Social media analysis

Social Media Analysis
Elizabeth Berg
Matthew Greenfield
Marilyn Haigh
Carter Stoddard

Berg, Greenfield, Haigh, Stoddard
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Twitter
Twitter is all about the here and the now. How much can you say in 140
characters to reach your target audience? If you do it right by communicating
messages succinctly, timely and effectively, users will engage with tweets. For
institutions, especially political institutions, Twitter can be difficult to manage. Trying
to keep it both up-to-date and engaging, political institutions have to balance
informative, professional content with an online personality that keeps the account
interesting. The European Commission is no exception. Scrolling through the
commission’s Twitter account, there are a few characteristics that immediately jump
out to the user. While the timeliness and media use is present, there is a general lack
of personality and personable, humanistic qualities, little variety in tweet styles, and
bland media use that limits engagement and effective communication.
If people can’t relate to a message, they won’t listen or respond. The European
Commission is lacking in this area of Twitter. Most of their posts lack personality and
a unique voice to relate to the constituency. Their account is plagued with facts and
figures with no personality or relatable edge; they fail at creating a voice. Establishing
a voice puts a face to a government organization, business or institution. The White
House Twitter account, for example, is excellent at this practice. Often retweeting
content with personable messages, letting effective quotes speak for themselves and
using more personal media makes users more comfortable and likely to interact with
the social media. The difference in numbers alone is staggering: The White House
account has 12.7 million Twitter followers; the Commission has 661,000. Putting a
bigger emphasis on what makes the Commission likeable and relatable with more
personable tweets could significantly improve their following.

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Variety is also an important detail institutions tend to overlook when composing
tweets. For the commission, many tweets sound like a recycled version of an earlier
post – there is very little variety in tweet style, tone and function. For a follower or a
unique user, this leaves a bad impression. It comes across as ineffective, boring and
makes every message blur together. One tweet could be discussing economics and
another global climate change, but they can sound nearly identical in tweet
construction and wording. For example, a recent tweet about jobs in the Netherlands
read: “€1.8 million proposed to help 800 former retail workers find new jobs in the
Dutch regions of Drenthe and Overijssel http://europa.eu/!TN67Mn”. Likewise, a
tweet about agriculture read: “€435 million returned to European farmers from the
Common Agricultural Policy budget http://europa.eu/!jc84fG”. Both use similar,
factual language, start with a statistic, end with a link to a website and don’t have a
call to action. Most users won’t be inclined to click on the link because the tweet is
hardly differentiable from others like it, but they don’t get the full story without the
support from the commission website. Ultimately, this means limited engagement and
ineffective message communication.
Finally, quality media use can make or break a Twitter account. Bland and beige
media creates a bland response from unique users. The Commission has a tendency to
use media that doesn’t add anything extra to the message. Most often, politicians and
policy makers are pictured in front of flags, shaking hands or looking stiff and
unapproachable in general. GIFs offer a nice break in the drone on of picture after
picture of suit-wearing professionals, but videos tend to lack in quality and
infographics overload the user with too much data and text. The Commission has a
unique selling point they are overlooking across their social media channels – people.
The people in Europe can share interesting pictures of where they live, what they are

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doing and can show more than Juncker signing another agreement or making another
speech. If the European Commission implemented more effective media, a stronger
tone and a greater variety in their content, they can establish themselves as a political
institution in touch with the people with effective communication skills. A re-work of
current Twitter habits is desperately needed.

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Facebook
Facebook is a massive social media platform. According to Statista, the
network surpassed more than a billion active users in 2012. That’s more than
WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram had combined. Not only is the sheer volume of
users staggering, but add the different ways to use it – posts, events, calendars,
photos, videos and other links – and Facebook can be daunting at times. The
European Commission utilizes every aspect of the social media platform. But, it
seems to be missing its target. With a little more than 627,000 “likes,” which is less
than the population of Brussels, there’s certainly room to improve its reach. Don’t
worry though. People and businesses, including Facebook, have analyzed what makes
a successful post.
Facebook has seven basic tips for making a successful post: keep it short, use
big, beautiful images, share exclusive content, respond to customers and keep a
calendar, post for the right audience, link them directly to your webpage and post
more of what customers – or in this case citizens – want. For the sake of this analysis,
we don’t know if the Commission posts for the right audience, which according to the
tips means: “If you have customers who live in different areas or speak different
languages, you can create posts just for them. Write a post and choose the locations
and languages you want. When you publish your post, it'll show up in just the
locations or languages you've picked.” Our settings are set to English, so we assume
that everything is only done in English. But know that it is possible to change
language and location settings.
The Commission has trouble “keeping it short.” Far too often posts contain
more than one or two sentences. Anything longer than that and readers lose interest.
However, a good example of is from a post on 17 November. It read, “The 2017 EU

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budget will help buffer against shocks, providing a boost to our economy and helping
to deal with issues like the #refugeecrisis.” It’s short, effective and cites an example
of why the budget matters. The post also included a link to the Commission’s website
story that includes an image, which touches on two other points. The value of this
post lies in the fact that it tries to make what the Commission does as transparent as
possible, which citizens value in a government institution.
On the other hand, the post is lacking in other areas of Facebook’s
recommendations. One, there is no audience engagement beyond the post itself. It’s
almost as to say, “Let’s post this for the sake of transparency so no one can complain.
But let’s not listen to what they actually think about it.” Two, while the picture also
falls on the good side for having that “eye-catching” factor, it falls on the bad side for
lacking any sort of meaning. It’s of construction workers doing their job. Why not act
on the fact that the Commission used #refugeecrisis and make the picture of some EU
funded institution helping refugees? And thirdly, there’s a near-total lack of
engagement by followers. The post has 184 likes, 6 comments and 36 shares (13 had
public settings allowing anyone to view). That’s either due to the fact that EU citizens
don’t care about the budget or the post didn’t resonate with the audience. There’s no
way of knowing the reason unless you polled every follower of the Commission’s on
Facebook and asked them why. But, one way to up those numbers is for the
Commission to post on the walls of organizations and institutions that are most
affected by budgetary decisions.
What’s funny is that one of the Commission’s best posts came the same day. It
was a simple, yet engaging post about ERASMUS+, the EU’s study abroad program.
The post successfully uses a big, beautiful (maybe not so much) image. It plays on a
modern day meme that will resonate with any social media user. It reads, “Keep calm

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and enjoy ERASMUS Plus.” It’s short and to the point. Anyone who knows about the
program will see the meme and stop to engage in one way or another. Other than the
picture, other noticeable features include the use of emoticons, hashtags and a link to
the Commission’s article. First, the emoticons are eye-catching. They break up
lengthy text and add some personality to the post. Second, the hashtags apply directly
to the meaning of the post — #InternationalStudentsDay and #Erasmus. There aren’t
too many, like in other posts, and they help link to conversations that already exist.
And thirdly, the external link makes it possible for followers to read more
information, if they want to.
Additionally, the Commission engaged with users who wanted a direct
response. For example, one user retagged the Commission for direct feedback, and it
replied in the comments section for all to see. Going off that point, the post takes
advantage of a calendar event – International Student Day. It targets an audience who
were affected by their involvement in the programs. I think the analytics prove that
this post was something followers wanted. It had 2,700 likes, 137 comments – of
which many users tagged more people, so their comment turned into more
conversation in replies – and 393 shares. So, a large amount of Facebook users saw
this post.
The post isn’t perfect though. Two criticisms are it uses too many emoticons
and the text answers its own rhetorical question in a way. Emoticons are effective,
eye-catching devices that when used properly can cause users scrolling through the
Facebook feed to slow down and look at it. However, when there are too many, like
in this post, it can bog down the readers and distract them from the point.
Additionally, the second rhetorical question and the exclamatory concluding phrase is
too much. I would suggest reworking the second part to fit between the second and

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third sentences in the first part by saying, “Since 1987, over 5 million students have
taken part in the ERASMUS program!” And start the fourth and final sentence by
saying, “If you’re one of them, tell us about your experience.” It makes the post
shorter, more to the point and clearly engages with the audience in a more direct
manner.
The events tab is severely lacking content and context. There are five listed
events for 2016 and only one upcoming event – and that’s not even until June 2017!
There’s a whole lot of content missing there. That’s not to say it needs to be bogged
down with every single thing the Commissioners do, but just important things that
followers would most likely care about. Also, why not add more context to some of
the events? For example Juncker’s State of the Union event, it says he will address
some of the positives and negatives the EU has endured over the last year. Why not
add more specific key points that he will definitely talk about? The only positive
about the events page is that the titles aren’t filled with jargon and are rather short and
to the point. But otherwise, the Commission’s events tab needs some serious work.
Overall, it’s hard for every post to be perfectly in accordance with Facebook’s
suggestions on making a successful post. But, they are good guidelines to aim for.
Clearly, the Commission does some things well and most things bad. The analysis of
photos and videos will come in the sections of Instagram and YouTube as most, but
not all, photos and videos shared on Facebook come via those social media platforms.

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Pinterest
Pinterest is a unique form of visual social media because it reflects what
people want, not what they already have. Pinterest is an aspirational tool, which
means users pin things for the future, like workout plans, gourmet recipes and party
decor ideas. Since Pinterest is also a marketing tool, it’s focused on material goods.
The most pinned categories are food and drink, DIY and crafts, home decor, and
holidays and events, according to Cision, a media consultancy. These three things
make Pinterest one of the least compatible networks for politics and government,
especially for the EU.
Pinterest is a challenging platform for the Commission because it lacks a
central figure, a compelling history, a beautiful building and objects associated with
it. For organizations like the White House or Buckingham Palace, there is an
aspirational factor. American kids grow up considering the presidency to be the
ultimate job, and Buckingham Palace is associated with pinnable symbols like corgis,
the Queen and the famous guards. There isn’t a lot of emotion or symbolism that the
EU stands for. In keeping with its serious attitude, the Commission’s Pinterest board
is largely made up of infographics and pictures of politicians. There are also a lot of
pins that look like stock photos that are vaguely connected to the EU, like a picture of
two dirty flip flops with the caption “Life is better in (upcycled) flip flops!” Most of
the boards don’t tell a compelling message. Some of the EU’s boards are too text
heavy and feature only dry information, like one that compiles infographics of every
Commissioner’s CV.
The Commission does have an advantage on all social media that is
particularly strong on Pinterest: the appeal of Europe. Europe’s diversity, natural
beauty and long history make it a dream destination for many. The Commission has a

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few boards that take advantage of the European appeal, like old European book
covers and Europe Loves Cinema. The crown jewel in the Commission’s Pinterest
board is definitely the Breads of Europe — it’s a perfect combination of food and
recipes, traditional and culture. There are over 300 pins of bread on the board citing
where each loaf comes from, what it’s called and its cultural relevance. It transmits
the Commission’s message that Europe is united by its differences subtly.
The biggest problem is the visual appeal of the Commission’s pins. There are
too many generic images or text-heavy infographics to get very many repins. One of
the best practices for a successful government or political Pinterest page is quotes.
Quotes are repinned all the time on Pinterest, especially if they are visually appealing,
and are a great way for a government to transmit its message. The White House
account has a whole board of quotes that are clearly positive about the government,
but have interesting, powerful quotes that someone might want to find again. A great
example from the White House is a photograph of Obama holding a baby with a
content look on her face with text that reads “"For our journey is not complete until
our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts." The
White House also divides its pins into categories well, with travel (“On the Road”),
food (Events and Holidays) and, by far the most active board, The First Lady.
The Commission is quite active on Pinterest, with 35 boards and over 1,000
pins. As with Instagram, the Pinterest account should diversify the stories it’s telling
and not rely on the suits of Brussels to personify Europe’s social media presence.

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Google+
Beyond appreciating the structural benefits of accessing their Google+
account directly from their Google homepage, social media users largely rejected the
platform on every other criteria, citing issues from stodgy interface (I’m still not
certain what a ‘circle’ or ‘spark’ is), to the fundamental idea that nobody wanted to
hang out on a site that essentially serves as their utility company. But, naturally, the
European commission will use any tool at its disposal (even extinct ones) as part of its
messaging operation, and Google+ is no exception.
The Commission’s homepage lists about 1.7 million followers. A touching
background photo features a small boy sporting an EU flag to pull at your
heartstrings. Visitors will also find the Commission’s top interests, which are
unsurprisingly four of its satellite accounts bearing names that are poorly designed.
Posts, the lifeblood of any successful account, range from mildly interesting to cringe-
worthy by turns. One features this rousing quote from President Jean-Claude Juncker:
"We have started to see solidarity... I am convinced, much more solidarity is needed.
But I also know that solidarity must be voluntary. It must come from the heart."
Luckily the rest of the post contained no less than nine #hashtags that these kids love
so much.
The comment section of any given post is your standard stew of virulent
hatred, hard-held opinions and baseless claims, with smatterings of thoughtful
discourse sprinkled in for taste. Not everything here is so bleak however, I found a
repost of the charming “Chemical Party” advertisement that we praised in class last
week. The time stamped post is from three weeks ago. Unfortunately the same ad
could be found on YouTube eight years ago. At least we can say the Commission
knows when it has a good thing.

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Emphasis on storytelling is mostly eclipsed by endless charts, inundating
viewers with statistics and graphs. Even eye-catching posts containing an evocative
scene of a coral reef, link to reams of dry text that somehow fail to say anything of
note. Talk of “policy mandates” and “ocean government framework” sound official,
but to the average reader (target audience) they sound like technobabble. The ocean
(above example) is naturally photogenic terrain; it would have been a better route to
produce a short video showing an EU funded project actually doing the work that this
policy is supposed to facilitate. People don’t care how progress comes to be. They
want to see progress in action. A short video could have shown tangible action (like
this one). In this video, there are examples of attention grabbing, real world activities
the Commission supports. Compelling videos that work on a human level are few and
far between on the Commission’s Google+ account, but could significantly improve
their presence on the channel.

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Instagram
The European Commission’s Instagram is a collection of photographs of
Europe, campaign messages and politicians in suits. Many of the pictures of look
professional, but the captions are too long and uninteresting. Instead of detailing
policy changes, the Instagram account should tell more personal stories. The
Commission has a following of 37,000, which pales in comparison to the White
House’s 3.2 million. UK Prime Minister Teresa May has 14,000 followers while
French President Francois Hollande has over 80,000.
The biggest missing piece is content featuring real Europeans that tells a story
and personalizes the policies being promoted. There are too many instances of a
generic photo paired with a general explanation of what the EU is doing in that sector.
For instance, in the span of two weeks, the commission posted two pictures of trash
next to a body of water with vague statements like “Marine litter threatens marine
life,” and “One of our EU-funded projects, RETRAWL, developed and built a large
scale innovative recycling technology plant at a cost competitive price.” The posts are
full of jargon and sterile words. What is a “large scale innovative recycling
technology plant”? The name-dropping and self-congratulatory language borders on
propaganda. A more compelling post would have been to include a European whose
business or family has been positively affected by EU policies. Many of the EU
competencies, like environmental policies and competition regulation, don’t touch
Europeans emotionally. Why would a Polish citizen care that the Mediterranean is
clean, much less want to pay for it? If, for instance, the commission told the story of a
beachside family-owned inn in Italy losing tourists due to garbage-covered beaches
that was saved by EU cleanup efforts, that Pole might care.

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Popular accounts like Humans of New York show that Instagram can share a
story through just one photo when used correctly. The White House account provides
another example of great social media storytelling through one photo. On Veteran’s
Day, the account posted portraits of veterans with captions telling an abbreviated
version of their life story. The campaign does work in favor of the White House, but it
tells its story well enough to convince the viewer that the government is doing good
things.
The White House is at an advantage because it is so closely associated with
Barack Obama, who is a social media star. The EU is not as lucky. There is no central
figure to feature on Instagram, and few EU leaders have the same charisma as Obama.
Instead, the Commission relies on group pictures and posts shots of meetings and
handshakes, which don’t really stir up any emotions. That’s not to say there’s no
sense of personality from the commissioners. Some particularly good posts feature the
humanitarian aid commissioner grinning at a schoolchild in Iran and the vice
president posing with a man dressed in a spandex EU flag.
The Commission’s Instagram account has a few really good and really bad
photos, but for the most part, it’s pretty mediocre. The social media managers should
try to diversify the content by including the voices of real Europeans affected by
policy, not just the fact that the policies exist.

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Vine
Twitter’s unfortunate decision to shut down its six-second video sharing app,
Vine, was met with disdain from a user base that used the social media platform to
share everything from dunk highlights to back flipping cats. Luckily, the European
Commission had their finger firmly on the pulse of society and decided to fire up a
Vine account of their own. Contrary to what you might think not everything here is
bad, in fact I’d say it’s passable, content-wise. While there are only 144 posts, some
of them could be used as a starting point for future social media endeavors.
Caught within the strict six-second confines that dictate each vine, the
Commission was pushed to create more attention-grabbing content. Take this one, for
example, it uses vibrant colors and movement to initially grab the viewer's eye. The
images correspond to a quick and concise message: The amount of heat being wasted
in Europe is enough to power every building on the continent. The idea is compelling
and works in this myopic context. The message is aptly concluded with “let’s take
action,” a benign enough request that does not seem preachy or overwrought, but
simple and to the point. Despite some of their content accomplishments, the account
only succeeded in amassing 7,500 followers.
This post shows the Commission playing the emotional angle, showing key
images from the fall of the Berlin Wall. Not only is this event something that users
can relate to on a human level but it shows that the Commission, commonly seen as a
clutch of out-of-touch bureaucrats, is made up of people who care about this historic
event, and their audience can similarly relate. This post is relatable and plays to
everything the EU stands for; content like this put out on a regular basis could go a
long way in making the Commission seem more approachable.
Another example of successfully reaching out to an audience is a post linking

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the 300 billion clean energy investment plan to a viewer’s own interests. The pair
featured in this video have no reason to care about energy investments, but when put
in context of their own lives, it becomes more of a relatable subject. “What would you
do with 300 billion?” is a lot more interesting than “What do you think the EU should
do with 300 billion?” While the answers aren’t particularly enlightening, it shows the
Commission is willing to engage on a human level.
Of course it wouldn't be a Commission account unless it mostly featured
videos of old guys in suits promising things, and surprise, it does. In an apparent
attempt to make the most uninspiring six second film of all time, these videos are
everything that is bad about the Commission’s social media presence. “Europe will
respond with responsibility and solidarity” is a vague, bloodless way to describe the
Syrian refugee crisis and unintentionally mirrors the actual response to this event.

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YouTube
YouTube is the most used audio/video sharing platform in the world. In 2013,
the company said 1 billion unique users were now visiting the video-sharing website
every month, or nearly one out of every two people on the Internet is visiting
YouTube. The term used for a popular video is viral, which means that it got a lot of
views in a very short period of time. Better yet, Maryam Mossavar, content manager
for YouTube, shared her five thoughts on what makes a clip go viral. Here’s what she
had to say: sharing is caring, work with “established channels,” quantity over quality,
build it for the web and mobile and take advantage of other resources, like editing
software, to make the video the best it can be. The European Commission created its
own channel in March 2006. Since then, it has gained 38,000 subscribers and posted
nearly 1,000 videos. The views top 25 million, but that is a loaded stat as the top four
most popular clips account for more than half the views alone.
For the sake of this analysis, there’s no way of knowing how many times the
clips were shared. Anyway, the Commission covers the rest of Mossavar’s points as a
whole. First, its channel is linked to every other major European institution’s channel
and other popular news channels in the “Featured Channels” sidebar. Second, there’s
an abundance of clips and the quality of the best videos looks like that of a low-
budget short films. But, there’s an argument to be made about this point later. Third,
most clips are made for both web and mobile, which can be defined as short (1-2
minute) videos with a narrow focus. Last, while not every clip is finely polished, for
example the most viewed videos look like low-budget films, most other clips use the
latest technology for visual effects and are precisely edited. `
Let’s start with what is considered a good clip based on views. The top video
post by the Commission’s channel titled “Film lovers will love this!” has almost 9.4

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million views and almost 900 comments. It is a raunchy clip featuring people non-
explicitly having sex, and it concludes by saying, “Let’s come together. Millions of
cinema lovers enjoy European films every year. Europe supports European films.”
There’s no doubt it’s provocative and creative. It drew in a lot of viewers and
reactions. This clip is used as both an example of a well-done, creative campaign and
a raunchy, adult-only bad campaign. But, it has stood the test of time and received a
lot of views, which is all you can ask for about a YouTube video.
Now, let’s completely dis the “Let’s Meet Team Juncker” campaign videos by
looking at the Juncker clip. First, the play-in music is very distracting, especially
because it overlaps with the audio of Juncker’s quote. Second, the written quote adds
no value whatsoever. It’s the same one that probably went in the press release. Third,
the action clip of Juncker walking and shaking someone’s hand is pointless. Fourth,
it’s a video of him standing at a podium from the introductory press conference.
Anyone who cares would have watched it live. There’s no need to rehash it. Last, it’s
a highly political message. It tells us nothing about Juncker. This shouldn’t have been
a “Let’s meet the team” campaign, but rather a “Let’s show the people that the
Commissioners are generic politicians” campaign. The only positive coming from this
video is the listing of ways to contact Juncker for reasons of transparency. A
suggestion for improvement would have been to make the videos real. Show viewers
that the Commissioners have a personality like what are some of their favorite things,
what they do outside of work or why they became a politician. That way, viewers can
connect more with them as regular people and not just the next commissioner to
blame when something goes wrong.
Overall, the Commission has mixed results on its YouTube videos. On one
hand, the top clips performed exceedingly well (for a government institution). And on

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the other hand, most of its clips completely tanked. Quantity isn’t always better than
quality. The reason the Commission’s top four-clips account for more than half of the
channel’s total views is because they were memorable. They weren’t necessarily the
highest quality film, but they were of the highest quality in being able to effectively
attract viewers and get the point across. Outside the top-12 videos, clips were pretty
much useless having barely generated any views. So, the Commission’s use of
YouTube is also very poor, but on occasion it can strike gold.

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LinkedIn
LinkedIn has emerged as the biggest employment-oriented social networking
service since it began in 2002. While LinkedIn is an excellent tool to establish an
online presence for the job market, it also provides institutions like the European
Commission the chance to exist on an Internet platform dedicated to professionalism,
businesses and thought-leadership opportunities. The Commission has established a
good following on its account. With over 300,000 followers, the Commission is a top
government agency on the site. At first glance, the Commission appears to be doing
everything right.
The Commission frequently posts on the account, usually everyday or every
other day. Additionally, the posts have a clear business focus. They often talk about
job growth or EU investment1 in businesses across Europe, clearly targeting the
strong business presence on LinkedIn as a whole. They use some type of media, a
photo, graphic or video, and have links to sources on nearly every post2. Essentially,
the Commission checks all of the textbook social media boxes it needs to check.
However, it still has significant room to grow and improve its LinkedIn presence.
The majority of the content posted on LinkedIn reads similar to its Facebook
feed: dry, lacking personality and mostly recycled content. Yes, LinkedIn is
inherently more professional than other social media channels like Twitter or
Facebook. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t establish a unique voice and use
marketable, interesting content. One post3, for example, overuses statistics to try and
make the post interesting, relying on numbers rather than insightful language to
attract attention. Additionally, the media usage is weak, choosing an unrelated picture
of Juncker speaking rather than an image or GIF about job creation under the
Investment Plan.

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Overall, the Commission’s presence on LinkedIn is commendable. Even the
White House, an institution with a renowned presence on Twitter, is passive on
LinkedIn. This trend is common throughout government agencies. With its large
follower base and posting consistency, the Commission has a unique opportunity to
expand on their LinkedIn use by providing resourceful information for their
followers, establishing a stronger variety in content posted and working toward
creating a unique voice so more people want to follow and engage with their content.

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Example Appendix:
1European Commission
Are you looking for investors for your project(s)? The European Investment Project
Portal could be the answer to boost your visibility. Check the website and register:
https://ec.europa.eu/eipp/
How does the investment plan for Europe benefit small and medium companies in
the EU? Check Slumbersac's story, one of the largest children’s sleeping bag
manufacturer, which has received EU support for expanding
opportunities! https://lnkd.in/gfivEAC
18 months into the Investment Plan for Europe was born and we can already see some
success! Over 100,000 new jobs have been created. Nearly 290,000 small and
medium sized businesses are expected to benefit from it. And this is just the

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beginning – by 2020 we aim to have €500 billion of investments triggered in Europe.
All latest info: http://europa.eu/!bW64DT

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