Social media: new opportunities
and challenges for FE college
communications
A briefing for the Association of Colleges
July 2009
Tracy Playle MCIPR
tracy@picklejarcommunications.com

A little about me ...
• 5 years working for University of Warwick, UK
• 2 years as Head of Research-TV
• Vice Chair CIPR* Education and Skills Group
• Started my own company in 2007
• Now spend my time:
a) ‘doing’ communications work (inc. Becta)
b) helping others understand social media
*Chartered Institute of Public Relations, the professional body
For PR practitioners in the United Kingdom: www.cipr.org.uk

Today
What is social media and
why is it important?
What does this mean for PR
professionals in education?
How might digital media impact
on press and media relations?

Meet your new best friend

Part 1
What is social media and
why is it important?

What is social media?

What is social media?
Blogs Micro-blogging Wikis
Social bookmarking Online video
Forums
Podcasts Slidecasts Social networks
Individuals in conversation with
other individuals, online

What is social media?
“A social trend in which people use
technologies to get the things they need from
each other, rather than from traditional
institutions like corporations.”
Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Groundswell

How are communications changing?

We are moving from ...

... to ...

... interruptions are not welcomed

For education this means ...
• Information is everywhere
• Information is free
• Colleges and universities are no longer the only place
to find ‘expertise’ and learning materials
• ‘Partners’ in learning rather than providers of learning
• Changes in teaching and learning methods (e-learning)
• Demand for ‘personalised’ learning
• Individuals want to communicate with individuals, not
with organisations

Part 2
What does this mean for PR
professionals working in
education?

The facts ...
• More popular than email
• Fastest growing online sector

The facts ...
Facebook
• 95 million accounts at beginning of 2009
• Massive global growth 2008-09:
• Italy: 2900 %
• Spain: 600 %
• France: 400 %
• Switzerland: 400 %
• Argentina: 2000 %
• Indonedia: 600 %
Source: www.insidefacebook.com

The facts ...
• Most popular on YouTube: 122,000,000 views
• 300,000,000 MySpace accounts
• 14 billion comments on MySpace
• Wikipedia: >10,000,000 articles
• Wikipedia: >75,000 contributors
• According to a survey in the UK, the term
‘social networking site’ was recognised more by
parents than children, this means ...

Technology part of life for children

So, for you this means ...
Your audience is
already there!
(and probably already
talking about you)

New opportunities for ...
• Listening
• Monitoring your reputation
• Understanding your ‘customers’
• Identifying PR opportunities
• Communicating directly with individuals
• Capturing positive feedback
• Identifying an emerging crisis (or causing one!)
• Getting your brand out there by yourself
• Joining up with e-learning activities

How does it change our role?
• More ‘noise’ to listen to – need tools!
• Different channels = different approaches
• More ‘noise’ to cut through
• Individuals want to speak with individuals
• Intermediary instead of spokesperson
• Need basic understanding of web development
• Does the press release work in this world?
• Reduced reliance on the journalist (?)

Part 3
How might this impact on press
and media relations?

CIPR Education & Skills Group study
• Where are we now?
• What do journalists want/use?
• How do internal management structures
impact on practice?
• What does ‘good’ look like?
• How can we make this happen?

The survey
• March – May 2009
• 153 responses
• 46% FE; 54% HE
• Approx 1/3 press and media relations roles
• 56% HE respondents write press releases
• 94 % FE respondents write press releases
• 79 % publish press releases online themselves
• >60% adapt press releases for online use

Target audience for press release (FE)

Use of online media for press (FE)

PR and web in same directorate
• Same directorate: 73% in FE, 84% HE

PR and web in different directorate

In conversation ...
• Personal use = greater professional use
• ‘We plan to do this but ...’
• ‘Journalists prefer telephone’
• Social media can be a distraction and create too much work
• Social media is forcing us to move faster
• Social media is doing away with mainstream journalism
• Barriers to use of social media:
• technical (blocking)
• skills
• resource (time/staff)
• don’t think journalists want this approach
• can’t keep up with pace of change
• management lack of understanding
• management structures
• IT department is ‘all powerful’

Social media to source stories ...
Video clip came from YouTube

Social media to source stories ...
Photo appeared in Guardian and on iPlayer

Social media to reach journos?
Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC
Digital Britain conference in April
He ‘tweets’ ...

Social media to reach journos?
Joanna Geary, The Times
Shares the order in which she checks
everything in the morning ...

Thank you - questions?
Tracy Playle BA MA DipCIPR MCIPR
tracy@picklejarcommunications.com
@picklejar
www.picklejarcommunications.com