Internal support depends on culture
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 4:23 am
Tool Coosto selected after extensive tender
With the help of a local company, extensive research was done into which webcare tool would be the most suitable. Based on the wishes and requirements drawn up together, the municipality submitted a questionnaire to all suppliers. After that, 3 companies seriously pitched. In the end, Coosto was chosen because of its ease of use, its completeness and “only a tiny bit because they are located in Eindhoven”.
The system can accommodate 30 people, for example each advisor to the alderman who can independently create searches. The Safety sector also has two accounts with which they search very specifically. Carin adds: “I can also see exactly who is logged in how often and what they are doing. So that makes monitoring easier for us. We also look at other issues that are happening in the city.”
Webcare example from the Municipality of Eindhoven on Twitter
Webcare example from the Municipality of Eindhoven on Twitter
Carin tells about an incident that took place in January 2013 when the tool had only just started: "A boy was very badly abused by a few other boys on the Vestdijk. The video of that went viral after it was broadcast on Omroep Brabant. That was 3 days after we had set up Coosto and that helped us advise the mayor.
It is actually no different from crisis communication. You have to decide whether you are going to communicate something about it as a municipality – even if it is a public order issue. Two things were at play here: the mayor is both the father of the city and the head of the police. There was a lot of indignation and people wanted to take the law into their own hands. Then you have to choose which role to take. Monitoring helped us to choose the police role. Serious threats were coming in on social media.”
Social media also play an important role in crowd management in Eindhoven on Queen's Day/King's Day. As the second city in terms of visitor numbers, there are various parties going on on several squares and it has happened that the city was more than full. "On Queen's Day we work in a permanent crisis structure. At first we used Hootsuite to gauge sentiment and thus provide information about decisions, but that is much less convenient than Coosto - that was very nice to work with this year."
Eindhoven citizen is enthusiastic about the response of the Municipality of Eindhoven on Twitter about waste containers
Eindhoven citizen is enthusiastic about the response of the Municipality of Eindhoven on Twitter about waste containers
Carin proudly talks about the digital culture she experiences: “We are of course separated south korea mobile phone number list in the dual system, so I do not have direct contact with the municipal council and the secretariat. But they are all very active on Twitter, just like the aldermen. Citizens now also know that we always use #raad040 during council meetings, journalists also use this. That makes it very lively for people who also follow the livestream. As a result, there is a culture that social media are allowed and possible - because you do not have to wonder what politicians would think of it. That gives us space to get started with it. In fact: I am working on it full-time in a specially created position.”
Still, I wonder if social media is a piece of cake for everyone. Within this municipality of 2000+ employees, Carin has had to do a lot of missionary work. For example, two years ago she went to the slippery conditions coordinator (slippery roads, ed.) and suggested that he start tweeting. He said he really didn't have the time for that, because he works with extreme peaks and troughs. A year later he came back to that and Carin helped him with a number of standard tweets to start with.
“Well, they used that for two weeks at most before they started working in their own language. This was a great success during the last severe winter! Although they were afraid of complaints, they mainly received thank yous and valuable tips about slippery locations. The number of followers increased and many people tweeted in the morning: 'Nice that the cycle path was clean!'. This appreciation also makes the work a lot more fun. And these kinds of stories do help, yes.
It is my ambassadorial work that there are now ambassadors. More people within the organization now have a better feel for the medium and are prepared to stretch their existing procedures. The way we have it now, it fits perfectly with our resources. We are doing quite well compared to other municipalities and I am proud of that.”
With the help of a local company, extensive research was done into which webcare tool would be the most suitable. Based on the wishes and requirements drawn up together, the municipality submitted a questionnaire to all suppliers. After that, 3 companies seriously pitched. In the end, Coosto was chosen because of its ease of use, its completeness and “only a tiny bit because they are located in Eindhoven”.
The system can accommodate 30 people, for example each advisor to the alderman who can independently create searches. The Safety sector also has two accounts with which they search very specifically. Carin adds: “I can also see exactly who is logged in how often and what they are doing. So that makes monitoring easier for us. We also look at other issues that are happening in the city.”
Webcare example from the Municipality of Eindhoven on Twitter
Webcare example from the Municipality of Eindhoven on Twitter
Carin tells about an incident that took place in January 2013 when the tool had only just started: "A boy was very badly abused by a few other boys on the Vestdijk. The video of that went viral after it was broadcast on Omroep Brabant. That was 3 days after we had set up Coosto and that helped us advise the mayor.
It is actually no different from crisis communication. You have to decide whether you are going to communicate something about it as a municipality – even if it is a public order issue. Two things were at play here: the mayor is both the father of the city and the head of the police. There was a lot of indignation and people wanted to take the law into their own hands. Then you have to choose which role to take. Monitoring helped us to choose the police role. Serious threats were coming in on social media.”
Social media also play an important role in crowd management in Eindhoven on Queen's Day/King's Day. As the second city in terms of visitor numbers, there are various parties going on on several squares and it has happened that the city was more than full. "On Queen's Day we work in a permanent crisis structure. At first we used Hootsuite to gauge sentiment and thus provide information about decisions, but that is much less convenient than Coosto - that was very nice to work with this year."
Eindhoven citizen is enthusiastic about the response of the Municipality of Eindhoven on Twitter about waste containers
Eindhoven citizen is enthusiastic about the response of the Municipality of Eindhoven on Twitter about waste containers
Carin proudly talks about the digital culture she experiences: “We are of course separated south korea mobile phone number list in the dual system, so I do not have direct contact with the municipal council and the secretariat. But they are all very active on Twitter, just like the aldermen. Citizens now also know that we always use #raad040 during council meetings, journalists also use this. That makes it very lively for people who also follow the livestream. As a result, there is a culture that social media are allowed and possible - because you do not have to wonder what politicians would think of it. That gives us space to get started with it. In fact: I am working on it full-time in a specially created position.”
Still, I wonder if social media is a piece of cake for everyone. Within this municipality of 2000+ employees, Carin has had to do a lot of missionary work. For example, two years ago she went to the slippery conditions coordinator (slippery roads, ed.) and suggested that he start tweeting. He said he really didn't have the time for that, because he works with extreme peaks and troughs. A year later he came back to that and Carin helped him with a number of standard tweets to start with.
“Well, they used that for two weeks at most before they started working in their own language. This was a great success during the last severe winter! Although they were afraid of complaints, they mainly received thank yous and valuable tips about slippery locations. The number of followers increased and many people tweeted in the morning: 'Nice that the cycle path was clean!'. This appreciation also makes the work a lot more fun. And these kinds of stories do help, yes.
It is my ambassadorial work that there are now ambassadors. More people within the organization now have a better feel for the medium and are prepared to stretch their existing procedures. The way we have it now, it fits perfectly with our resources. We are doing quite well compared to other municipalities and I am proud of that.”