Here’s a question. If social media is generating more hate and abuse than ever what can public sector comms people do about it?
It’s an issue that goes right to the heart of communicating.
Three quarters of people get news online.
If the public sector can’t navigate these stormy waters safely we are all in trouble.
In this post I’ll go through some tips and strategies that a responsible organisation needs to take into account.
Is online hate a problem?
Yes, it is a problem. A straw poll of members of the Public Sector Comms Headspace Facebook group showed 83 per cent seeing an increase in abuse and racism over the last three months.
This has an impact.
In the last CIPR mental health audit, 91 per cent of members experienced some kind of mental health issue in the previous 12-months. Opening up a laptop and seeing hate may have been a factor for some of those.
Indeed, you don’t have to travel far to see this.
A quick search for London Mayor Sadiq Khan on X while writing this showed four pieces of disinformation in the ten latest tweets. But beyond that the figures aren’t great. In the UK, 97 percent of complaints to X about Muslim abuse have not been followed up, according to the Center for Counting Digital Hate. The same body also found evidence of anti-semitism in a related study.
Sky News’ inve
So what can you do?
Not post? Anecdotally, I’m also hearing of organisations not posting about certain issues like Black History Month or Pride to avoid the risk of abuse.
While I can sympathise with this, this is allowing people on the margins to dictate what you can and can’t talk about. That can’t be a strategy.
Leave the platform? While I can sympathise with organisations who have left X the aftermath of the Liverpool trophy parade showed the importance of maintaining a presence on the platform. I’ve blogged before how Merseyside Police used X to share updates aimed at undermining far right disinformation. Their tweets were amplified by every major news outlet in the UK drowning out the bad actors. Dial back but don’t check out would be a sensible strategy there.
Time a post? I first came across the idea of posting at certain times of day when I was researching elected members and Twitter as it was then called. ‘Don’t expect sensible debate after 9pm on a Friday,’ one elected member said. That stuck with me. So, if its controversial, posting something mid-morning to side-step some of this. You are also likely to be online to monitor comments.
Have a plan? This is where the Army adage of fail to prepare and prepare to fail comes in.
So what can you do?
Have a plan to combat abuse online
Here are some pointers.
You are obliged to have a plan. The Health and Safety Executive requires that you have a plan to protect staff from violence in the workplace. Abuse is classed as exactly that. Violence in the workplace. You need to have a set of standards for workplace behahiour. This is where the house rules come in.
But don’t tolerate abuse. I have banged on about the need for social media house rules more than anything else. This does two things. What you’ll do for residents with social media and in return setting a standard of behaviour. Have within those house rules that you won’t tolerate abuse, racism, homophobia, anti-semitism and other objectionable ways to behave.
Criticism of policy is fine… listen to it. It’s fine for people not to be very happy with that planning application, those NHS waiting lists, that crime or the coverage of that fire station. This is democracy. Your social media should be the canary in the mine for issues. Every place I’ve ever worked has made three types of decision, broadly. Good decisions, good decisions poorly explained and bad decisions. It’s your job to report back a flavour of that feedback.
But block those who won’t stick to the rules. If you go to your local shop and you abuse members of staff, the company and other shoppers you’d expect to be barred and the police be called if you persist. This should also happen online. Take a screen shot of the offending evidence and make a note of the person who has been blocked and why. They can still contact your organisation through the phone, by post, email and face-to-face. Your staff deserve to be protected.
Get prepared when there’s an issue. Remembrance Sunday, Easter, Christmas, Black History Month, Pride, Hanukkah and other religious festivals can bring the worst offenders out. So, come up with some bullet points on how to handle these comments. Abuse? Block. But there’s also other ways.
Push back to educate . Tell the cynic why you are posting about Black History Month and maybe the important role people with an Afro-Caribbean background have played in your community. Often, other users of your site will thank you. But try and avoid a ‘he said, she said’ running argument.
Switch off comments. On some issues people like the Mayor of London’s office just switch off comments. On those hot topic issues this is a sensible idea.
Don’t say it’s getting to you. All this does is encourage people. I’ve seen some great campaigns while using London Underground to ask people not to abuse staff. Blowing a gasket at a delay at London Euston is totally different to a co-ordinated campaign run by racists.
A rough graphic
Here’s a rough graphic based on this blogpost.
What have I missed out?
Do let me know in the comments.
Creative commons credit: Edelmaus Banksy Munchen.
