Social Media in the European Institutions
Prof. Dr. Fernando ChecaEuro-Mediterranean University Institute
Universidad Complutense de [email protected]
Are we going to speak about this today...?
Or, better… ABOUT THIS???
In a complex World, in crisis, citizens feel more distant from the leading organizations
Political Changes….
"Hacktivism"
The New activism is directed to governments... worldwide
Arab Spring
Changes in arabs countries, so-called: Arab Spring
Main factor of communication: Facebook and Twitter
#15M: Spanish Revolution
• Before to the Spanish Local Elections, May 2011
• Movement #nolesvotes
• Citizens occupying Sol
• The result?
UsingTwitter in #15M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5w4amBIHj4&
But now… coming back to the Web… First... do you remember the past?
Some typical features of Web 1.0
•Read-only Web
•Search for information and read it
•Static pages and no user-generated content
•User as a passive participant (one-way flow of information)
Today, the "hype": Web 2.0/Social Media
Web 2.0, refers to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users
New Media: BE SOCIAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo
Web 2.0UE Web Site: 2011: http://europa.eu/index_en.htm
Social Media: Characteristics
• Users are creating and managing information
• Applications used through a Web browser
• Social-networking aspects
• A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface
Social Media Characteristics
• Access to info
• Add new content (knowledge, opinions, experiences)
• Share your things (photos, videos, writings, musics, etc)
• Control the info (delete, promote, correct or complete)
• Summing up (Recomend the best places to travel, the most interesting news, etc)
• Put your affaires online (tasks, meetings, list of books, gift lists, etc)
User is the Main Actor
Web 2.0: Blogs
Web + log = Blog
• Blogs are websites where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order
• You write everything you want (without specialized knowledge)
• You are connected with other people (blogosphere)
• Primary textual, but no restrictions (photo, video, audio, etc).
The Blogosphere and EU
• EU offers 13 institutional blogs
• All blogs under the EU umbrella stick to a similar design, they do not offer the usual design of a blog: access to blogroll linking with relevant content outside of the organisation
• http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/malmstrom/
Social Media: Photo/Video Sharing
• A photo/video sharing service allows individuals to upload photos and video clips to an Internet website.
• The photo/video host store files on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view your files.
• Using Web 2.0 features, one can be part of communities of users (inside a certain category for example), interact with other users, etc.
Four Main Accounts:
•European Parliament: http://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/
•European Council Presidency: http://www.flickr.com/photos/europeancouncil
•EU Social: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46889122@N03/
•European Commission: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eu_development
+ 5200 pictures shared:
EU on Flickr
UE: Flickr
EU on Youtube
3 Main Accounts:
• European Council Presidency : 500 videos
• European Parliament : 456 videos
• official account of the EU: 345 videos
+ 2,390 videos shared:
Reproduced over 20 million times
UE: Youtube
Social Media: Social Networks
• Social Networks are social structures made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are joined by one or more specific types of links, such as values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friendship, etc.
• Example: Facebook... Are there more...?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
EU on Facebook
• 75 Open Profiles
• High level of comments
• Medium level of “Likes”
• Few level of replies
http://www.facebook.com/europeanparliament
EU on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/EU.Careers.EPSO https://www.facebook.com/JerzyBuzek
EU on MySpace
• One Account
• “Hub” to other Social Networks
• Few level activity
http://www.myspace.com/europeanparliament
Social Media: Microblogging
• Twitter … is a service for friends, family, co-workers and organizations to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequently answers.
• Users can inform followers of their current work, research, interest, reading, website, browsing, etc.
• … is network formed around a shared interest.
EU on Twitter
• 86 Accounts
• More than 78,000 tweets
• Following: 19,000
• Followers: +226,000
http://tweetlevel.edelman.com/
EU on Twitter
http://twitter.com/#!/Europarl_EN
EU on Twitter
http://twitter.com/#!/eu_eeas
Conclusion
• The world changes every day faster and global citizens demands their voice could be listened
• The spread of technology leads to the "hacking" is closer to citizens' movements
• Some institutions are beginning to get closer to citizens using new forms of contact (Social Media)
• The EU has developed a large number of these initiatives
• It need greater interaction and increased transparency
And now... questions ?