There’s something really interesting hidden behind the headlines of the Twitter ‘experiment’ that Greater Manchester Police is running today. I really hope that it comes to the forefront when the furore dies down. I must admit that at first I was intrigued, perhaps a little dismissive about it this morning, but after seeing what’s happened as the day has progressed, I’m firmly in the positive camp.
The debate about whether this is a good way to spend money and resources is one that I’m not going to get into – I don’t know how this has been architected, who’s managing it and what resources are being put into it so I’m not in a good position to comment – except to say that I think it’ll be far less than people would like to suggest has been ‘wasted’. And anyway, it’s not wasted.
The stream that is coming out isn’t all that interesting either. It’s not really telling us that much, but that’s not the point. The overall lens that is being cast on the daily operations of GMP is fascinating…and it’s showing that Twitter can be used in real life situations that are more than just “my horse slipped on a banana skin” type nonsense that many, many people believe is what Twitter is about.
Of course the latter is just wrong. We know that Twitter is very useful and that we’re only scratching the surface of ways in which channels like these can be used. Also, when did you ever see a horse slip on a banana skin?
But seriously, this could well be groundbreaking. Twitter’s (almost) real time nature means that we get an immediate insight into exactly what GMP are dealing with, right now (almost). We don’t need the detail. We need that lens that tells us that money is really being wasted on answering 999 calls from kids messing about or because people think they can call it for any old reason.
That’s the point. This lens is different to the usual stats that we might see at the end of a year that gloss over these details with statistics. We all know that money has to be spent where it shouldn’t need to be, but when we can see the reality as part of a rolling, live update like this I think it has much more impact. That small amount of extra detail about every call is very powerful. When lumped together in one stat it loses that efficacy.
And I’m not alone. Twitter is all over this story today, as are all other media channels. That’s a good thing. I just hope that we find that fertile ground between the chest beaters who think any use of Twitter is amazing and the naysayers who’ll hone in on the money that has been spent on this.
Of course, we have other lenses cast on public services through blogs and Twitter already. We’ve just never seen anything quite so high profile.
It’s good news. A job well done. Bravo to GMP for having the foresight and courage to do this.
-pc.
This is the sort of proposterous attempt at substantiating the waste of the public purse than I’ve seen in a long LONG time.
This exercise is full of issues;
1/ public data
2/ manpower
3/ strategic focus
4/ whats the target ROI?
An obvious PR campaign to seek sympathy for lazy employees and to justify a scarce budget when actually; revising the time set aside for paperwork would work much better.
Not least addressing the abuse of sick and compassionate leave, plus much more.
Getting a damn sight more than 16% cumulative officer time on streets gets my approval.
The Cheif Constable should be fired without a pay-off!
@gmpolice response to me: there is minimal cost for today’s twitter updates, we are using existing systems and office staff #gmp24 : http://twitter.com/#!/gmpolice/status/27355054538
Existing systems & staff? This capacity should be focused on law enforcement not PR.
This is why I figure theyve not got a finger on the pulse:
1/ do the GMP, and the National forces for this matter, REALLY have the same priorities that the public want them to have?
= reduce crime and enforce law regardless of timescale
2/ the 16% cumulative time on the streets was meant to be fulfilled by community officers but is proven to be a financial debacle negatively impacting on the public purse – much like many unmodelled ad-hoc idea’s.
= whimsical idea
3/ somebody somewhere is notating, tweeting and responding to Twitter feedback – that takes manpower & budget away from the focus of Police duties of enforcement and prosecution in my view.
4/ any time spent by anyone on PR or advertising is pointless because the public cannot choose which Police force to call.
= can the Police get away from their desks more than 16% of tgheir time.
5/ the Police are on the backfoot only because I want them on the streets but they have been cosied up by past governments and unions
= fight paperwork, fight crime.