A weblog, or blog for short ?as SocialMediaDNA is a website that is updated regularly. Most of the time a blog is about stories that appear in reverse chronological order (newest on top, oldest at the bottom). The author(s), also called bloggers, provide a log of information they want to share publicly. The advantage of a blog over a newspaper is the speed and ease with which anyone can create it. For example?SocialMediaDNA is based on the free tool WordPress, which offers various plugins to use the powers of other social media features such as Twitter, YouTube , Slideshare and Facebook. You can post not only texts, but there are also photo blogs, video blogs (vlogs or vodcasts) or audio blogs (podcasts). There is also the possibility, just like this blog, to post comments below the posts. Since late 2006 micro blogging became popular, which is a combination of blogging and instant messaging. The best known form of this type of microblogging is Twitter .
From Twittercops to Streetblogs
Twittercops are a hot topic in the media. A while back there was a great article by Tom Hayes about an interesting initiative of the police in Etten-Leur (the Netherlands). The police officer Peter Smaardijk provides a peek behind the scenes via Twitter and his blog. Residents can track where the police is going and what they are doing.
On his evening rounds he puts messages on Twitter. He also talks about regional projects in which he participates. Residents of the neighborhood that follow Peter on Twitter can inform him. An example: someone asked if Peter wanted to take a look at a strange car parked already for a few days outside a house. The guy mentioned the license plate number and Peter just went there to take a look. It’s easier to get a hold of Peter, people previously had no contact and now it’s easier to talk to him. About 170 people follow everything he says on Twitter and can respond back. Through the use of Twitter and his blog, more eyes and ears are added to every streetcorner.
Peter Smaardijk notes however that it is difficult to get in touch with the older people. Partly because of that he started a weblog. To be able to read it, you don’t need to log on to anything. The response Smaardijk gets is great reading material. Many people did not know that police work is so versatile. Peter tries to balance physical presence and social media presence. It is not a replacement, but an addition. The use of social media is part of a test within the police. Besides Peter Smaardijk another police officer in Breda and Tilburg joined in.
The research report of Albert Meijer mentions that blogs have never reached a large audience and they aren’t more active in 2011. An inventory of blogs from April 2011 shows that less than fifteen blogs were found that are managed by the police. They publish, with some exceptions, generally less than one message per month. In 2012 however blogging seems to bounce back. But not using special webblogs, but using Facebook. Cops who are active on Twitter and experience the limitations of it discover that they can produce any kind of long blog post on Facebook. In addition Facebook also enables embedding videos and photos in a simple manner and it can be used as a ‘bulletin board’.
GeenStijl
The www.geenstijl.nl website is trying to attract the public with spectacular ways of bringing the news. Geenstijl was launched in 2003 and founded by a former journalist from “De Telegraaf”. The editors of the site are independent as it brings the news and in a playful way also regularly reports about criminal investigations. They use all sorts of information about a person and case in an innovative way. Under the heading “Smile you’re on Geenstijl” a lot of offenders have been put out of anonymity to great appeal of the visitors of Geenstijl who join in to provide more information.
Anyone can visit the site and leave a response. The messages are posted directly and can be removed by a moderator. It is not possible for visitors to post your own message, you have to be a member. However you can react to a posted message. Geenstijl is deemed to be a platform where people come and go and leave all kinds of information. The site focuses on all kinds of high-profile cases that are in the news or they bring new cases that occur in society to bring it to the attention of the general public.
The social network surrounding Geenstijl doesn’t need many links to other sites in order to become known. In 2008 it was the most famous and largest weblog in the Netherlands. Every day there are about 250,000 unique visitors and at peak times when shocking events are posted this number rises to 500,000.
The site is set up to do all kinds of news, but it reports them in a different way than traditional media. Geenstijl believes that the news in the Netherlands is mainly brought from leftist beliefs and wants to give some relief here. The impact of the weblog can be enormous. Multiple people have been ‘ flamed’ or ‘ named and shamed’ because of posts on Geenstijl since the editorial ignores most general privacy standards. In addition to reputational damage to persons, the site has actually contributed to the identification of suspects and “solved” some cases.
Internationaal
The Boston Police Department launched their social media efforts in 2005 with a blog called BPDnews (http://www.bpdnews.com/). This was the first police corps in?the world that is known to start its own blog. This blog turned out to be a way for the force to let their own voice be heard, because it failed to do so through traditional media. For example, the blog was used to correct and nuance stories that were told in traditional media reports. This blog was mainly read by representatives of the traditional media. These did not like to be corrected, as it was also visible to their peers. This caused for more contact from the media with the police corps to ensure that fewer errors were made in the reports. After that periode a more positive approach was chosen in the blog that attracted many more readers (including civilians). Meanwhile, the website of BPDnews counts between 75,000 and 93,000 visitors per month. In the beginning there was no budget. An employee that hosted the site (blog) was controlled by an external organization and the associated costs were paid out of pocket. At present, there are three people involved in the development of content for social media, and one of them even has a graphics design unit (including a television studio) and there is a social media consultant employed by the IT department.
Source : Report of Albert Meijer et al
Finally, read the IACP fact sheet about police blogs: