Social Media: Panacea for the Public Sector?

Do you work in public sector communications? Are you using social media in your comms?  If so, I’d like to hear about it!

Are you using social media?  Do you use social media platforms to engage local communities or hard to reach groups?  If so, I want to hear from you!

Following on from my research into general social media trends and skills in PR, my latest quest is to find out how public sector organisations use social media to engage communities and I need volunteers from the sector – you! - to help me with my project.  This research is intended to be exploratory rather than looking for definitive answers, so don’t feel you have to be an expert to take part; anyone using social media as part of their communications strategy is welcome to participate and I am interested in myriad viewpoints, from those who dabble as well as digital natives.

Participation would be anonymous, unless you are really proud of your work and would like it to be acknowledged (!), and would involve taking part in an interview, either face-to-face or via skype, of no more than an hour’s duration.  During this interview I will simply be exploring the issue of community engagement via social media rather than asking any firm questions, so it will be more like a conversation than a grilling!

If you would like to take part or think you could help in any other way, then please contact me on sarah.williams@mmu.ac.uk or make contact on twitter @sasbongo.