Open Eye:Chat

Police use of Web 2.0

I had an interesting meeting with Rick Muir at the Institute for Public Policy Research this week.

Rick is a Senior Research Fellow on the Democracy and Power Team at the ippr. They are currently doing a piece of work for the NPIA called policing 2.0  (which is essentially exploring the impact and uses of web 2.0 technologies in the police service).

Rick is trying to establish what has been, and is being, done so far (for example: use of online tools for police-to-citizen, citizen-to-citizen and officer-to-officer collaboration in crime reduction).

I have highlighted a number of things being done in places like Cumbria, North Northants BCU, Nottingham City BCU, Hull, GMP and West Midlands and have discussed some of the people and units using services such as Twitter, but, if you're doing good things and striding boldly into the use of 2.0 technologies, then I would encourage you to contribute to the report and contact Rick directly (please let me know too ! twitter.com/openeyecomms).

Rick can be reached through the ippr switchboard at 020 7470 6100 or directly on Twitter at twitter.com/rickmuir77

Twitter, neglect and work

The last few weeks have been exceptionally busy.

There, that's the excuse. Got it out right at the start. No hiding. Exceptionally busy is code for: I've been neglecting this blog. I know it. Worse still, you know it and you've been pretty articulate about pointing it out to me.

However, for every downside there's an upside and my lack of blog activity has given me time for reflection about the mechanics of how I communicate (is shouting willy nilly into the blogosphere communicating?) and why.

The essence of a good blog is a personal conversation with many. Blogging allows a considered expression of a point of view. Space is unrestricted and the content inhibited only by the writers skill and imagination. It's the conversation bit that is the important factor here, or rather the pace of the conversation.

We live in a fast moving world, with 'always on' internet and a plethora of ways to 'chat' in real time. We've become used to the 'now' world and the new speed of the conversation, it's seductive and somehow gratifying, it provides a sense of connectedness. Blogging, particularly in the police environment where most colleagues still prefer their blog feed by email, is less immediate, more write and wait than type and 'talk'.

So, what are the implications for the way that I communicate (and possibly for the way that colleagues around the service use the new mediums) ?

A coherent and cognitive approach to integration seems to be the way forward, a blended approach across the various mediums and platforms. Many of you will know that I use Twitter quite extensively (follow me at www.twitter.com/openeyecomms ). Twitter provides a great place to highlight bite sized bits of information, little 'did you know's', current and developing events of significance. I allows me to provide a stream of relevant news about my particular field, quickly and easily. To stay connected to my audience, to show relevance and to add value. See it, appreciate it's relevance, tweet it.

However, where I have probably fallen down is using Twitter not just for the immediate, but in using it to place signposts to my wider writings and to my training and consultancy work. To such things as this blog. In short I've been lazy. Twitter is quick and easy. Writing this takes thought (oh yes it does!).

So. That's it. Mea Culpa. But now I'm cured.

Question is, how are you using the new mediums ? Are you just broadcasting. Shouting with intent? Or is your Twitter feed (you do have a Force/ Dept/Neighbourhood Team/ Specific topic or initiative Twitter feed don't you...) cognitively serving more than one purpose ? Is it linked to your other mediums and platforms ? Are the feeds targeted at specific key 'confidence' groups or issues ?

Twitter is becoming a tool that is increasingly being used by police departments, forces and units. In my next post I will try and provide an overview of some of the forces that are using Twitter and how they are using it. I will also highlight some of the colleagues who are actively using Twitter. I monitor quite a few of them, but if you know of any force/department/unit or colleague that is using Twitter, I would be grateful for an email (or a direct message to my Twitter feed). I would particularly like to hear about any mainland Europe cops that are using Twitter (forward this post to your mainland European colleagues).

Meanwhile, go check out CopTweet: the place where cops meet and tweet.

Check out CopTweet. The place for cops to meet and tweet.

Ok. Here's the deal.

I'm launching a new website. Not surprisingly given my own police background, it's aimed at law enforcement colleagues around the world and it's called CopTweet. You can view the site at www.coptweet.com

The idea is that if you are a serving or retired cop that uses Twitter, someone who is actively involved in the wider policing family, or the administrator of a police force, unit or department that uses Twitter, then CopTweet is for you.

CopTweet provides a single place for cops, and people involved in policing, to see what is going on in the world of cops and police departments that tweet. My hope is that CopTweet will become 'the place for cops to meet and tweet'.

How to use CopTweet

Simply enter your email address, choose a password, register your Twitter feed and you're done. Your tweets will show in the rolling list on the 'latest tweets' page and colleagues around the world can see what your bit of policing looks like, what your issues are, and the policing things that are holding your attention. Simple huh !

Now to your bit.

Before I start publicising the site in earnest, I would be grateful if you would test it for me, so that any usability issues are ironed out.

Simply enter your email address, choose a password, register your Twitter feed and that's it. By the way, if your twitter ID is OpenEyeComms you don't need to put in twitter.com/OpenEyeComms just OpenEyeComms and you're away.

What I need to know is: Does the site do what it's supposed to, is it easy to use, is the wording and are the instructions clear on the site, is anything missing, have you any suggestions ? You get the idea.

I want to make this a great site, so, If you know of any cops or police departments that use Twitter, or friends and colleagues that may just be interested in viewing the site, please pass this along to as many of them as you can and ask them if they would take a look and test the site.

Hopefully they, in turn, will pass it along to their friends and colleagues and the feedback will make the site as good as it can be and useful to everyone.

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it. Let me know your comments at contact@coptweet.com

Mike

BTW. You can 'follow' me on Twitter at twitter.com/OpenEyeComms or just see what I'm tweeting about right here on www.CopTweet.com Thanks once again !

GOATs do roam

The Sunday Times has been a particularly rich vein of thought material this weekend.

I note that Gordon Brown has sent a team to see what they can learn from the Obama campaign. They better stay there a very long time because there is a whole heap to learn.

As Obama transitions to power, people who have signed up to be on his email list (Roughly 13M people on Obama's key individual network at the last count) are receiving email and text messages about the next stage of change, Organizing America, and the part that they can play in it. The message links to a YouTube video and there is a website that calls people to action (see the screen shot pictures).

There is a Citizen's Briefing Book where people get to make suggestions and vote on other peoples suggestions for issues to be addressed. The book goes to Obama for his consideration.

In short, the Obama team have built, and are continuing to build, community with access and apparent influence. Not sending out 'good news stories', not just hoping that their messages are the right messages reaching the right groups about the right issues at the right time, but building communities of interest, insight and action within the Obama framework. Pure web 2.0. Pure effectiveness.

Now, even allowing for the differences in personalities between US Citizens and UK Citizens, compare the UK process. Here we have 'GOATS' (Government of all the talents) and a range of eminent Lords being appointed to said 'GOAT' status. Building community? Citizen involvement? Web 2.0? Inspirational ? Don't think so.

It's art Jim

Text meets art. Well it does at a great site that I've just found. http://www.wordle.net/ You input a heap of words (in my case the content of my last few blog posts) and the site turns them into a word cloud, highlighting the words that you have used most frequently. Really cool, customisable and lots of fun. 

Put in your latest command team minutes and see what you get !

Here is my word cloud

And just for fun, the Executive Summary of the Government's Green Paper on Policing

 

Blogs, Bloggers & Twitter

I’m running a Citizen Focus Course for the NPIA this week. Part of the course is an input that I give about marketing and communications and in particular, the need to embrace web 2.0 thinking and techniques and move away from old fashioned ‘organisation out’ messaging and embrace a less centralised approach which builds community and allows people to engage with the brand.

This normally leads to a discussion about the merits, wisdom and benefits of blogging. My view is unequivocal: Colleagues (and BCU Commanders in particular) should be blogging. For me it’s a no brainer because…

You control the message
The only real ‘cost’ is the investment in the time it takes to write each post
It allows you to reach a new and wider audience through an additional communications channel
It presents the human side of policing and allows people to see the challenges and dilemmas that you face.

I find it interesting that whilst colleagues are still coming to terms with blogging (most state that they don’t regularly read blogs, despite the fact that blogging has now been around for quite a while and you are reading a blog at the moment !), the wider world has recognised the benefits of blogging and is looking at the integration and use of new communications channels, such as Twitter (think 140 character micro blogs which allow you to create your own social network (group of friends etc), follow people of interest (Obama, Branson, OpenEyeComms ) or follow specific companies (Supermarket chain X has an upcoming Sale and special product announcements).

It would be interesting for you to find out what your force press office position is on blogs and bloggers. Are blogs monitored by them? Who are the influential bloggers in your area ? What are their hot button issues ? Do any local notables blog ? About what? What is the Press Office stance on citizen journalism and bloggers ? When they hold a meet the press' evening, are influential bloggers invited ?

These, and many more issues, have popped into my thoughts as a result of the recent decision by the NPYD to provide police press accreditation to three bloggers.  There is no doubt that Citizen Journalism is here to stay. What’s your force position on it ?

Bedfordshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire & Dyfed Powys

January. Good time for reviewing things.

So, in a moment of alcohol free madness, I decided to review the locations by force of the people who subscribe to this website. Shoulda hadda drink.

Anyway, after much ticking and checking, I seem to have subscribers from nearly every force in England and Wales. Thank you to you all. I really do appreciate you taking the time to read my stuff.

The review has been a reasonably inexact exercise (it’s a technical thing) but, it appears as though…

the largest group of subscribers, by far, use their private email addresses to subscribe (so...can't tell which force they are from)

I appear to have a lot of subscribers in GMP, Devon and Cornwall, Lancashire, South Yorkshire and Hampshire.

Colleagues subscribe from PSNI, Scotland, North Wales, South Wales and a range of government departments and private organisations. Thank you to you all. When you’re writing, it’s good to know that someone is reading.

It’s hard to tell, but I appear to have no subscribers in Bedfordshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire or Dyfed Powys. What’s wrong with you guys ?

So, here’s the thing.

This year I want to focus on building community on this site. I have a number of plans for developing the website which I will outline as the year progresses, but  building a substantial, active, online community is central to the whole thing.

So. The sales pitch.

If this site informs, amuses or stimulates you, please pass the details on to your colleagues. You can forward a particular post using the tools at the bottom of each entry, or just pass the URL along to colleagues ( many thanks to Shaun Donnellan in GMP for his sterling efforts in doing just this !).

And, if you know anyone in Bedfordshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire or Dyfed Powys...get in touch with them, send them an email, call them, let them know. I’d love to get people from every force subscribed ! (if you are from these forces and are already subscribed... let me know !).

As we start another year, I hope that you will all be safe, well and happy in 2009.

Best regards (and thank you once again)

Mike

Search engine optimisation: the role of police communicators

The nice thing about writing this blog is that people share things with you. I was on Twitter the other day ( www.twitter.com/OpenEyeComms ) and saw an item that a guy I collaborate with on some interesting youth engagement projects, Shane McCraken of Gallomanor, had highlighted.

Shane was signposting an article in the British Journalism Review entitled ‘How SEO is changing journalism’ by a guy called Shane Richmond. SEO stands for search engine optimisation and it’s something that you should certainly be talking to your BCU press and marketing colleagues about.

News, even local news, is increasingly consumed on the internet. You will have your own favourite search engine and news gatherer (aggregator). You may use Google News, or Yahoo or Newsnow.co.uk or your local online paper, but whichever one it is, the way that you write the story, the keywords that you use in the copy and where you place them in the narrative, all affect how your copy will be found and the prominence that it will achieve in searches.

The issue, in short, is relevance. You’re competing for attention. Period. Yes, police stories are interesting, but not all of them, and if you want to get your latest initiative or spiffing wheeze some attention, best you get it written in a way that is going to push it up the search rankings.

The article is an easy read, but makes it’s point directly, ‘It should be clear by now that there’s nothing to debate when it comes to SEO. If you want your story to be found, you have to adopt these techniques. There’s no room for argument’

I agree. Read the article and go and chat to your communicators. Get your issue noticed. Get your story read.

Build the brand, involve the customer (or shout really loudly).

According to the Darlington and Stockton Times (yes, there really is)  a new website has been launched by North Yorkshire Police to help get its message across to the public. The website, which apparently cost £43,000 will allow the force (the force hopes) to explain its work in more detail to the local communities it serves.

Members of the North Yorkshire Police Authority are to view the new website at its citizen focus and engagement forum.

Mmmmm

Take a look and see what you think.

The force's strapline is: Delivering modern policing in a traditional way.  Well, they have certainly taken a traditional approach to communications.

Front page = picture of the Chief

Safer Neighbourhoods page = Picture of the Deputy Chief (plus a little message about what's important, just in case...)

Operation Drystone (apparently, core policing, but in a sort of focused way) = Message from the Chief about how important it all is.

Certainly seems to be living up to part of the strapline.

When will we move away from this dated form of hierarchically driven, (ooops, nearly said vanity driven) linear communication, and embrace the concept of communication that is driven by the customers needs and not the self perceived need of the organisation.

If policing is to become responsive, it must become accessible, and that means releasing control. Gone are the days of linear communication (from us to them, about the things that we think are important, in the channels that we think are appropriate). The future is about building community, about designing sites and services from the customer in, not the organisation out. The future is about using web 2.0 to build community, both outside the brand and within the brand, helping and allowing colleagues and interested stakeholders to become engaged in areas of interest (to them).

Every single force has people within it who are interested in some particular aspect of the service it delivers, or has delivered. The way that various cars have been used as police vehicles, types of motorbikes used, historic uniforms, advances in DNA profiling etc etc etc. Web 2.0 allows these people to come together in their 5's, 20's, 50's and discuss things of mutual interest. It allows them to become active participants in the brand.

Staff advocacy will become increasingly important in the delivery of the confidence agenda. Building community within the brand will be an important part of developing that understanding, commitment and advocacy.

Equally important will be engaging wider communities and developing interest in, and understanding of, policing. Policing touches every life and everyone has a view on it, whether that be a view on roads policing, the need for a warrant or the police use of firearms. Linear messaging (from us to them) doesn't engage or hear those views. It doesn't encourage participation, co-operation or collaboration. It shouts. It hurts the ears and it closes the mind.

We really have to get much, much, smarter about these things.

For a couple of examples of how companies are building community, check out Starbucks and Dell

The greatest and most successful example of community building: the Obama campaign. Even now, as President elect, they are still building community through their 'tell us what it was like for you' campaign on the President Elect website, here.

Go ahead, look at the NYP site and the Obama site. Reflect, consider, make comparisons. Other people will, it's the world we live in. Public service broadcasting (in all its forms) died with the age of the internet.

Final thought. What criteria will the NYP Authority be using to judge the success (or otherwise) of their brand new website ?

End of rant.

   

yet more facebook

In an earlier post I mentioned a number of forces that were using facebook. GMP didn't get a mention.

Well, colleagues from GMP have swiftly been in touch to let me know that they established the first force application on facebook in April/May this year.

Their pages can be found here. Happy to set the record straight.