Blogging and social media in Brussels for FutureLab Europe
1.
2. Are we just blowing up the
bubble a little bit?
3. Elections force communication
No EU institution is close to the basic definition of a
party system from Schumpeter, composed of 4 main
elements of the role of political parties:
Parties present programmes
Voters make an informed choice between competing
parties
The successful party puts its programme into practice
The governing party judged on its successes at the
next election
Adapted from Schumpeter, J.A. [1943] (1976), Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 5th Edition,
London, Allen & Unwin, quoted in Judge, D. & Earnshaw, D.,The European Parliament
4. The Institutions
Commission
Political futures do not depend on communication –
indeed quite the contrary?
Parliament
Second order national elections, often closed lists
Council / Member States
If the EU is a success, incentive to present that as a
national success
24. Inverted pyramid
Who? What?
When? Where?
Why? How?
Argument,
Controversy,
Story, Issue
Extra interesting
and related
items, context
The Lead
The Body
The Tail
25. Styles of writing (alternative)
• Problem – Cause – Solution
• Questions and answers? (and in a blog do
you even need to give the answers?
26. Length
• Too long is always too long
• Anything from a paragraph to an essay is
OK
• Make sure paragraphs are short (BBC
website example)
27. Links
• An asset – for understanding, and
boosting readership
• “You’ve done your research!”
• A distraction?
• A blog entry must be able to stand on its
own and make sense to a knowledgeable
reader without recourse to links
28. Images
• Can improve presentation of a blog entry,
break up text
• Pay attention to sourcing, and Creative
Commons License rules
ESSENTIALS:
1st person
Comments function
QUESTIONABLE:Paid to write?
Is it journalism?
Does it have to be chronological?
ESSENTIALS:
1st person
Comments function
QUESTIONABLE:Paid to write?
Is it journalism?
Does it have to be chronological?
Are you representing your organisation in social media? You as an employee of the organisation? You personally? You, privately or annonymously? Draw out these points here.
Builds on previous slide
Adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pyramid
Situation
These days, ’modern life’ can mean that we’re a lot less active. With so many opportunities to watch TV or play computer games, and with so much convenience and fast food available, we don’t move about as much, or eat as well as we used to.
Complication
9 out of 10 of our kids today could grow up with dangerous amounts of fat in their bodies. This can cause life-threatening diseases like cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Resolution
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Middle age comes to everyone – ‘middle aged spread’ doesn’t have to.
Action
Would you like loads of tips and help to make changes for a healthier future?
Politeness
You’ve taken the first step towards getting yourself or your kids eating well, moving more and living longer just by being here - so welcome to Change4Life!
Situation
Today’s spending review points to hard times ahead for people that rely on public service
Objective
We urge the Government to focus on tackling costly bureaucracy and poor standards of service rather than resort to hitting the vulnerable the hardest through rash spending cuts
Appraisal
We advise millions of people every year, who are often on very low incomes or rely on welfare benefits and public services. They told us that their top priorities for the spending review were simplification of welfare benefits, free to use government help lines and affordable housing.
Proposal
We welcome the announcement that the welfare benefits system will be simplified to make it easier to understand and navigate. In the meantime we urge the government to maintain and continue to improve service standards and ensure the new system is designed with the needs of service users in mind.
Comes from http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/12/31/diagram-how-the-air-force-response-to-blogs/ - could be used word for word for the Commission.
Hub and spoke approach. Again depends on time.
Are you representing your organisation in social media? You as an employee of the organisation? You personally? You, privately or annonymously? Draw out these points here.
Stats from Apr 2012 from http://checkfacebook.com/ and http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-facebook-vs-twitter-demographics-2010-2011/
Explain here: all accounts start equal, how tracking of users is complex.