Local Authority staff will be the main agents of change of approach to the web. They must be provided with the correct tools and training in order to drive these changes. If the process of encouraging and nurturing connections between the citizens and businesses of the community is not clear, easy to perform and – above all – rewarding, then it will not happen.
Social media and an increase in communications contexts is changing the characteristics of organisations’ authority and authenticity.
A feature of the widespread use of social media, and the way organisations engage with it, is that communications, at least in some domains, are becoming more personal and more ‘human’ in tone. In addition, organisations are realising that official messages published on their website can become isolated from the general flow of messages from individuals, which are frequently seen as more authentic and thus carry more influence. This raises issues as to the authority and authenticity of the institution’s voice in different contexts, which must be understood and appropriately employed by all staff who engage the public over digital channels.
The Connected City 