Police Social Media ingenuity
English police forces have been at the forefront of using digital technology in general and social media in particular to develop innovative ways of engaging with their local communities. If you’re interested in police use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and the rest, you can check out a whole range of examples here.
Christmas 2013 has seen a new trend – digital Advent Calendars with a diversity of approach, to say the least. This post features a couple of examples.
Greater Manchester Police Child’s Play
Greater Manchester Police – @gmpolice on Twitter – are acknowledged as being one of the leading forces in using social media. They spent considerable time and energy working with local primary school children to produce a series of short videos. The theme is “Christmas Safety is Child’s Play” and the videos are uploaded daily and promoted via Twitter, Facebook etc.
GM Police seem to have a knack of doing this sort of thing well, high production values but with real people. Here’s the first video in the series:
The #Badvent Calendar
Nottinghamshire Police – @nottspolice – went in a different direction entirely. Their online advent calendar replaces the daily chocolate with the picture of a “most wanted” local criminal. Originally termed the #Badvent Calendar, it was renamed the “Festive Crime Calendar”. It’s still a strong contender for my hashtag of the year award.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, none of the first nine miscreants has been apprehended.
You can get an update here
Please contribute any other seasonal comms ingenuity via the comment section below.
