PEACE SPEAK: Nine pointers for public sector social media when dealing with online snark or abuse 

Back in the olden days – 2008 – people didn’t shout so much on social media.

Heck, they were just amazed their council or wherever was using it. 

Then people got a bit testy and then during the pandemic they got full on sweary and abusive. I’ve a feeling that when the inflated gas and electric bills land it’ll get even worse. 

Here’s a round-up of some of the points made in the Public Sector Comms Headspace session on dealing with online snark. Thanks everyone who came or contributed.  

Have a set of social media house rules

Yes, this is the ditch I’ll die in. You need something to say what’s acceptable and what’s not. A line in the sand. Then you need to enforce it and tell people why you’ve enforced it. Give them a warning first if you like but don’t tolerate abuse, hate or racist comments. 

If you want a world-beating set of house rules than I commend the Glasgow City Council version. I also recommend you take a look at Wirral Council’s social media house rules too. For North East Ambulance Serrvice NHS Trust’s rules look here.

Don’t delete or hide comments without explanation

Once you’ve got your rules then use them. But explain how they are being used.

People eventually twig that they’ve had their views removed and can get even more testy. What’s more helpful if you explain the action taken and also the reason why. Having seen that done I’ve certainly seen the burst of warm feelings when it is done.

Support your staff because it’s the law

Support your staff. It’s a nice thing to do. They’ll come back to work again next day and anyway it’s the law.

The Health and Safety Executive guidance on this can be found here which covers violence in the workplace. In particular, the advice on verbal abuse which is classed as verbal abuse is particularly useful to quote verbatim. The HSE download on this is here. 

It’s okay for someone to have an opinion

There’s a difference between comment, criticism and abuse. It’s fine for people to criticise policy. We live in a democracy. I’ve blogged before on how putting reputation management before listening can be damaging. Care providers are now obliged to offer a duty of candour after problems at Mid Staffordshire Hospital were not spotted. This duty may be extended to the entire public sector.  

People not liking a policy is fine. People hurling abuse isn’t. 

It’s always worth challenging

The origin story for many of public sector media was the riots in 2011. An analysis of Twitter at the time showed how some key tweets ebbed and flowed. It also showed the importance of challenging misinformation through a trusted account. The Guardian and LSE produced some landmark research ‘Reading the Riots’ that showed that challenging them in public saw the impact diminish.

Post something contentious when you’re around

Several years ago I remember Aly from Coventry City Council saying that posting about the Pope’s visit at 5pm on a Friday and then going home maybe wasn’t the best idea. When she returned on Monday morning was hundreds of comments playing out a religious flamewar better suited to the 17th century.

Someone made the point in the Headspace session. Don’t post something that you know may be contentious without you being around to keep an eye on the comments. 

It’s always worth challenging over and over 

Every year the urban myth gets repeated that Cadbury’s have banned the word ‘Easter’ from their eggs for fear of offending muslims. They haven’t. But someone challenges this about 350 times a day. If they haven’t, they’d be 35,000 false comments.

People don’t tend to shout at real people

It’s a good tip. A real person – a resident – talking about something doesn’t attract the same attention as a bland corporate announcement. So, include real people in your content. Employes talking about their job also works, too.  

You don’t have to put up with someone swearing at you

Loop back to the social media guidelines. If you’re telling people that you’ll not tolerate racism or being sworn at then after a warning ban them. Just as you’d be banned if up behaved like that in my local Post Office. You deserve to be able to do your job without being the target of abuse. 

SHOT LIST: How to draw-up your own video style guide

The argument for shooting, editing and posting your own content is well and truly won. But how should it look? 

There’s a few things to consider when you are drawing up a video strategy for your organisation. Content would be one. A style guide would be another once you’ve got some confidence.

This would dictate things like the typeface you’d use and maybe where your logo sits.

You are probably used to using brand guidelines in marketing and print. What you do with video needn’t feel as onerous but some basic pointers will make your collective output look much better.

Here are some things to think about. You can use as much or as little as you like with this. Certainly, as an extra task it’s going to add some time onto the end of your workflow but you need to ask yourself if the process adds any or takes away.

Certainly, there’s sometimes where speed is of the essence.In that case maybe it can all go to the wall. It’s up to you. 

The steps here aren’t that hard and can be replicated using a smartphone and an editing app. I’ve used Kinemaster here.  

I’ve editing some editing points in italics showing you the steps I took. 

Video isn’t print

First things first. Breaking news: video isn’t print. The idea of picking up your brand guidelines and dropping them lock stock and barrel into video is a really, really bad one for me. What’s been developed for print works best in print.

The NHS brand, for example, is a thing of wonder with a clear typeface that directs people around the hospital. It immediately reassures people that they’re getting health information. But a sign isn’t video.

For me, the starting point may be your brand guidelines but you’ll need to start with a spirit of flexibility. BBC News on TikTok, for example, has some broad pointers that identify it as BBC but it doesn’t drop in the opening music of a news bulletin, for example.   

A typeface

Video editing tools give a variety of different typefaces. If you’re using something like Kinemaster you’ll get some free. If you upgrade to Pro you’ll get access to plenty more which is where the value of Pro pays dividends.  

If you’ve got a font you use but you’re maybe not clear on what the font is called there’s a great website called whatthefontis.com. Drag and drop a piece of content and it’ll tell you what the font is and a number of close matches. Then look for the matching font that’s available to you in the video editing app.

Making your typeface work

Once you’ve got your typeface you’ll need to think of a size for the title, maybe you’ll need to use the editing tool to create an outline for the title to make it stand out. 

A title

You’ll maybe think of how you’d like titles to appear and depart the screen. Using an editing app it’s very easy to create an in-animation and an out-animation. Fade is a pretty standard one but having one makes your content look that bit better.

Here’s a title created using Kinemaster Pro and uses Plus Jakarta Sans Bold downloaded from the shop. 

Text on screen 

This is the part where you want to tell the story using text on the screen maybe with some supporting footage. 

This uses Plus Jakarta Sans Bold.

A caption 

This is the additional information that maybe shows the name and the job title of the individual in question. It’s sometimes know as a lower third. What would you like your template to look like? You may want this to be part of the family of typefaces you’re using for the title. 

I’ve created two separate lines. For the first one, the name, I’ve created a text layer, enabled background colour, changed the colour to red, changed opacity to 100 per cent. This creates a solid block of colour. If I wanted it to be really opaque as a background I may knock this down to something like 30 per cent.  I’ve used Plus Jakarta Sans Extra Bold. The default text colour is white. I’ve then duplicated this to create a second text box. I’cve switched the typeface to Plus Jakarta Sans Light. I’ve changed the colour of this second textbox to red and I’ve changed the background to white. In other words I’ve flipped it round entirely.  

A sub-title

This is the accessibility-friendly part of the video where you’re adding the what the person on screen or voice is saying.  

There’s two ways of doing this. Yes, you can do this on Kinemaster. Yes, you have to do it letter by letter. No, there’s no shortcut. I’ve changed the typeface here to Plus Jakarta Sans Extra Light. It’s part of the Plus Jakarta family of fonts I’ve downloaded but it’s lighter so more suited to a sub-titling role.  

A logo

You may be watching something like Al Jazeera English and you’ll see a logo in the top left or maybe top right corner of the screen. This is really useful as it reminds the viewer the source of the information. It plays a supporting but helpful role.  

Here I’ve emailed myself the logo and I’ve added it as a media layer. I’ve changed opacity to 75 per cent. Feel free to experiment with your own. My own logo is white text on an orange background. You may feel that white is less obtrusive. Go with what works for you.  

A style guide

All of this builds up a style guide. Mine may look like this…

Title: Plus Jakarta Bold with fade for in and out animations.

Caption: Plus Jakarta Sans Extra Bold for the name and Plus Jakarta Sans Light for the job title.

Sub-title: Plus Jakarta Sans Extra Light 

Logo: Orange logo top left corner at 75 per cent opacity. 

You may want to add to it as you go along using this as a starting point. Maybe your style guide may include something like resolves – how each clips bleeds into each other – or other things. That’s all fine.

Remember that all these things are part of the language of film. It’s fine to play around with them from time to time.

The bottom line is with a bit of teaching being able to do this isn’t hard. The results outweigh the effort you put in. 
For more on video, I deliver ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED on planning, editing, and posting video. You can find out more here. I also deliver ESSENTIAL PORTRAIT VIDEO FOR TIKTOK & REELS. More on that here. 

30 days of human comms #81 A judge’s family court letter to children

It’s been a while since I blogged an example of human comms.

This examople comes not from public relations but from a Judge. A judge in the Family Court.

I’m grateful to Gareth Nicholson for posting this letter to LinkedIn.

It’s a beautiful example of how to write with an audience in mind. The audience here are two children who are the subject of a contested custody case.

In it, the Judge tells the children that he’s told their parents to ‘cut the crap’. But its not such a direct phrase that makes it stand out. It summarises the arguments for and against and sets out a decision.

I love it. If a Judge can speak clearly then what’s your excuse?

Scroll down for the full text.

The full text is here…

RECORDER JOHN MCKENDRICK QC

CENTRAL FAMILY COURT

LONDON

30 August 2022

Dear [A] and [B],

My name is John and I am a judge. I met your Mum and Dad at court in London last week. Your mum and dad have asked me to make decisions for you both about where you should live.

Your Mum asked me to decide that you should both come and live with her in Somerset and see your Dad only every second weekend and at holidays. Mum wants you to go to schools in Somerset.

Your Dad asked me to decide that things should stay as they are. That you spend one week with him and the other week with your Mum in London. Dad wants you to go to schools in London.

I think you met a lady called Shelley in July and you told her what you wanted. She told me you both liked the idea of living with your Mum in Somerset. Shelley spoke to me as well last week.

I hope you both understand that I have made the decision and not your Mum or your Dad. Judges sometimes have to make decisions when parents cannot agree.

I have decided you should both continue to live in London with one week in the care of your Dad and then one week in the care of your mum. This means you will both go to school in London from next week. I have decided you should have nice holidays in Somerset and I will speak with your Mum and Dad again to sort that out.

I have made this decision after considering who you both are, what you both need and things like your education, happiness and your welfare. I have decided you need each other – I think you are good brothers to each other. I also think you need to spend time with your Mum and with your Dad. They both need to play an important role in caring for you. I was worried your Dad might not have a full and proper role in your lives if you lived in Somerset. Looking at all these things in the round I felt this was the best decision for your both, although of course I considered what you both wanted.

I have also asked your Mum and Dad to behave a bit better. I know you both find the arguing that happens between them difficult. Although it is a naughty word, [A], you are right to describe it to Shelley as “crap”. I have told your parents to stop “the crap”.

I hope you can both settle down with the new school term with week about with Mum and Dad in your London homes. I hope you will enjoy nice holidays in Somerset. I wish you both good luck.

Judge John

FUTURE PROOF: So, where’s public sector social media right now in 2023?

If you were to take a few minutes to think about where social media is in the public sector is right now, what would you say?

What would your first reaction be as a communicator be? Excitement at the possibility ahead of you? Or weariness at the reality you’ve been faced with? Maybe anger at your council who won’t reply to messages online? 

That’s the broad question I’ve been reflecting on this week prompted by Glasgow City Council’s Vicky Kerr in her session for the Public Sector Comms Headspace Facebook group.

As someone who has worked in the field, I’m not entirely sure that I like the answer that presents itself.

In short, public sector social media has evolved at times from being an exciting innovative field to at times being a leaking sewage pipe on the cramped wall of a North Sea submarine. It pumps effluent into the room and doesn’t appear to help.

It’s the place where people complain, shout and abuse people, isn’t it? 

Yet, it needn’t always be so. 

The days of militant optimism

In 2008, when I first got involved with public social media it was a time of excitement at the possibility. I worked under the radar to develop new ideas inspired by people like Sarah in Derbyshire,. Carl in Devon and Al in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We connected through Twitter and we shared ideas and encouragement. We were a growing band. A force for good.    

Ohio State Professor Everitt Rogers in 1962 mapped the innovation adoption curve. It applies in so many places and its language has entered the dictionary. The first 2.5 per cent are the innovators who would take the risks and work out how things could work. Early adopters came next, the academic said. Theis group makes up 13.5 per cent but are quick to see the possibility. Then come the early and then late majority then the laggards. 

In 2013, I wrote and researched a whitepaper called West by West Midlands where we looked at social media innovation across the wider West Midlands. You can still find it online here. It’s an optimistic work. It brought together innovators and early adopters like fellow Kate Bentham in Shrophsire, Geoff Coleman in Birmingham and Pete Jackson at the IEWM. We all subscribed to the movement of militant optimism that we would do good things despite everything. It was better back then to seek forgiveness if things went wrong rather than permission. 

Reading it now it feels lille a bulletin from another era. But I’m also reminded of a line from Dave Briggs who did some really important early work in the field back then. “It’s when these channels get boring,” he said, “is when it gets most interesting.”

He was right. The novelty of using live streaming or ebooks takes you so far. The real value is when people get used to it.

The days of change

All this brings me to today.

I’ve a feeling people at the coal face feel that social media is an extra burden. It’s a must have rather than a nice to have but too often its a source of annoyance and inconvenience. People are fed-up at the algorithm switches.  Just put it on Facebook, people are told. Then we can tick the box and move on. 

Then there’s Twitter which many think is locked in irreversible decline the plaything of a billionaire who keeps making wilfully bad decisions.

The tone has changed on social media. Maybe it was the pandemic or perhaps the signs were there before. Global trends have certainly shifted away from the open town square to safer spaces. 

The militant optimist still sees how social media can be a powerful way to reach people. More than 80 per cent of UK people have at least one profile. Half of time spent on the UK’s largest channel Facebook is spent watching video. The average TikTok user spends 29 minutes a day scrolling and watching. The user data has never been better. 

Yet, all this blizzard of data and numbers can be blinding.

Academics speak of the sensation of ‘heart sinkage’ amongst junior doctors when they are faced with family who expect miracles when the loved one is ill. That’s a sensation familiar, I’m sure to the comms person who posts the update and is greeted within a bin query. 

In the pandemic, public sector social communications helped the Government and NHS keep people safe, got them jabbed and through the worst of it. Social media played such an important role in this. Some content was good and some was bad. On balance it worked.

That’s important to remember. 

SOCIAL MEDIA REVIEW: Using radio station data in your review

I blogged a short while ago about the importance of running a social media review. One thing to do while doing this is to look at radio data, too.

Ofton radio stations are not juist a radio station but they’ve also got a social media footprint, too.

A key tool in assessing the importance of a radio station are RAJAR figures. You can find 2022’s 4th quarter figures here for example.

Local to me is BBC Radio WM, for example. In an area where 2.3 million live they reach 239,000 or 10 per cent of the population.

That’s great for listeners but they also have a Facebook page here with 49,000 likes. Scroll through and tyou’ll see the kind of content that they’ll post. Here, there’s 23 Facebook updates in seven days. That’s roughly three a day. Way behind something like the Birmingham Post & Mail – or Birmingham Live online – who post up to 60 times a day. Much of WM’s content cross promotes what is on BBC Sounds, rather than fresh news. As a comms person, I’d place them on the map online but I’d be keener to influence the radio schedule.

But who is the audience? For BBC Local Radio 58 per cent are aged over 55. That can really help you pin down not just the radio station’s audience but the potential audience you can tap into.

Always, look at things afresh rather than do things because you’ve always done it.

For more information about SOCIAL MEDIA REVIEWS head here.

CHANNEL DATA: UK TikTok user stats for 2023

There comes a point where the stats become so compelling the argument for using a channel is easier than against.

That’s certainly the case for TikTok in the UK which has broken out from being a hot platform for young people to a hot platform for more demographics.

Ofcom data show that 23.3 million people in the UK are using the platform.

But for me, it’s the demographics that are most interesting.

For under 24s, 75 per cent are using TikTok in the UK. That’s a huge chunk of people.

For 25 to 34-year-olds, there’s a majority of people using it.

The buy-in falls to just over a third for 35 to 44-year-olds and a quarter of 45 to 54-year-olds.

It’s only when over 55s come into the equation that the user numbers fall.

TikTok is a channel that has become a real contender to reach people but it’s a channel that’s unique.

The advice ‘Don’t make a video, make a TikTok is good.’ You need to make something for the channel rather than shoehorning stuff to tick a box.

You can find out more about the ESSENTIAL TIKTOK & REELS workshop and sign-up here.

HEADSPACE: Announcing lunchtime sessions

Here’s a thing for your calendar. Some lunchtime sessions for members of the Public Sector Comms Headspace Facebook group.

The group has now passed 7,000 members which is fantastic to see. 

The job of communicating is hard but you’ll be surprised how many people are in the same boat.

The lunchtime sessions are a chance to tune in, switch on, stick your cameras on and contribute. 

We ran some sessions last year on unconference principles. We have someone to start the discussion but people are encouraged to chip in. 

To be a member of the group you need to be in-house public sector and we hold the door open for third sector, further and higher education. You can join here. 

It’s a group I’m proud to be involved with. I know my co-admin Leanne Hughes and David Grindlay are proud to be involved too. 

Before anyone asks, we don’t record the sessions because we think it inhibits debate.   

Here’s a list of the sessions. More to be added. 

8.2.23 12pm-12.40pm FUTURE OF PUBLIC SECTOR SOCIAL MEDIA (with Victoria Kerr of Glasgow City Council)

Link: https://fb.me/e/3xQGbFByR

17.2.23 12pm – 12.45pm HOW TO DEAL WITH ONLINE SNARK (Freelancer and Headspace co-admin Dan Slee) 

Link: https://fb.me/e/4eellckvs

22.2.23 12pm – 12.45pm INTERNAL COMMS: LOW BUDGET, BIG IDEAS (Josephine Graham of Bradford City Council) 

https://fb.me/e/faUBUyfOQ

7.3.23 12pm – 12.45pm HOW TO DO YOUTH ENGAGEMENT THAT WORKS (Leanne Hughes, NHS) 

https://fb.me/e/8iw4AhTtg

28.3.23 12pm – 12.45pm PUBLIC SECTOR COMMS CRISIS COMMS TIPS (Freelancer Amanda Coleman) 

https://fb.me/e/7nXMNNxME

Hope to see you there.

SWITCHED ON: A basic guide on how to run a live broadcast on social media

Live video is very much a thing yet it surprises me how it’s often not part of the comms tool box.

If you’re making data-led decisions then live needs to be part of the mix.

Here’s some fresh Ofcom data around who is using live and in what channel.

If you think live is just the arena of young people you’d be very wrong.

Who uses what

The broad figures from Ofcom are really useful in decision making. The only complaint I’d make is that LinkedIn is very much part of the live video mix which the regulator’s snapshot misses out on.

Leaving the LinkedIn issue aside, 16-24-year-olds are the heaviest users with more than half regularly watching YouTube and TikTok lives narrowly beating Instagram as their favoured platform.

For 25 to 34, around half regularly watch Instagram and YouTube lives and as you reach the over 45s, around third of 45-year-olds are regularly watching Facebook lives falling to a quarter as you reach 55-year-olds.

Live video stops being a meaningful proposition to over 65s.

How do you choose a channel for live video?

The data around who uses what is your starting point. If your audience is on Facebook then head to Facebook. If you’re looking to reach a younger audience then look to use something like Instagram or TikTok. If you’re looking to reach a professional audience then head to LinkedIn.

How do you plan it?

You need to plan out a rough shape for the broadcast – and yes, lets call it by the right term – and you need to shout about it in advance so people can head to that spot at that time. There’s things to do afterwards but we’ll save that for a second.

The plan needs to be who is taking part, what ground and what you’ll cover in what order.

It’s also a good idea to think of some questions to get the ball rolling in the first few minutes of the broadcast.

During the planning stage, there’s a couple of other things to think about. The BBC have good guidance on what they plan for for live broadcasts. Included is being aware of strong language and stage invasions. That’s certainly something to be aware of. Start a live broadcast in the middle of Pride and the chances are someone will shout something. So, think about where you film it.

Have a plan for if something goes wrong. I’d say switch it off.

You’ll also need to be aware of GDPR. You need contributor’s permission. They’ll also need to be aware its live.

Whatever you do, run a test beforehand and if the participants aren’t used to live broadcasts this will be especially beneficial. You can test the tech, too.

Lastly, have someone in your corner, too. That’s someone from the team who can keep an eye on the broadcast and can WhatsApp you if there’s a problem. If you do that, keep your device with WhatsApp near.

What tech should I use?

You can use a smartphone or a tablet. It’s certainly authentic. But if its more than just you I’d look at something like Streamyard. This is a tool that can plug into your platform and you can broadcast using it. All you need is a webcam and you can invite guests to join from their webcam too. You can add titles, have a ticker running along the bottom and you can pull in questions from the platform while ignoring others. Its a real game changer.

Not only is Streamyard a handy platform but there’s a free version and you can run it with Facebook groups and pages, LinkedIn profiles and pages, YouTube and Twitter. There’s a pro version for more functionality.

How do you get an audience?

Shout. Tell people about it beforehand not just on the channel but in every way possible online and offline. If you’re looking to run an explainer on how to apply for your child’s senior school place then tell people and signpost people towards you ahead of time.

Create an event if you’re able on the platform in question.

What to do when you’re live?

When you go live leave a bit of a buffer. You press the button it’ll take a few seconds for the stream to work. It’s one of the reason I like Streamyard because it gives a 30-second countdown clock at the start.

There’s a few basic tricks the presenter can think about.

Welcome people.

Acknowledge a cross section people when they join.

Ask them to say where they are watching from.

Ask them to ask a question in the comments

Sell forward. Say what you are heading to and sell your sword of Damocles.

How do you end it?

Thank people and then end the broadcast. From experience switching to a short piece of footage is useful as there’s a few seconds of uncertainty.

Then what?

Once you’ve executed the broadcast, make the most of it. Facebook say that seven times as many people often come back and watch the live broadcast if its available than those who saw it live. People are busy so that makes sense.
Facebook gives the ability to re-post the live video. If you can, do it. Then embed the broadcast on a relevant webpage.

I hope you found the post useful. Live video is included in my ESSENTIAL VIDEO SAKILLS REBOOTED workshop. For more information head here.

NEWS AGENTS: How to get local media coverage in 2023

I often find myself reaching these days for a film quote to sum up a tricky scenario.

I have a whole lexicon of well-worn cinematic phrases to celebrate the good, the life or death and call out the awkward.

One in particular phrase I’ve been using quite a lot of late.

“Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

It’s a homely pair of slippers of a line. It’s from 1939 Oscar-winning movie ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ A timeless phrase said by the character of Dorothy who has just been swept up by a tornado and plonked down with her dog in a different world.

This week, I saw a hugely helpful webinar organised by the Midlands CIPR ‘Meet the Media.’ Two senior editors from Reach plc’s regional titles Graeme Brown and Natalie Fahy joined the UK Press Gazette’s Charlotte Tobbitt.

I started in newspapers when they were print-led and the main show in town. In 2023, they have truly evolved. No longer calling themselves ‘newspapers’ they are news brands who have a print offering but also are online and available via a website, email, Facebook and TikTok.

If news is breaking they want to be online within minutes. The idea that people will wait until 4pm tomorrow for the next edition to come out is as obsolete as silent movies.

Newsbrands have content editors, agenda writers and data analysts.

To an ex-journo like me Truly, Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.     

Here’s a summary of the advice…

News brands are not papers of record anymore

The paper I worked on sent a reporter to every council meeting and went to every court and inquest every day. That simply doesn’t happen anymore. There isn’t the resource or the interest. The public sector, therefore, can’t commend an expectation of coverage. It has to be earned.

News brands are digital first 

This is not new but it bears repeating. In the riots in 2011, my local paper couldn’t tell their stories until the next day. That wouldn’t happen today. It would be straight on the website and across social media. 

News brands are driven by data

A few years ago, I heard a Reach plc person talk about how some content in the print edition may have been read by almost nobody but it was impossible to tell because there was no Google Analytics for page six of the paper. Insight now drives what stories are covered. In basic terms, if there are clicks in it there’s more chance of coverage.

News brands are worried about news avoidance

Avoiding the news is an active lifestyle decision for many people. Let’s face it the news has been pretty rubbish for more than a decade. We’ve had austerity then we had COVID. Then we had three Prime Ministers in a few months and war in Ukraine. It’s enough to make anyone stop wanting to go out to the paper shop and buy a 50 page edition and pay through the nose.  

News brands are defensive about ‘clickbait’ 

One criticism that was brushed off was that news brands use clickbait and plenty of it. ‘Click bait’ they maintain is a headline that doesn’t marry up with the story. I can see this argument. I think the criticism goes deeper than that. I think of the nine stories in 24-hours on Birmingham Live when Phil and Holly jumped the queue at the Queen’s Lying in State at Westminster Hall. That nudging forward of the story may not fulfill that definition of clickbait, sure. But this is not the local news content that people have grown to expect from local newspapers. I don’t think journalists can  

News brands don’t need PR people to fill space anymore

As newsbrands are heading to be digital first there’s less opportunity to fill column inches with content that isn’t all that. Which begs the question about what is wanted. ‘Don’t tell us, show us,’ is one approach.

Reach plc titles are ‘proudly mainstream’

The audience for local news, Reach say, is mainstream. So much so that ‘proudly mainstream’ is a slogan amongst the editorial hierarchy. This means they’ll be keener on content that works in the mainstream rather than something niche. 

What content works #1: Don’t tell us, show us

This is fascinating. One of the Reach plc people spoke about how in the olden days an inflation rate announcement would have made a page lead in the business-focussed Birmingham Post. They don’t do that anymore. Instead, they’ll cover the story by sending someone out to buy a basket of supermarket goods and tell the story through the 3p on a pint of milk.

Apply that ‘don’t tell us show us’ approach elsewhere the grant for the football team isn’t words but images, footage and quotes of the kids playing with the news goals in their new kit. In itself, this isn’t new. Back in the day, this would be gold standard. Now, gold standard is more minimum standard.

What content works: #2 building a relationship with reporters

Hearteningly, the personal relationship is just as important as it ever was, the session said. I always found relationships with reporters a fine balance of fear and ego. Fear, because as a reporter you didn’t want to miss out on something. Ego because every reporter wanted the front page or a byline. That’s the public credit for a piece of work.

Interestingly, the feedback from the news profession was that they are more likely to listen to someone they have a relationship with on the issue of a representation for more time to pull together a statement. That certainly chimes with the old ways of doing things.   

What content works: #2 building a relationship with Local Democracy Reporters

The BBC scheme sees 165 reporters working to help fill the gaps left by declining news rooms. Their brief is to work more off diary and steer away from press releases. This is potentially rich ground for the public sector.  

What content works #3 Solutions journalism

This was really interesting. What’s meant by this is that newspapers – sod it, I’m calling them that – are looking at the issue but also ways to solve it. So, worried about fuel bills at winter? Here’s what you can do to save money. That’s a really interesting take.

What content works: Useful things for people to do

This is something the public sector can really excel at. 

News brands are reversing from Facebook towards email newsletters

Facebook has announced its intentions to move away from news. No doubt in part because of demands from news brands that their content deserves paying. Facebook have already closed down their journalism projects in a clear sign the romance is dead. The clock is very much ticking on news on Facebook. 

Interestingly, they also have a clear view of their audience on Facebook. It’s female and aged around 40. 

One place news companies are looking at in more detail is email newsletters. In the West Midlands, Reach now have more than 40 newsletters people can sign up to. Certainly, email lists means that they are not at the whims of a tech company’s algorithm. That’s not just important for comms people to know as its illustrative of how people consume news. It’s also potentially a direction of travel for the public sector’s own.

Sport is a separate thing 

Sport is ‘content vertical’ at Reach plc. This means that sport reporters in Stoke report to regional sport editors rather than the Sentinel and Staffordshire Life editorial team. This is itself doesn’t mean much to public sector comms people. It is, however, interesting to see how sport spins off from the news Facebook pages. So, there’s a Manchester Evening News Facebook page with a million and a million following their Manchester City coverage on a dedicated page and another million following Manchester United.

There is so much change and it’s fascinating to watch.

LAW CHANGE: Public sector comms people: the Online Safety Bill could be your friend

If you’re in any doubt as to the impact of monitoring social media have a word with someone who does it for the public sector.

They’ll see the benefit but they’ll also tell you about the horrendous abuse it can attract.

It’s certainly a problem. In late 2022, 47 per cent of the 300 public sector comms people I surveyed said that they saw verbal abuse or threats weekly and 7 per cent saw racist abuse every week. They’re appalling statistics.

That’s why the UK Government’s Online Safety Bill could be one of the most important pieces of legislation for them for several years.

A disclaimer. This isn’t legal advice. Talk to David Banks if you need that. But looking through the terms of the bill travelling through Parliament there is plenty to help public sector comms people.

In this post I’ll take you through the salient points and especially the protections the bill can offer. Yes, there was existing legislation. But what this does is create a series of fresh tools the beleagered comms person can use.

I’ll go through the most helpful parts of the legislation for you.

Protections for public sector comms

This is big chunk of legislation that will gladden the hearts of public sector comms people who are fed-up of being threatened.

Basically, section 160 of the act says that people break the law if they post something knowing it to be false or to cause ‘non-trivial’ psychological harm or physical harm and is likely to see the message.

However, there’s a cut-off point. You can’t prosecute if the issue happened more than three years ago. There’s also an exemption for recognised broadcasters and news publishers. The definitions of this are pretty tight so it excludes the kind of right wing shock jocks that tend to get banned from social media platforms.

Under section 162 of the proposed act, a threat of death, a rape threat, grevious bodily harm or the threat of financial loss.

There are a variety of penalties with the maximum being five years for the worst offences.

The rest of the act

There are other areas to the act. There’s plenty there that covers sending pictures of genitals or threatening to. There’s a lot about the responsibility on social media companies to act.

There’s more emphasis on social media companies to act on reports of harmful content and there’s more wide-ranging power for Ofcom to intervene.

How to use the act

If you work in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, this is something to pay attention to. Scotland isn’t by and large covered by this although bits of tidying up are.

Knowing the terms of the act is useful for frontline public facing comms people so they understand what protections they have.

Responsible heads of comms and managers need to know about the act so they understand what protections their teams can expect.

Aside from the comms team, this is also relevant for the comms team to know about so they can advise the under-fire chief executive or senior officer.

Finally, a working knowledge of the act will be useful in potentially raising the issue with your legal department. It’s quite possible that the duty solicitor responding to that out-of-hours email may be a conveyancing solicitor by day so sliding the act across to them tells them that you know what you’re talking about.

Having looked after social media accounts in the public sector I sympathise with people who switch on knowing they are likely to receive abuse of some sort. I’ve blogged about it many times before. It’s so important that the organisation stands up for its staff. This act is a clear line in the sand.