MC Training: European Public Online Space

The

European

Online

Public Space

What is it?

Why does it matter?

Some Problems & Solutions.

Online comms for EU since '95

2002: First EC Web2 site

2003: First RSS feed, thematic portal

2007: Launched blogactiv

Bloggingportal.eu editor

Co-launched Web2EU IABC space

social media

conversations

Promote Europe? Reform it? Destroy it?

EU staff

lobbyists

EU & Social

Media geeks

Is this the European Online

Public Space?

(or at least the

part I inhabit)

blog aggregator

Is that It?

The Brussels Bubble

EuroSceptic

Space

Who's most

extreme wins!

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2008/10/15/hello-world/

Intelligent

Scepticism?

National

Conversations

Separated by ...

Culture

Context

Do National

explain the EU context?

Go where

the audience is

Facilitate

the cross-border

conversations?

Which brings us to Opportunity 2 ...

cross-EU thematic

conversations

But wait a minute ...

Every day, EU Policymakers, programme participants and other experts...

Experts: Communities of Practice for EU policies & programmes

Conferences,

Workshops

Web1.0 sites

Opportunity 2

Bridge

barriers

discuss EU programmes

exchange best practices,

compare results

discuss EU &

national policies

cross-EU learning

Integrated European

Communities of Practice

Online, Offline

Everyone's invited

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2009/09/01/building-communities-with-event-in-a-box/

what happens when

you put both together?

1 + 2 = Opportunity 3

or perhaps just

via Google,

She finds:

EC-sponsored

online community

People across EU

Exchanging best practices

sharing ideas

discussing EU policies

developing projects

for EU programmes

solving problems

at the EU level

in an area

she

cares

about.

hint: brochureware &

press releases won't do it

‘EU added value’

in action

Is this your profile where people

spend their time online?

Not very convincing, is it?

What do you expect them to think?

How can you put your point across if you're not there?

So let's recap

So is that it?

Well, it'd be a start ...

Opportunity 4: Yellow Card Procedure

"Brussels"

PS the same

cross-EU network ...

What participants

want it to be, if ...

Final questions

Get blogging!

EurosplInternet

Pyjama

People

groupthink in the echo chamber

or is that too much to ask?

Lobotomies

'R' Us

EuroCrap

Central

of course not

A place to play football? Hockey? Rugby?

Hold a concert? A political rally? Shelter hurrican victims?

EU policies & activities

Cafe

Babel

IABC

http://be-iabc.ning.com/

networkers

consultants

The 20-somethings?

National

Conversations

MEP

Blogactiv

http://blogactiv.eu

Who am I?

Too often

too geographic

BloggingPortal

warning: pluglinks

to my blog may follow

Not a

social

media

expert!

social media is not even the latest tool in the box

blog platform

traffic from EurActiv

Policy experts

in Brussels ...

Independent

Bloggers

http://bloggingportal.eu

Ralf (Finland)

Macarena (Spain)

... to loonies

from outer space

(Twitter, FB, blogs, email)

Michael (France)

leaderless community

Not much

community

Martin (Germany)

Social policy

National

Politics

Business

Youth

Environment

National

Conversations

Language

National

Conversations

& Background

National

Conversations

Perhaps via

outreach ...

National

Conversations

Problem:

media & politicians

Where is

Europe?

National discussions

Opportunity 1

Transnational

Thematic Online

Communities of Practice/Interest

affect EU policy

Outreach

are affected by EU policy

People with similar interests

get together online

Share experiences

Interested

non-specialists

Discuss policies

& projects

ideas

Network

"A community

of people who care about subject X"

Explain the EU angle.

"communities

that learn"

This is not

a broadcast

Listen,

How does the EU add value?

Imagine a non-specialist

the Long Tail in Action

Engage,

What does the EU do?

What can't the EU do?

Communities no longer

limited by geography

Discuss

What should the EU do?

... but remain limited

by language

What should the EU not do?

How could it do better?

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2009/09/30/when-does-eu-blogging-matter/

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2009/10/09/the-european-offline-public-space/

I care about ...

"Download the pdf"

Seeks information

on a topic

Better Policies

& Programmes

who else can

before, during

and after

bring these people together?

translate, interpret, organise?

better EU-national

policy linkages

better policy discussions

at the EU level?

more participation

more ideas

better networks

better programme implementation

more proposals

better projects

more uptake

downstream

higher

visibility

in other words,

she finds:

National

Conversations

Curate the

national debate

In my country they're saying ...

National blogger

Topic specialist

National language

National

Conversations

language

bridges

English? Esperanto? Whatever!

Proposal

Curate & Compare

national debates

In country X they're saying ...

Whereas here they're saying ...

What's going on in this topic, in this country?

National blogger

Topic specialist

Engage

Brussels

Bubble

Challenge: Signal-to-Noise

Euroblogger, Policy expert

Programme manager,

EU staff, Lobbyist,

MEP, etc

In my country they're saying ...

The "Go To"

Blogger

In this Topic,

in this Country

What's the

EU up to?

What's going

on elsewhere?

Online Community Management

Transparency

Honesty

National

Conversations

opendata

thick skin required

National

Conversations

Discussion &

Background Documents

treat your audience

like grown ups

“A community manager is the voice of the company externally and the voice of the customers internally”

Connect

Content

Handle

Trolls

be a grown up

Admit mistakes

People together

People to organisation

http://conniebensen.com/

LISTEN

Stimulate

Reward

Engage

Visibility

Encourage

this is a two-way conversation

Idea traction

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/tag/ocm/

A cross-EU conversation

about a proposed EU Policy

Underpin

The Conversation

Focus

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2010/01/27/lisbon-and-the-euroblogosphere-my-first-use-of-the-c-word/

National

Conversations

Structure

Thematic Portals

Rebut EuroCr*p

EU added value

Better informed conversation

= A Better Conversation

What & Why?

The EU as a whole

(not DG X, Y & Z)

Signpost to deeplinks

(DG X, Y & Z)

Give people

something to react to

non-specialists

Define what is

outreach

the idea

not

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2010/01/19/rebutting-eurocrp-in-social-media/

being discussed

Multilingual

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2009/09/06/so-farewell-thematic-portals-on-europa/

in practice:

http://euromove.blogactiv.eu/2010/01/21/the-truth-about-road-transport/

Challenge: Trust

Opportunity 5?

Trust in all

institutions is low

European Citizens Initiative

If they don't trust you,

why would they listen to you?

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2010/04/14/blogtour-first-reactions-to-the-eci-proposal/

If they don't trust you, and aren't listening, what can you say or do?

Risk: Poisoning the Well

A successful commons ...

or nothing at all

Astroturfing

Undisclosed

sponsorship

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2009/10/29/astroturfing-the-berlaymont/

Rewriting/Deleting

history

Ghost blogging

Consultations

which aren't

Deleting 'negative'

comments

Self-Sustainable

Independent

Social Media Guidelines

and not just

for EU staff

http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/2009/09/26/poisoning-the-well-for-eu-social-media/

Risk: Inaction

Types of EU blogs?

"Aren't you

Using a blog as a

source of information?

interested

in what people like me have to say?

Not very convincing, is it?

in what I think?

What are you

How does a blogger get its message across? What channels are available?

Structuring / writing blog posts: different from an op-ed, or only a different medium?

hiding?"

Web1.0 sites

How does one get cited or noticed by bloggers?