Waltzing Matilda

On 6 May the Communication Unit of the Directorate General for Human Resources hosted a workshop for our colleagues working with internal communication; mostly communication officers and intranet editors, but also some HR and training officers. The aim was to promote greater awareness of the potential for using social media in communication work, and to get colleagues to look together at the pros and cons and practical issues together.

The workshop was organised into smaller groups after the world café principle (short discussion with one person taking notes, continue discussion with a new group, write positive and negative aspects on cards, then sort cards into categories in plenary). This might seem a little too social for some, but it is a surprisingly good method that both makes people open up and ensures that the outcome can be harvested in a useful format.

There were two main questions to be discussed during the morning’s activities:

1. Why should staff  get involved in social media as Commission representatives?

2. What do you recommend to staff when engaging with social media in the context of the Commission?

Bert and I were mainly there to listen, so I sat down with a group and tried not to influence the conversation but instead acted as the note-taker. It was very interesting to meet our audience on the inside of the house and hear for ourselves what their concerns are. The photographer got me sitting on the floor:

Anne sitting on the floor taking notes while colleagues discuss. Copyright: EC

Why should staff get involved in social media as Commission representatives?

For the first question there were loads of both pro’s and con’s. On the positive side there were the fact that social media are tools to actually connect, listen and engage with citizens, interest groups, professional communities etc., which would be appreciated by many colleagues. This could improve the human face of the Commission.

It was also noted that we could be much faster at responding to crisis situations or address attacks or misleading information on forums, blogs and news sites. Many people also said that it is much easier to target your audience through social media platforms because of the many communities.

One of the main negative issues coming up was whether or not staff were at all allowed to go on social media on behalf of the Commission, and whether this is something we should prioritise as a public organisation:

• Low awareness of the ‘rules’
• Capacity (do we have the skills/manpower?)
• Legal issues/trust (management needs to trust colleagues)
• Time consuming (not recognised as “real work” in bureaucracy)
• Risk of information overload (lack of control, too many publishing too much)
• Risk of oversimplifying complex issues

Professional vs. private?

Then there is the issue of whether our colleagues want to “give up” their ‘private sphere’. Obviously many colleagues have a private Facebook account for example, but do they want to use it as a set of speakers for their employer? Of course not – which I can totally relate to. I think I’d soon be friendless in that case.

However, many colleagues seem to have the impression that when we say staff should be Commission ambassadors on social media, that’s what they would be doing. That work activity would invade their private circles. I think that is a misconception, which we need to correct. And we should make it clearer for them where and when it is appropriate to use social media as a work tool.

Recommendations to staff when engaging with social media in the context of the Commission

I think the main lesson from this second exercise was “If you are on social media in a professional capacity, then be a professional”. Simple, but beautiful. The outcome of this session was very fruitful, so no need for me to paraphrase my brilliant colleagues any further:

DOs (for staff):

1. Talk about what you master/ Stick to your professional knowledge
2. If in doubt, consult/check; double check facts; be well briefed
3. Be honest; acknowledge different facts/arguments
4. Do it correctly: content, tone frequency; Use appropriate style & language; KISS; Be passionate (no Commission language)
5. Be careful and clarify your role
6. Get to know well the platform before you take part in it and the topics there
7. Be ready to invest time on it
8. Be selective (monitoring)
9. Re-use/re-cycle content: LTT, IPs*, “Share it”
10. Only react to non-anonymous posts
11. Respect confidentiality
12. Tell your Head of Unit what is going on/ keep hierarchy in loop

Voting on the most important Dos and Don'ts with stickers. Copyright: EC

Some colleagues felt the rules were unclear. Copyright: EC

DON’Ts (for staff)

1. Don’t do it before you are ready! 
2. Never depart from the official Commission line!  
3. Don’t give personal opinions – try to stick to facts! 
4. Don’t get involved in personal arguments! 
5. Don’t be afraid! 
6. Don’t reply to issues that are not related to your job! 
7. Don’t use jargon!
8. Be willing to delegate!
9. Give a line to take!
10. Ensure proper communication training for subject experts!
11. Understand! Support!

Guidelines for managers:

1. Trust staff!
2. Treat people like adults! (rules exist)
3. Have guidelines!

* The only thing I have some difficulties with is sharing LTTs (Lines To Take i.e. background notes addressing a certain press issue) and IPs (Press Releases) via social media, especially to the general public. Although we do spend a lot of time and effort on writing long and correct press releases and background notes, they are rarely suited for normal people of the general public.

But if you are a policy officer who has for instance many Twitter contacts in a specific field and a relevant press release is being published, then it would definitely make sense to tweet it to that network and get valuable feedback. And they can very well be used as background papers for online interaction. 

What now?

The first thing we need to do together with HR is to frame the situation more clearly. Most of our colleagues would not be interested in going on social media anyway, but we should make the rules much clearer and start training those who will as soon as possible, so we get the issue de-mystified in the house (both on the ground and in our bosses’ offices).

Personally I think this is best done by telling the good stories, so we are going to launch a series of stories about different EU bodies using social media actively in their communication activities. We will publish them on our Commission intranet but we will also post them here to make sure we get lots of comments and suggestions from the outside.

Looking very much forward to your comments on this post! 

 //Anne

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