich ab, ggf. wird die Teamleitung befragt. Probleme sind aber nicht die Regel.

Täglich Täglich aktualisiert aktualisiert/Veröffentlichung ohne vorherige Freigabe

Q.9

Abläufe sind nicht immer gut zu managen (Social Media ist 24/7, nicht 9to5). Social Media bietet kaum direkte Indikatoren zur Erfolgskontrolle, deshalb schwer vor der Geschäftsführung zu verteidigen. Auf jeden Fall. Social Media ist die Zukunft. Die zahlreichen Tools bieten jedem Unternehmen und jeder Institution Möglichkeiten, sich zu präsentieren. Man sollte durchaus viele Tools probieren und dann entscheiden, ob sich ein Auftritt lohnt. Wichtig ist, dabei zu sein und Trends zu identifizieren und sich diesen anzupassen! Wer nur auf ein Medium setzt, ist gefährdet (Second Life, MySpace)!

Die Seiten der sozialen Netzwerke sind normalerweise für die MitarbeiterInnen der Stadtverwaltung gesperrt. Nur die Presseabteilung hat darauf Zugriff. Ja. Zusätzliches Informationsmedium. Neues "Klientel".

nein

City of Gross Gerau

City of Nürnberg

City of Frankfurt

Seit Mai 2010, Verlinkung von offizieller Seite

Twitter (seit Mai 2009), Verlinkung direkt vom Portal (sog. Social Media Register mit allen Web 2.0 Angeboten)

Auf Twitter seit 25. Juni 2009, auf Facebook etwa seit September 2009.Verlinkung von der Homepage www.frankfurt.de

Q.10

durchaus ja. Social Media ist heutzutage einfach ein Bestandteil moderner Internetkommunikation.

Organization Q.1

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Q.2

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ die Wahrnehmung Ihrer Organisation ändern/Marketing/mehr Transparenz erzeugen/ andere Zielgruppen erreichen (Schüler etc.)

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ Marketing/ mehr Transparenz erzeugen

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ die Wahrnehmung Ihrer Organisation ändern/ Marketing/ Beratung/ mehr Transparenz erzeugen/Imageverbesser ung: "Die Stadtverwaltung will Dein Freund sein". Nicht obrigkeitsstaatliche verschlossene Behörde, sondern Freund, der unterstützt und weiterhilft, auf Events und Dienstleistungen aufmerksam macht.

Q.3

Bündelung aller öffentlichkeitsrelevanten Informationen

Bürgerinfo, kulturelle Veranstaltungen, aktuelle Veranstaltungsinfos (z.B. bei Festivals oder Großveranstaltungen, kurzfristige Programmänderungen)

Servicethemen aus www.frankfurt.de, Nachrichten, Events. Thematisch: Stadtplanung, Bürgerservice, Integration

Q.4

Gesamte Öffentlichkeit

(21-‐50 Jahre

Gesamte Öffentlichkeit

Q.5

mittel Medium Twitter hat noch nicht die Akzeptanz, wie erwünscht, erhofft! Zu wenig Twitterer (Organisationen, Unternehmen, Bürger etc.) die das Medium derzeit schon in unserer Region (Südhessen) nutzen

mittel Der allgemeine zeitliche Aufwund zu der aktiv gemessen Nutzung des Mediums (Twitter) ist schlechter, als bei anderen direkten Medien (Newsletter, RSS). Aber etliche Anwendungsgebiete (wie Echtzeit-‐Infos) lassen sich nur über diese Medien verbreiten

gut 3000 Follower, 4000 FB-‐Fans, die allermiesten Rückmeldungen sind positiv -‐ auch in der PR-‐ Szene und den Medien. Frankfurts Social-‐Media-‐ Aktivitäten sind Vorbild für andere Kommunen.

Q.6

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/ Mehr Teilnahme an angekündigten Veranstaltungen/ Jüngeres Image/ Viele Zugriffe/ Erleichterung der Kommunikation/ Vernetzung mit anderen Institutionen

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/ Viele Zugriffe/ Erleichterung der Kommunikation

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/ Jüngeres Image/ Erleichterung der Kommunikation/ Inhalte der verbalen Rückmeldungen und deren Anzahl.

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Q.7

Baustein einer umfassenderen Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (Newsletter, Internetpräsenz etc.) und neu angelegten Marketingstrategie (Corporate Design, Zielgruppendefinition etc.)

Ja, generell sollen für alle Aufgaben und Informationen die geeigneten Informationskanäle zu nutzen.

Q.8

Täglich aktualisiert

Täglich aktualisiert/ Veröffentlichung ohne vorherige Freigabe

Q.9

Nein

Datenschutzproblematiken z.B. bei Facebook (Freundesfinder , Places, u.a.)

Carolina Guimarães

Ja und Nein. Ja: Natürlich passen beide in unsere Grundstrategie, die Stadtverwaltung als modern, dialogorientiert, menschlich und technologieaffin zu positionieren, und stützen diese Basisstrategie. Nein: Wir haben nicht extra eine neue Social-‐Media-‐ Strategie entwickelt, sondern Twitter und Facebook sind "natürliche" Komponenten einer aufgeklärten modernen "kundenzentrierten "Kommunikation. Täglich aktualisiert/ Unregelmäßig aktualisiert/Veröffentlich ung ohne vorherige Freigabe/Freigabe?? Genau das macht doch Social Media aus, dass man den "Autoren" vertraut und diese eigenverantwortlich, unabgesprochen und ungemaßregelt kommunizieren. Also, wer Freigaben fordert, muss dringend nochmal Nachlesen, was Social Media eigentlich ausmacht... Sicherheitsprobleme mit Twitter und Facebook? Wo sollten die denn herkommen? (Sind doch nur Websites...??) Probleme keine bekannt. Außer das Problem des Zeitbudgets, das für Social Media bereit gestellt wird. Sprich: Wieviel Zeit darf ich/kann ich/soll ich in die Community investieren?

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Q.10

Ja, geringer Aufwand, Imageaufwertung!

Ja, mit den großen Web2.0-‐ Angeboten werden neue Zielgruppen erreicht. Gerade in der sehr kurzfristigen oder Echtzeit-‐Kommunikation bieten die Plattformen Möglichkeiten, die es bisher nicht gab.

Es kommt ganz darauf an, was man an Content hat und wieviel davon, was und wen man erreichen will und ob man das OHNE vorherige Abstimmungszirkel mit Vorstand, Pressesprecher, Fachamt etc. tun kann. Wichtig ist, dass man den richtigen "Ton" dieser SNs trifft. Es muss ein persönlicher (kein privater!) Ton sein, man muss kommunikativ einigermaßen geschult sein und die beiden Medien -‐ am besten durch vorherige private Erfahrung -‐ kennen. Sonst landet man schnell auf dem Bauch... Daher Empfehlung: Nein, heute bitte noch nicht die Accounts anlegen. Erst die beiden Medien kennenlernen.

City of Nürnberg

Rhein Neckar Metropolregion

Metropol Ruhr

Q.1

Twitter (seit Mai 2009), Verlinkung Etwa seit Mai diesen Jahres direkt vom Portal (sog. Social Media Register mit allen Web 2.0 Angeboten)

Präsenz ist in Planung

Q.2

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ Marketing/ mehr Transparenz erzeugen

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ mehr Transparenz erzeugen/Identität stiften

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ die Wahrnehmung Ihrer Organisation ändern/ Marketing

Q.3

Bürgerinfo, kulturelle Veranstaltungen, aktuelle Veranstaltungsinfos (z.B. bei Festivals oder Großveranstaltungen, kurzfristige Programmänderungen)

Themen entlang des einmaligen Dreiklangs innovationsstarker Wirtschaft, brillianter Wissenschaft und höchster Lenbensqualität

Freizeit und Kulturthemen

Q.4

(21-‐50 Jahre

Gesamte Öffentlichkeit

(21-‐50 Jahre)

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Q.5

mittel Der allgemeine zeitliche Aufwund zu der aktiv gemessen Nutzung des Mediums (Twitter) ist schlechter, als bei anderen direkten Medien (Newsletter, RSS). Aber etliche Anwendungsgebiete (wie Echtzeit-‐ Infos) lassen sich nur über diese Medien verbreiten

gut -‐ Hohe Zahl an Follower/Fans unter Berücksichtigung, dass unsere die Profile auf facebook, twitter, youtube, etc. in keiner Weise beworben wurden.

gut Wir erhoffen uns mehr Besucher auf unserer Webseite www.metropoleruhr.de durch die Beteiligung an sozialen Netzwerken

Q.6

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/ Viele Zugriffe/ Erleichterung der Kommunikation

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/ Mehr Teilnahme an angekündigten Veranstaltungen/ Jüngeres Image/ Viele Zugriffe/ Erleichterung der Kommunikation/ Vernetzung mit anderen Institutionen/ Anzahl der Zugriffe auf die Internetpräsenz aus Social Media Quellen, Verbreitung (quantitativ/qualitativ) der eigenen Themen und Inhalte in Social Media, Vernetzung (quantitativ/qualitativ) der eigenen Profile innerhalb und außerhalb der Region,

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/ Mehr Teilnahme an angekündigten Veranstaltungen/Jüngere s Image/ Viele Zugriffe

Q.7

Ja, generell sollen für alle Aufgaben und Informationen die geeigneten Informationskanäle zu nutzen.

Ja, wird sie sein.

nein

Q.8

Täglich aktualisiert/ Veröffentlichung ohne vorherige Freigabe

Täglich aktualisiert/ Veröffentlichung ohne vorherige Freigabe/ Die Beiträge werden zentral von der Öffentlichkeitsarbeit erstellt und publiziert.

Täglich aktualisiert/ Internetredaktion/Presse stelle

Q.9

Datenschutzproblematiken z.B. bei Nein. Facebook (Freundesfinder , Places, u.a.)

Carolina Guimarães

noch nicht ...

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Q.10

Ja. Gründe: Großerm Wert des Feedbacks der Nutzer, Teilnahme an der Diskussion anstatt außen vor zu sein.

Facebook und Twitter gehören mittlerweile zum Standard. Aktuelle Kommunikation mit den Besuchern der Webseite ist möglich. Auch Institutionen wie der Regionalverband Ruhr sollten diese Kommunikationswege nutzen.

Q.1

Metropolitan Nürnberg

Metropolitan Hamburg

Seit 2010

Mitglied bei Twitter seit April 2010. Eine direkte Verlinkung erfolgt (noch) nicht, da sich die Nutzung von Twitter noch im Teststadium befindet.

Q.2

Information und Beteiligung verbessern/ die Wahrnehmung Ihrer Organisation ändern/ Marketing/ mehr Transparenz erzeugen

die Wahrnehmung Ihrer Organisation ändern/ Marketing/ besserer Austausch mit anderen Organisationen

Q.3

Informationen und Unterhaltung

Ausflugstipps in die Region.

Q.4 Q.5 Q.6

Gesamte Öffentlichkeit

gut

mittel

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes

Hoche Zahl von Followers/Likes/ Viele Zugriffe

Q.7 Q.8

Nein.

Unregelmäßig aktualisiert

Wöchentlich aktualisiert/ Veröffentlichung ohne vorherige Freigabe

Q.9 Q.10

Nein

Wer die personellen Kapazitäten hat, sollte Twitter und Facebook austesten, um eine andere Zielgruppe zu erreichen. Es kommt sicher sehr auf die Themen an, die man kommunizieren will -‐ touristische Themen halte ich für geeigneter als reine "Verwaltungsthemen".

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Q.1

Metrovancouver

Q.2

Improvement of commuciation channels and participation with local citizen/ Marketing/ More transparency and credibility/ Better exchange of information with other local and international organizations/ Framing discussions so that policy development and communications efforts are in sync -‐ i.e. developing communications approaches that goes beyond simply 'selling' developed policy but is integrated into the policy development cycle. This involves developing narratives with the public and listening to public narratives to better understand dominant frames.

Marketing

Q.3

Currently the medium is being used in a limited way and is primarily event based communications. As the use of the medium expands it will likely encompass many areas of Metro Vancouver work but will probably be primarily directed toward affecting change (demand side management) and public consultation. (> 20 Years)/(21-‐50 Years)/ (< 51 Years)/General

breaking news, inside look at what we're doing, trade show activity

Medium Too early to really draw any significant conclusions -‐ uptake has been moderate but efforts to date have not been implemented in a fully strategic way. There are some significant successes -‐ an event that appear to have benefited from social media promotion and a website that has had strong uptake on the comments section (Renters Speak Up)

Good

High number of followers/likes/ More participation in events announced through this medium/ Better/ easier/more efficient network with other organizations/ Citizens perception of 'politics'/'planning authority' changed/ Presence in the 'blogosphere' as a credible source. Large numbers of Metro videos embedded on other sites. Retweets of videos, etc. None of these are happening yet -‐ this will be some of the metrics we look to to assess the success of our soc media strategy.

High number of followers/likes/ Better/ easier/more efficient network with other organizations/ More emails/requests for information

Q.4 Q.5

Q.6

Metrodenver

Approximately 3 years (not quite sure). There is a link on the homepage to Facebook but not Twitter -‐ not sure why. This is under review as we develop our Social Media Strategy. My opinion is that the home page of any government website is highly valuable public space and should not be used to promote private corporations. We should not deliver our citizens to marketing agencies. It is part of the public trust. So I would like to see the direct link to Facebook removed and replaced with a generic 'click here for Social Media options' or some wording similar to this.

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2008

(21-‐50 Years)

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Q.7

Yes, it will be integrated into all Corportate Relations work.

yes, it is part of our marketing mix, which includes web/online, e-‐ newsletters, printed, advertising, public relations, and trade shows

Q.8

Irregularly updated/ Communications staff.

Daily updated/ No, they are not edited

Q.9

No significant problems I am aware of. There is a lack of knowledge no, of upper levels of management about this activity which has the potential to be problematic but it is unlikely as the activity has been done carefully and thoughtfully.

Q.10

City of Vancouver's 'Talk Green to Us' campaign seems to have had good uptake. The question is whether or not it leads to meaningful participation. Arnstein's Ladder of Participation is a good model to use assess this activity. http://lithgow-‐schmidt.dk/sherry-‐ arnstein/ladder-‐of-‐citizen-‐participation.html

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Compilation of replies for Question 2: Improvement of Participation and participation

Goethe Institute Institut für Stadt Geschichte Hamburg tourism City Bremen

Image Change

Metropol Ruhr

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Rhein Neckar Metropolregion

City Kassel City Ingolstadt City Gross Gerau City Nürnberg City Frankfurt

Metropolitan Hamburg Metropolitan Nürnberg

1 1

Metrovancouver Metrodenver

Total:

Marketing

More transparency credibility

Better exchange with other organizations

Others

1 1 1 1 1 1

1 1 1 1 1

1 1 1 1 1 1

1 1

1 1 1 10

1 1

Advice giving

1 1

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Annex 3: Replies to questionnaire 2 The interview transcriptions are in discursive form for a more interesting read. Besides each organization’ s name the interview method is listed. Follow up Interview: Social Media Participation Previous interview: Social Media Survey, A questionnaire from Planungsverband Ballungsraum Frankfurt/Rhein-Main, (now Regionalverband) conducted last year October 2010. 1) Who looks at the information posted on social media? Someone with authority, higher ranking individuals within the organization? 2) Does the organization store/keep the information posted on facebook? Do you cross-coordinate information between different social media platforms? 3) Do you forward the posts/information to specifics person/department in case of specific requirements/needs/question? Do you inform/discuss with internal staff on matters posted? 4) Do you follow up comments written on social media? (For example: comments with high number of votes(likes) or re-tweets, are they re-directed to the population for further inquiry, or is the issue brought up internally ?) 5) Have you used social media for decision-making purposes? a) No? Do you plan to use it in the future? b) Yes? For what decision? Which platform/way? 6) Overall, your social media strategy is: a) Opinion making b) Decision-making 7) Others:

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1. Goethe Institut (phone interview) The social media activity in the Goethe institute started from below, it sprung from the vibrant interest of different branches in exploring such platforms to deliver their services. The headquarters in Munich were drawn to social media when they realized that “it was not just a trend” stated Mrs Eberspächer There are more than 100 Facebook pages spread around the world focusing on different themes. The interviewee asserted that the organization has taken approximately, two years to get acquainted with social media and has only now, Spring 2011, released a strategy: “ We have finally understood how it works” declared Mrs Eberspächer The strategy has been created to delineate permitted behaviour and language. Also, one person per organization is delegated the official responsibility for social media updates and facilitation. The responsible personnel are not necessarily from the marketing or press department. Such responsibility has been delegated to employees, whom have initiated and populated this communication channel, thus ranging from the music, culture, and other departments. The institute discourages too social media activity, namely the constant posting or replying to messages on behalf of the organization, due to personnel time constraint, provided they must do it on top of their daily job. Social media dialogue and exchange is hardly discussed during internal meetings, and only in very special cases issues are raised. Decision-making activities have not yet been carried out via social media platform. However, there is an initiative currently taking place in Goethe institute Brazil to engage its students and users though a Facebook poll application to inquire regarding the DJ choice for the next organization sponsored event. On the other hand, the language department still holds great hesitation for opening up the decision-making process to let students decide about the content, and method of course delivery. Overall, the social media buy-in has not been uniform, while there are some incredible creative departments, others still lag behind. The interviewee ended the conversation with a positive outlook by stating: “ We have much more to learn, but we feel we are in

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the right track.” 2. Institut für Stadtgeschichte (written questionnaire) The replies from this organization were very succinct, thus leaving little room for interpretation. Someone in the decision making position is responsible for reading and replying to Facebook exchanges, and posts. The data/responses on social media are not saved or compiled. Comments and exchanges are forwarded to respective personnel, when further expertise is needed. According to Mr. Fleiter’s reply, it is conceivable that when social media gains a wider dimension

and

reconsidered.

adherence

of followers, decision- making

processes can

When asked to define regarding opinion making or decision making

purposes, the interviewee replied the former, but in his own replies: “ When any, opinion making.” (Wenn überhaupt dann für den Meinungsbildungsprozess). Suggesting that even though he marked opinion making, the platform is used information sharing purposes. 3. City of Bremen (written questionnaire) A five-team person, composed of four student employees and a permanent employee, tackles suggestions and the processing of incoming requests in social media. The care for Facebook, Twitter and Flickr is extended beyond office hours, including weekends. Users get instant feedback, but the detailed resolution of special issues or request is not always possible. The "social media" staff team determines the appropriate contact in the organization, before forwarding the requests. After the message is forward, there is no further follow up through the social network. Distinguished content on an on case-to-case basis will be documented and archived as a screenshot. Contributions that need further debate, will be discussed within the social

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media team and if necessary transferred for the handling of appropriate departments. The forwarding is done on an ad hoc basis, there is no set structure for problem solving, for example: a central hub or person to delegate tasks. After the transfer and inquiry, the team is no longer involved in the continuation of the process, given the lack of a formal structure. Every quarter a monitoring report from the different platforms (eg Facebook and Twitter Counter Insights) is produced presenting the development of the organization performances. Notes are taken based on particular worthwhile contributions or unexpected changes. The monitoring report is presented to the Steering Committee of the Board. (Gesch채ftsf체hrung im Lenkungskreis) When asked if social media was an opinion-making or a decision-making tool, he replied that concerning "soft" decisions, such as the design of elements on the Facebook fan page or suggestions for new features, polls have already been created. However, when it comes to "Hard" decisions that go beyond design questions have not yet been put up for contributions on social platforms. The experimentation of new tools is being considered for future planning initiatives or for tackling infrastructure problems. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube might supplement this initiative, in order to achieve the greatest possible participation of citizens. 4.City of Kassel (written questionnaire) The city of Kassel has a Twitter, a Facebook and YouTube platform: www.facebook.com / www.twitter.com / www.youtube.com These platforms are used to spread press releases, and disseminate current information. The city attempts to address promptly questions, suggestions or complaints with the aid of assigned specialists. However, one cannot say (at least for now) that citizen participation is carried out through such platforms. Also, our replies tend to be relatively short. The Internet editor, a few from the press department, and three people

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with different time availability, monitor and feed to the social media pages. No information is collected or compiled from Facebook. Our Facebook and our Twitter account are linked together; automatic updates will show on both platforms. As a general rule, postings are not forwarded to other departments. There are seldom relevant and/or occur too infrequently. However, when relevant, comments on specific topics will be forwarded to the specialist agencies / specialized departments, and when necessary, they are asked to provide their views. These comments will be public for other users to see. Currently social media is not a decision-making platform and there are not plans for it to be in the future, city of Kassel self-assessed itself as an opinion making platform. Lastly, the interviewee demonstrated interest in finding out about this survey results, in order to optimize the work of the city. 5. City Ingolstadt (phone interview) Currently there are two people spending about 30 minutes per day maintaining the social media platforms up to date. The posting of messages is limited to the press department. Whereas the communications department staff addresses small feedback, suggestions and ideas instantaneously, bigger ideas are tackled differently, by writing down person’s contact and then forwarding it to the Beschwermanager (complaint manager), whom will address the matter accordingly. Some comments, depending on their content or importance attached by the communication department, are further raised with the city Mayor. The current Mayor is open for experimenting in this medium and has not yet posed any objections for the continuous pursuit of social media engagement. According to the interviewee, their Facebook page gained fans exponentially during the last two years, which now counts with 11,000 fans. The fans are extremely active and engaged; and questions such as: ‘How was your weekend?’ are often replied by many with a personal touch. The ‘virtual’ sense of community is such that when negative posts are expressed, they are quickly replied by other users, whom will frequently address on

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behalf of the city. In this way, very little moderation is needed, and the users engage in conversation without the need for administration prodding. An example provided was when someone said something bad about a city accommodation, and other users defended the place and city, who had already been there and knew from hands on experience. In the platform it was suggested that the city should provide traffic updates for users, and such comments was taken into consideration and has now been implemented. The press department places importance in learning about the formation of constituents’ opinions and its sharing behavior. They are aware that postings’ interpretations and conversations cannot be controlled, however, its presence in such platforms allow them to both listen with an outside perspective, while also being able to interfere in case an issue get out of hand. Mr. Fridel (the interviewee) is conscious that social media communication must be authentic, thus making sure that tone and language is not overtly positive and politically biased, in order to keep a trustworthy and balanced reputation. For him engaging in social media means losing control of the message. ( “Kontrollverlust über die Botschaf”.), as you can never predict what will be the reaction. A concrete strategy has not yet been formulated, however, given the importance of the issue, there is a Bavarian research group who currently discusses and studies the future of social media. Overall, social media is a platform for information and dialogue, to enhance transparency and trust, however not for decision-making purposes with no plans to change it in the near future. 6. City of Gross Gerau (phone interview) The city of Gross Gerau invests in general 10 minutes per day for social media posting and its content is fed by daily ‘google’ search. The Google searches help the city social media employees to learn about city updates, in order to post or share in the Twitter and Facebook account. The updates are posted 5 days a week, and according to the interviewee, numbers of fans have been declining due to irregular postings and limited

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social media working hours (Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm). Even though its Facebook pages counts with 12-13,000 visits per day (according to Facebook statistics), it only has 103 fans. However, the city still prefers to use Facebook as they find there are more organizations present on Facebook than on Twitter. Both platforms are mainly used for information sharing, and not a substantial amount of exchange occurs; however the city also refrains from engaging often in dialogue and putting up questions for discussion. Whenever, there is a concern, people are asked to address it through the website platform, instead of communicating over social media platforms. The city is currently developing a new strategy for 2020, however not mention about social media communication is available. 7. City of N端rnberg (phone interview) There are four official social media platforms, namely: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Youtube; currently no other platform is allowed. The city different departments use them for various purposes, for example, administration, youth and public relations. In total there are 35 official platforms, examples include: Facebook platforms for traffic, city administration and youth groups (not open to the public). Given the social media platforms are so many in number, organizing and storing all such decentralized information is a difficult and almost impossible task for the city. Especially when there are no designated personnel for social media activities; employees must add to their already busy workload updating and engaging in social media. For that reason, replies can take time to be addressed. Questions and feedback are re-directed to the right personnel for proper care, which sometimes, depending on the complexity of the inquiry, can count with a lag period, ranging from a few hours to a day. In rare cases, information on social media platform is discussed or forwarded to decision-makers, whom will take a closer look at the issue at hand. Facebook has been a popular platform to engage and communicate with youth. Its use has focused on planning projects and making decisions about location and topics of fieldtrips. This youth platform holds a privacy setting, so content is restricted to a special target group of the population.

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Citizen participation has been active in crisis management events. Twitter has demonstrated to be of great value to followers in cases of heavy snow, for example. It helped the city identify areas of risk (ex. too slippery to walk), areas of traffic jam and to further disseminate updates to the wider society regarding the status and what was the city doing to address them. Decision-making process has not yet been carried out through social media platforms, however there are thoughts about utilizing its potentials for such purposes. According to Mr. Robert Hackner due to privacy restrictions, believes Facebook and Twitter are not the best platforms to tackle decision-making; as not all citizens are or should be expected to be members or users of them. Therefore, other platforms should be created for such processes. As put forth by the interviewee, the city administration is the ‘conducting organ’ of the city, exercising the political will of those who lead. In this way, the administration has no capability to decide or act upon the information posted and/or exchanged in social media. 8. City of Frankfurt (in person interview) Active channels:

1) http://twitter.com/Stadt_FFM/ 2) http://www.facebook.de/StadtFFM 3) http://www.facebook.com/wm2011frankfurt / 4) http://www.youtube.de/user/piaffm 5) http://www.bahnhofsviertelnacht.de After realizing that individuals had already created in social media platforms pages for the city of Frankfurt, for example: “Ich liebe Frankfurt” or “Ich mag Frankfurt” ( I love Frankfurt, I like Frankfurt, respectively), the press department decided got encouraged to represent the city of Frankfurt officially. The idea for implementation was met with low criticism and barriers from higher-ups within the organization. While Facebook content is posted once or twice per day, Twitter updates are done every 2 hours. Content emanates from the Frankfurt newsletter, also prepared by the same

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department. All events supported by the state are welcomed by these platforms. The experience by the press department has been positive. According to Mr. Ille, citizens are provided the feeling they are heard, and cared for. The goal is to create a strong community, by letting citizens discuss freely, and only facilitate the conversation. The city is not in favour of censoring the debate, but it states clearly on it social media platforms the kind of behaviour will not be tolerated: racism, discrimination and violent comments. Internal workshops have been held to teach other departments about social media and the Frankfurt press activities. Other departments are encouraged to pursue social media activities, but are advised to firstly talk to the press department in order to consider critical questions such as: Will they have a significant audience? ; Do they have enough content to post? ; ‘Will they have enough resources (in terms of time and employees)? ; ‘Do they have knowledge of social media platforms? ‘. Most of the time, according to Herr Ille, the case is that they are excited about social media, but the answers to the mentioned questions are negative. The idea is not to politicize the platform but to remind people about events, weather, information etc. All posting are addressed by two employees from the Press department that take the genuine role to reply to postings individually. Whenever they cannot reply to a question or comment, they will individually seek answers by contacting various departments. Currently, there is no problem solving system set up, or a person that can specifically address such concerns. Therefore, it is up to the good will of the press employees to look for such information. Without a system in place or a responsible body for such concerns, consistent replies are based on good will and availability of press employees. Whenever, they are sick or on vacation, the interactivity to citizens concerns or request for information is threatened. The idea of government has changed in the last 30 years and it should be communicated to its citizens. Government should be regarded as a friend and not as enemy. Mr. Ille stated that he could not attribute the increase of overall public participation to

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social media, but he thought it could have been a reason. During Kommunalwahl (municipality elections) people were so eager to find election results that the website crashed due to high traffic. In this situation, social media fit ‘like a glove’ as to report realtime results. Social media has served as a problem solver for city issues. An example provided, was someone whom posted a picture of a burnt lantern on a social media platform, being aware of its location, the press department was able to address the problem, by referring to the responsible employees, whom immediately fixed it. The picture of the fixed lantern was posted back, and the citizen replied very appreciatively. When asked to chose between opinion or decision making, the press department mentioned if any, it was more engaged in opinion-making activities, but definitely not pursing decision-making processes. The press department prefers not to get involved with any political issue. It prefers to keep doing what is already doing well, creating a good image and opinion about the city, creating a sense of community and aiding with civic problem solving. A program the interviewee mentioned that harness popular opinion, and took advantage of the

crowd sourcing principle was:

“Vielfalt bewegt

Frankfurt”: http://www.vielfalt-bewegt-frankfurt.de/, In which, aimed at an open dialogue to collect ideas for an integration concept. The press department helped with the promotion of it, but did not know much about final decision-making process. However, he asserted that public organizations Kulturcampus bockenheim-under the urban planning organization, was also another example brought by the interviewee that uses social media to collect ideas and further discusses them during workshops. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kultur-CampusBockenheim/162972363751934 No monitoring is done and focus is more on content to attract and solidify virtual community. According to him, social media can give too much voice to the people, which not necessarily is good for the political structure: “We live under a representative democracy, which means that we trust in our elected representatives to make good

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decisions on our behalf. However, social media provides too much opportunity for intervention in this process’. Currently all social media postings are amalgamated under one website:

http://www.smnr-frankfurt.de 4. City of Hamburg (phone interview) After the past mayor elections held in February 2011, social media has gained prominence as a topic in the political realm, which has led to the opening of a new position responsible for looking at the theme in more details. Mr. Holstein alluded to Facebook as a problematic and controversial topic, which is still held with certain obscurity. For that reason, it has not been fully tackled in detail. Feedback for postings is provided on the platform, but the way such platform could be used for decision-making has not yet been defined. Even without a clear direction, the interviewee stated that social media usage would aid in political processes, yet more through an informational character (probably by posting and announcing decisions, mentioning about processes, etc), as opposed to being the stage of decision-making per se. When commenting on the connection between social media and politics, he stated that: “politics is no chat show”. It is entirely conceivable that social media will be connected to decision-making processes. Nevertheless, the content posted must be carefully evaluated, and the amount of work/effort should not exceed a certain level, where it is necessary to hire new staff. Also, there is also a concern regarding working schedule, given social media platform working hours extend beyond employee hours (9-5 pm). 6. Metropol Ruhr (written questionnaire) The news and press department answer to the reactions of the Internet users and Facebook or Twitter messages and comments. Comments are answered immediately, however there is not much feedback or exchange in mentioned platforms. The interviewee does not envision the current social media platforms taking a decisionCarolina Guimarães

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making role in near the future. For Metropol Ruhr, these platforms are neither for opinion making nor decision making purposes. It is considered an additional communication channel to share messages and publish announcements, besides strengthening the ‘we feeling’. Regionalverband has been currently in charge of content for the Internet portal Metropol Ruhr since the past few weeks. (interview carried out in July 2011) The regional planning process has been since 2009 under work. 14. Metropol Hamburg (written questionnaire)

The social media wall posts and comments are currently being addressed through a third party agency, hired for such purpose, as well by the interviewee: Tanja Blätter.

Facebook statistics are looked at, however nothing in a more substantial level, in terms of storing or/and analysing feedback exchange/information more systematically. Comments are promptly replied and feedback is provided as soon as possible. Decisionmaking through Facebook is currently not carried out and it is not in the organizations plans. Twitter and Facebook are primarily used to provide a face to the region, especially to improve perception of an attractive region. It is also used as an additional sales channel to the traditional website. 12. Metrovancouver (phone interview) Metrovancouver counts with 5 official social media channels: Facebook, Twitter , Youtube. Live stream and Vimeo. Their videos are hosted by Brightcove and are shareable - these are their primary distribution platform. Also when needed the organization will create blogs for specific campaigns and events and discussion forums hosted on their website; webinars are growing increasing importance. The communication department is in charge of the social media exchange, while higher ranking employees do not allocate time for it yet. Senior management is aware about Carolina Guimarães

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social media and would sign off on anything of significance. As the interviewee stated: “Metro is a conservative organization re communications.” The communications personnel will seek reply to postings/comments in case they cannot answer it. The after thought of each posting is minimal and still in small scale. The communications department is responsible to assist other department on participation activities. Social media is a tool that is used increasingly, but it is just one more tool among many. Currently the organization does not store or keep any information posted on social media platforms. Comments written in social media are not currently being followed up, According to the interviewee, much of the discussions are around specific issues that come up organically and are not really considered worth engaging in, or they are generated by special interest groups. The organization does not fear participation, yet it asserts that meaningful public participation is a very difficult thing to create. According to his own words: “what is the value of an uninformed opinion? Social media doesn't really make this fundamental problem any easier.” It is currently not used for decision-making and according to the interviewee it is hard to predict if it playing a significant role in the future, yet it might be a tool to help a process. The idea of creating a social media strategy for Metrovancouver is to provide a general framework without stifling organizational creativity. In other words, different departments should be free to take advantage of social media to support their specific objective within the very strict parameters of our overall communications protocols. The role of the communication department is to ‘ask the hard questions’ before departments pursue activities in social media. The goal is to double check if they have thought through their strategy, while helping them to foresee problems down the line. Relevant questions include: who is your target audience? What do you want to achieve? Do you have enough content to publish? What will be your content? What behaviour

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should be tolerated? What language style should you use? How do you deal with sensitive issues? How do you replies to comments? For example, the first nations topic is a very sensitive issue in Canada, and should be addressed accordingly, in order not to raise unwanted turmoil and conflict. Social media greater benefits are also its greatest risks, thus the need to be careful, given its viral, speedy and transparent characteristics. There is a great interest from various departments to have a social media presence, and at their moment internal dialogue is being carried out. Also, organization recognizes the importance of social media and for that reason is trying to link program objectives with social media. Ex: Free your trash. 13. MetroDenver (written questionnaire) Currently the information in social media is reviewed by the director of marketing and technology, and the marketing assistant. The information is compiled in a Word document for future review, not much information was provided on this matter. Provided the marketing director has worked on the organization for a few years, there is normally no need to forward messages, as she can rightly address them. Metrovancouver interviewee mentioned that they have used social media for decisionmaking purposes, and will very probably use it in the future to enhance its overall marketing strategy. However, when asked to self-assessed itself, it defined its social media strategy as opinion-making. The organization expressed no fear regarding social media. Even though, social media might open up opportunities for criticism on its platforms, they looks at it as a venue for taking in feedback and suggestions. 14. Metropol N端rnberg (written questionnaire) The social media department/area will be expanded in 2012. Therefore, a new position will be created. The inclusion (of comments) in the decision-making will take place after the consultation with management CEO.

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Currently no data is saved or connected between the various social media platforms. Currently social media is in a test phase, thus we do not conduct use it for neither opinion making nor decision making. Nevertheless, we expect in the future to use it for both opinion making and decision-making. 14. Hamburg Tourism (written questionnaire)

The social media platforms (Facebook or Twitter) feedback/advices content are not currently been evaluated or analyzed for any purposes, on the contrary they are only used as news/information channels. For that reason, the interviewee asked to abstain from filling in the questionnaire, as it would be of no help.

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