Eur ip id i s Louk i s ,Yann i s Chara lab id i s ,

Aggel ik i AndroutsopoulouUnivers i ty o f the Aegean

A STUDY OF MULTIPLE SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT FROM AN

INNOVATION PERSPECTIVE

STRUCTURE

IntroductionBackground

Social Media in Government Diffusion of Innovation Theory

Pilot ApplicationsResearch MethodologyResultsConclusionsFuture Research

INTRODUCTION

• Utilization of social media by government agencies as a new channel of interaction with citizens in public policies lifecycle

• Analysis of advanced social media exploitation in government from innovation perspective • To what extend they have the fundamental preconditions for a

wider diffusion in government

• Characteristics that favor / hinder diffusion? Required improvements?

Innovation for governments = Need for (non-technological)

evaluation

INTRODUCTION

• Analysis of an advanced form of multiple social media exploitation in government• Based on Diffusion of Innovation Theory of Rogers

• Automated use of multiple social media from a central ICT platform for the conduction of consultation campaigns on policy-related topics• Centrally controlled and coordinated publishing of relevant

content in different SM • Automated retrieval of users interactions• Advanced processing of citizens’ interactions

• calculation of various analytics• text mining• future projections through simulation

• Technological Infrastructure, using APIs of targeted SM

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION

• Development of effective methods and practices

of social media exploitation in government

• Enhancing and supporting internal functions and

interaction with society

• Understanding better their impact and value, and

also the challenges they pose and their

limitations

BACKROUNDSOCIAL MEDIA IN GOVERNMENT

• SM support, enhance transform critical government functions:i. increase citizens’ participation and engagement ii. promote transparency and accountabilityiii. proceed to public services co-production with citizens iv. exploit citizens’ knowledge and talent to develop

innovative solutions to complex societal problems

• New models and paradigms in the public sector:i. social media-based citizen engagement modelsii. social media-based data generation and sharing

models iii. social-media based collaborative government models

BACKROUNDSOCIAL MEDIA IN GOVERNMENT

• Application of the ‘crowdsourcing’ ideas for public policy making

• Adoption of Open Innovation Ideas • Design of highly innovative public policies

BACKROUNDDIFFUSION OF INNOVATION THEORY

Rogers Diffusion of Innovation Theory (2003)

Adoption of

innovation

Relative Advantage

Compatibility

ComplexityTrialability

Observability

PILOT APPLICATIONS

• Three pilot applications of the approach were organised• In cooperation with three Greek Members of the European

Parliament (MEPs)

• using their existing personal accounts in three different social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Blogger)

• various interested social actors involved

• Public consultations on three social problems:

• underrepresentation of women executives in the higher management of enterprises

• the socio-economic crisis in the societies of the Southern European countries

• the exploitation of renewable energy sources, especially wind power, for improving capacity in energy production.

PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS ORGANIZATION

Presentation of the concept to several

MEPs

Presentation of the ICT platform, selection of topics - problems with interested MEPs and

Assistants

Community Building (established social

networks and invitations to

additional groups)

Preparation of messages and

multimedia content

Launch of consultation (publishing content)

Operation of consultation

(monitoring 15 days)

Conclusions and analysis, discussions

with MEPs teams

Dissemination Activities

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

• Data Collection• Social Media Metrics

• level of reach (Google Analytics, SM visitors)

• level of engagement (active SM reactions)

• Textual Input Analysis

• opinion mining analysis (topics and sentiments)

• In detail examination and classification

• Focus group discussions

• with the three MEPs’ teams involved in consultations

• presentation of above results

• semi–structured on the diffusion of innovation theory

MAIN FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS

To what extent the proposed approach:

• is a better way for consultations with citizens on various public policies than the other existing ‘physical’ (i.e. through ‘physical’ meetings) or ‘electronic’ ways for this (relative advantage) ?

• is compatible with the values and the policy formulation processes of government agencies (compatibility)

• its practical application by government agencies policy makers does not require much effort (complexity)

• it can be initially applied in small scale pilot applications by government agencies, in order to assess its capabilities, advantages and disadvantages, before proceeding to a larger scale application (trialability)

• is an innovation highly visible to other public agencies, policy makers and the society in general, which can create positive impressions and comments (observability)

RESULTSRELATIVE ADVANTAGE

“transferring the consultation outside the events we usually organise”

• Much wider reach and participation of citizens in comparison with the traditional methods (physical events and meetings) with reasonable effort and cost

• Especially useful for involving younger target groups in such debates, which seems difficult to be achieved currently with the traditional consultation methods

• Relative disadvantage: Risk of consultations among like-minded individuals, leading to reduced diversity of opinions and perspective • exploit not only SM accounts and networks of MEPs, to access a wide

range of communities and diverse actors• combine with the outcomes of other traditional consultations usually

conducted by the EP on the same topic, and also with experts’ proposals

RESULTSCOMPATIBILITY

• Compatible with:• the objectives and practices of the EP, which already

organizes consultation processes when preparing proposals, directives and programmes• the main findings of the first pilot consultation were included

in the report on this draft directive to be discussed in the EP

• the mentality and skills of most young MEP Assistants

• Less compatible with the older ones

RESULTSCOMPLEXITY

• Low complexity• Some initial effort required for the familiarization with the

concept and the supporting central platform. • For more complex consultations (organized by several

social actors collaboratively) much more effort is required (coordination and alignment of the campaign in four countries, in different languages and timezones).

RESULTSTRIALABILITY

• High trialability: • the approach may be experimented in a small scale

without particular problems, before proceeding to a larger scale

RESULTSOBSERVABILITY

• Medium to high observability and visibility• mainly by the networks of the initiator MEPs. • integrate the multiple discussions in a single digital space

accessible to increase the visibility by citizens, providing a single point of reference and an overall picture

CONCLUSIONS

• The approach possesses to a good extent the required characteristics for wide adoption and diffusion • Strong relative advantage over traditional consultation

methods• Good degree of compatibility with the objectives and

practices of government agencies• Low complexity• High trialability and visibility

CONCLUSIONS

• Research Implications:• New direction of research on the use of social

media by government from a public policy perspective

• Practice Implications:• Guidance to government agencies management

and elected representatives for the effective exploitation of popular social media platforms in policy making processes

FURTHER RESEARCH

• Social media use for supporting various stages of the policy making cycle

• by government institutions of different types and levels

• for different kinds of policies and social problems.

• Combination with consultations based on other more structured ICT tools, such as structured forums