CorpComms Magazine

The failure of councils to use social media is akin to ignoring the telephone at the end of the 19^th century, according to a new survey.

Socitm Insight, which has published Social media: why IT managers should lead their organisations to embrace it, suggests that services such as Twitter, Facebook, Yammer and LinkedIn could benefit the public sector by providing low cost ways of engaging residents and empowering staff.

The report comes on the heels of research by Socitm suggesting underperforming websites could be costing UK councils up to £11 million a month as frustrated users will access channels, such as walk in contact centres, that are more expensive to service.

Socitm has found that 32 per cent of local authorities are now on Twitter and that 12 per cent has a Facebook page. It highlights Stratford-on-Avon District Council, which was one of the first authorities to use photo-sharing site Flickr, as 'in the vanguard of social media adoption'.

However, 90 per cent of local authorities restrict employees' access to social media while 67 per cent have a total ban as a result of concerns about security, time wasting and the risk of reputational damage. The report claims that such restrictions do not work because staff can revert to their smart phones to access sites.

Chris Head, author of the report, said: 'Use of social media has exploded, appearing on the radar of IT managers, but mostly for the wrong reasons. The term 'social' implies 'not related to work', but this is a fallacy. CIOs and heads of ICT need to take the lead and educate colleagues on the organisation's management team about the benefits of social media, as well as finding ways to accommodate them appropriately and safely through the corporate infrastructure.'

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