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Status of UK Local Councils Facebook Fan Pages and Groups as of 22nd July 2009

Submitted by admin on January 16, 2009 – 9:08 am19 Comments
Status of UK Local Councils Facebook Fan Pages and Groups as of 22nd July 2009

ATTENTION: You can now update your own local council details at LGEO Research’s Wiki Page! Please find latest updates there.

UK Local Councils Facebook Fan Pages

This table is a list of UK Local Councils (that I have found) who currently have a Facebook Fan Page. The table includes the councils name, number of fans, active features and the facebook fan page link.

Local Council Fans Active Features Link
1. North Warwickshire Borough Council 21 fans Wall, Info, RSS/Blogs, Photos, Discussion, Boxes, Links North Warwickshire Borough Council Facebook Fan Page
2. East Lindsey District Council 43 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Notes, Events & Videos East Lindsey District Council Facebook Fan Page
3. Lewisham Council 96 fans Wall, Info, Boxes - My Flickr, Youtube Video Box, Lewisham News & My Feeds Lewisham Council Facebook Fan Page
4. Calderdale Council 11 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Boxes- Calderdale Council Feeds - Press Releases, What's On Calderdale Council Facebook Fan Page
5. Maidstone Borough Council 51 fans Wall, Information, Gateway, Events, Photos, RSS/blogs, Notes, High Street, My Council, A-Z services, Youtube and Twitter & Maidstone's Dream Maidstone Borough Council Facebook Fan Page
6. Allerdale Borough Council 15 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Boxes, Video, Events & Notes Allerdale Borough Council Facebook Fan Page
7. Merton Council 24 fans Wall, Info, Boxes, Notes,W Favourite Page & Photos Merton Council Facebook Fan Page
8. East Renfrewshire Council 42 fans Wall, Information, Photos, Boxes, Events, Extended Info, ER Events and News & Posted Items Pro East Renfrewshire Council Facebook Fan Page
9. Stratford-on-Avon District Council 54 fans Wall, Info, Boxes, Youtube, Interact - Social Networking & Media (Twitter, Youtube, Flickr Photostream & Group, Friendfeed), Council Location Maps Stradford-on-Avon District Council Facebook Fan Page
10. No longer available - St.Helens Council 39 fans Mini-Feed, Profile HTML (Where I Live), Online Services, St. Helens Social Media Links (Twitter, Identi.ca Feed, Friendfeed, Flickr Photostream), Events, My Feeds (St.Helens Council's Web Development Blog), Favourite Pages (Links to other local council facebook pages) St. Helens Council Facebook Fan Page
11. Hillingdon Council 131 fans Wall, Info, RSS/Blogs, Boxes, Youtube, Events, My Flickr, Notes, Favourite Pages Hillingdon Council Facebook Fan Page
12. Lichfield District Council 22 fans Wall, Information, Boxes, Ask a question, Flickr, Youtube & Latest planning apps Lichfield District Council Facebook Fan Page
13. Bracknell Forest Council 152 fans Contact Us, Wall, Information, Virtual Tours, Google Map, Notes, Do It Online, Flickr, Council Car Parks, Search Events & Organisations, Bracknell Forest Council News & Job Vacancies & Podcasts Bracknell Forest Council Facebook Fan Page
14. Kirklees Council 41 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Boxes - Discussion Board, Search Kirklees, Add your own content, Events, Effects of current weather conditions, reviews, mirWidget RSS reader, RSS Lookout, Favourite Pages & Notes Kirklees Council Facebook Fan Page
15. Carmarthenshire County Council 54 fans Wall, Information, Boxes - Latest Features, Do it online 24/7, Popular Council Services, Video & Adverts Carmarthenshire County Council Facebook Fan Page
16. Barnet Council 238 fans Wall, Info, Boxes, Events, Youtube, Favourite Pages, My Flickr & Barnet Council updates Barnet Council Facebook Fan Page
17. London Borough of Southwark 126 fans Wall, Info, Events, Notes, Boxes- Youtube Video Box, My Flickr, Events, Social Networking Applications (Twitter, Youtube, Flickr Photostreams, Friendfeed) & Favourite Pages London Borough of Southwark Facebook Fan Page
18. Cornwall County Council 18 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Boxes - Discussion Board & Reviews Cornwall County Council Facebook Fan Page
19. Newcastle City Council 24 fans Wall, Information, RSS/Blogs, YouTube Box & Podcasts Newcastle City Council Facebook Fan Page
20. Medway Council - Fuse Medway Festival 220 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Events, Videos, Boxes - Discussion Board & Reviews Fuse Medway Festival Facebook Fan Page
MySpace Fuse Medway Festival
21. Sunderland City Council 386 fans Wall, Info, Have my say, Services, Boxes, Events, Youtube, My Flickr & Discussion Board, Twitter and social networking links Sunderland City Council Facebook Fan Page
22. Torbay Council 252 fans Information, Events, Photos, Online Services, RSS/Blog, Wall & Fave Pages Torbay Council Facebook Fan Page
23. Wakefield District Council 76 fans Wall, Information, Events, Photos, Boxes, RSS/Blog, Notes, Discussions, Links & Social RSS Wakefield District Council Facebook Fan Page
24. Brent Council 44 fans Wall, Informaiton, Photos, Boxes, Events, Notes & Links Brent Council Facebook Fan Page
25. Wiltshire Council 12 fans Wall, Information, Photos & Links Wiltshire Council Facebook Fan Page
26. Croydon Council 7 fans Wall, Information & Photos Croydon Council Facebook Fan Page
27. Harlow Council 11 fans Wall, Information, Photos, Discussions, Events, Videos & Links Harlow Council Facebook Fan Page
28. Camden Council 52 fans Wall, Information, Photos & Discusssion Camden Council Facebook Fan Page
29. Cambridgeshire County Council 44 fans Wall, Information, Photos, Discussions, Notes, Boxes, Notes, Events & Links Cambridgeshire County Council Facebook Fan Page
30. Exeter City Council 45 fans Wall, Information, Photos, Discussions & Links Exeter City Council Facebook Fan Page
31. Devon County Council 17 fans Wall, Info, My Devon TV, Popular Page, Photos & Social RSS
32. Dover District Council 19 fans Wall, Info, Photos & Links Dover District Council Facebook Fan Page
33. Bromsgrove District Council 16 fans Wall, Info, Boxes & Notes Bromsgrove District Council Facebook Fan Page
34. Babergh District Council 15 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Discussions, Links & Events Wokingham Borough Council Facebook Fan Page
36. Cotswold District Council 4 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Boxes & Extended Info Cotswold District Council Facebook Fan Page
37. Plymouth District Council 3 fans Wall, Info & Photos Plymouth District Council
38. Manchaster City Council 5 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Boxes - Extended info, A-Z services, Latest news RSS and leaders blog Manchaster City Council Facebook Fan Page
39. Suffolk County Council 4 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Videos, Discusssions & Events Suffolk County Council Facebook Fan Page
40. Boston Borough Council 2 fans Wall, Info, Latest News, Do it online, Your say!, Payments, Notices, Photos & Boxes Boston Borough Council Facebook Fan Page
41. Liverpool City Council 3 fans Wall, Info & Photos Burnley Borough Council Facebook Fan Page
44. Corsham Town Council 0 fans Wall, Info, Photos, Discussions & Notes Corsham Town Council Facebook Fan Page
45. Trafford Strategic Planning 58 fans Wall, Info, Photos & Boxes Trafford Strategic Planning
46. Brighton & Hove City Council 88 fans Wall, Info, Events, Video, Photos & Maps East Refrewshire Council Facebook Group
         

Observations in January 2009

  • UK local councils tend to use fan pages rather than groups to deliver their services through Facebook. The differences between fan pages and groups are listed in the table below. This informational table was created by Authority Domains and the link can be found here.

Difference between Facebook Fan Pages and Facebook Groups

Facebook Fan Page Specific Facebook Group Specific Both
- - Invite members
- - Video/photo addition and exchanges
Bigger Logo Smaller Logo Logo addition
- - Discussion board
- - Message all members
Traffic/Visitor Stats (“Insights”) - -
Event posting (via notes, imports from blog, etc.) Event Creation and Invitation (via built-in app) -
- - Comment Wall
- - Add posts
Import posts from blogs as notes/ add notes - -
Mini Feed - -
Publically Visible (because its public, the search engines can index it. They can’t index groups) Private (must be a Facebook member to view, thus can’t be indexed by the search engines) -
- - Main Facebook membership profile required before joining
Bulk updates to fans Can send out bulk invites -
- Members can send invites to others -
Social Advertising Options - -
Better for long-lasting relationships with clients and creating an interactive community with them Better for things like updates, quick discussions and etc. -

  • After observing all the councils facebook fan pages, I found Bracknell Forest Council Fan Page the most exciting to watch. It offers a different approach to how local councils can use Facebook to engage with citizens. They have search functions for events and organisations, which I also found on Kirklees Council which has a ‘Search Kirklees’ function. Bracknell also has a focus group, virtual tour, Do it online, google map on their contact us information and podcasts. While it does have other features, these are the features that interests me the most.
  • Visible Social Media Activity: Stradford-on-Avon District Council, St. Helens Council, Hillingdon Council, Lichfield District Council, Bracknell Forest Council, Kirklees Council, Barnet Council, Newcastle City Council and London Borough of Southwark.
  • Most fans: Barnet Council seems to have a large number of fans which I believe was down to the webteam and consultants effort to increase awareness both online and offline. We shall try to reveal their secrets on their applause worthy success in social media so far soon. ;) Congrats Dom!
  • After surveying all the fan pages, not alot of these councils are utilising ‘The Wall’ service, which is my main interest. Hillingdon Council (8 posts) & Barnet Council (31 posts) are the only councils that seem to have visible interactions with fans on their wall. It begs the question on whether if UK local council facebook fan pages were created merely to create presence or a footprint online and deliver feeds or can they truly be effective by being interactive?
  • There is 1 facebook fan page that definitely stood out and which is Medway Councils Fuse Festival Fan Page. Medway Council has cleverly used the fan page to promote a local event. It currently has 98 fans (which now includes myself ;) ). Here is a MySpace link for the same event http://www.myspace.com/fusemedway. Well done Simon!
  • I almost missed another attractive feature used by Lichfield District Council, which is their ‘Ask us a question’ service. I found this to be a very useful service as the public can ask questions while not exposing the council to unwanted questions or comments on their wall. Well done Stuart! Truly inspired. :)

Though there may still be a lot of questions surrounding the use of social media; specifically in this case, Facebook, I can see the potential in these services if they were delivered effectively and efficiently used to address the public concerns. Though I have to admit, only the councils themselves know the issues that concern their citizens, therefore only those councils will know how to display and use the services accordingly. With that said, no 2 council Facebook fan pages or groups will or should be identical. However there are a lot of practices that can be adopted across councils to encourage the uptake of their Facebook services.

If you wish to add your council to the list, kindly leave the link or details of your council in the comment box.

And please do correct me if I’m wrong or left anything out. Please forgive me! I’m only human ;)

Hope this post was useful!

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19 Comments »

  • Liz,

    Just want to say how good it is to see someone publish their results freely. It hacked me off no end to be asked by an academic a while back for information and then to find he published it in a journal that cost £00s to buy.

    So well done and keep going!

    Shane

  • admin says:

    Hi Shane,

    Thank you for your kind comments. It truly motivates me to share even more information because I feel as academics, we have the power to share our research and actually have an impact on the industry we are involved in. Its sad to hear what has happened to you, it possibly discourages you from sharing information with other academics as well. Which is a shame because this is the main problem in progressing in research. Its really hard to get informants to talk to us. But everyone on twitter have been so kind to me and I really appreciate all the support I’ve gotten so far, so thank you so much for your support. It means a lot…

    Liz

  • Paul Evans says:

    Shane’s right Liz. I don’t think that most academics understand what non-academic consultants have copped on to for some time now: That you should publish research like this and stay within the peripheral vision of as many people as you can – and that doing so means that people can add value to your work, but also that they can respond to it in a way that makes your work more valuable to whoever commissioned it.

    It’s odd how few academics seem to actually believe the social capital papers that they deliver as lectures!

    Thanks for this info – I’ll make sure that lots of local authorities see it and use it!

    Paul Evans’s last blog post..World map of social networks

  • Matt Johnson says:

    Thanks again Liz, this is really useful (so is the collation of Twitter feeds for local gov).

    Do you have any plans to research other local gov activities – maybe Youtube channels?

    I’d started to jot down the ones I’ve found to date and happy to share if you want the info for your research(and do more with it than I have).

  • admin says:

    Hi Matt,
    I’m glad you’ve found the lists useful. :) Yes Youtube definitely would be my next collation on top of list of councillors and MPs (tweetminster.com) who tweet and blog. Others are also coming along, too many to think of at the moment. A lot of hours go into collating these lists and any help is greatly appreciated! :D Please feel free to email me at liz.ainaz@gmail.com and look forward to seeing you here again.

  • admin says:

    Hi Paul,
    Thank you for your comments. I think we’re slowly moving in that direction. But once it catches on, I’m sure it will pick up quickly. I’ve had so many good responses and individuals offering their help on my research that most definitely will add an incredible amount of value to my work. And not to mention the contacts I’ve made that would have never materialized otherwise. You are absolutely right. I’m sure I can learn a lot from you and all your experience. Its great that we can come together and have an impact on each others work immediately. We need to move fast and the only way to keep up is if we collaborate all our efforts.

    Thanks again Paul. You’ve been a great support. :)

  • Sunderland says:

    Hi,
    Just realised that you’ve got the wrong fan page for us. We’re still trying t establish who set up the ‘Sunderland City Council’ one but ours is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1382277089&ref=profile#/pages/Sunderland-UK/52738181995?ref=nf

  • admin says:

    Hi Sunderland,
    I’m really sorry for the mistake. I shall keep to the list you sent me via email to ensure this doesn’t happen again. This has happen with twitter as well, as you can see here http://www.lgeoresearch.com/local-council-identity-fraud-twitter/

    I have updated your details on the table and appreciate you prompting me. This is a great way to ensure all my data is accurate. Hope you find out who the imposter is. Did you know about it before this table came out?

  • [...] Research on what UK local councils are doing with respect to social media. As well as detailing which local councils are doing what on Facebook there is a nice table showing the difference between Facebook Fan Pages and Facebook [...]

  • [...] Liz’s research shows, one can see where Simon is coming from. Councils, at the moment, are not fairing terribly well on [...]

  • [...] the success of gaining feedback from the public via Facebook, Alison setup Facebook Fan Page (to see difference between Facebook Group and Fan Page, see here) to unveil the Coventry City Centres Final Masterplan.  (Click here to see the fan page) It was [...]

  • [...] right mind would want to be a fan of their local council on facebook?” Well, if you check out the local council facebook list I’ve compiled in January 2009, you will possibly be shocked. The message @davebriggs was trying [...]

  • Twitter Comment


    LGEO Research Data Update: 22 new UK Local Councils Facebook Fan Pages as of 13th July 2009 [link to post]

    Posted using Chat Catcher

  • Twitter Comment


    @Liz_Azyan Interesting stats. Great job as usual!

    Posted using Chat Catcher

  • Damien Cutting says:

    Hi

    Trafford Council Strategic Planningare also on Facebook too and have been since June last year.

    Can be searched under “Trafford Strategic Planning”

    Thanks

  • Hi Liz

    Please could you add Brighton & Hove City Council facebook fan page. We have 88 fans and counting…

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brighton-United-Kingdom/Brighton-Hove-City-Council/54869840070#

    ta
    Yvette Bordley
    Senior Marketing Officer
    Brighton & Hove City Council

  • Adam Farrell says:

    Hi,

    I am part of Solihull Community Housings Facebook Admin team, which consists of the costomer involvement manager, myself ( a 17 year old volunteer) and another volunteer who is also 17. We have taken over the page as volunteers with the fans incresing from 8 to 174. We have intrroduced new concepts to the facebook such as the free download of the organisastions documents as well as a new youth service called Y-POD, meaning youth pod. We have introduced a weekly blog which keeps people updated, we regulaly vist youth centres and do presentations publicising the pgae as well as producing posters and leaflets. We have done a number of newspaper interviews. The page also has pictures from events and a daily news update. Have a look from and outsiders view point and see what you think. You can contact me at through the youth information service from Solihull Community Housing ypod@live.co.uk.

    Thanks

    Adam

    Thanks

  • Hi

    Just wanted to say this was really interesting to read – but wondered if there was any research as to ALMO’s and Housing Associations who have Facebook pages. We have a really successful page which is administered by two young people.

    I have tried to find others using this but seem to draw blanks.

    Great information though.

    Thanks

    Michelle

  • Lorenzo says:

    Hi, useful information thanks!
    I just don’t understand one thing: on which basis you conclude that fb pages are “etter for long-lasting relationships with clients and creating an interactive community with them”?
    thanks a lot in advance!!

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