ONS: Case Study 2

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ONS Case Study 2

• The 2011 UK Census

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Objectives of the 2011 Census

• To provide accurate census population estimates
• National population estimate has 95 CI of /-
  0.2
• All LA level population estimate has 95 CI of
  /- 3.0
• National response rate of at least 94
• All LAs have a response rate of at least 80
• To provide accurate population characteristics

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Background to the UK Census
Background to the Census in the UK A UK Census
occurs every ten years since 1801 A count of
all people and households. Latest Census
Sunday 27 March 2011. Online
Completion Twitter, Facebook and online gaming
used in publicity.
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Three Stages of Engagement

• Consultation (2007/8)
• On statistical geography for ONS
• On outputs from the 2011 Census
• Publicity (2011)
• supporting recruitment,
• raising awareness of the census,
• delivering key messages
• informing and engaging the public
• Publication(2012/13)
• broadcasting census data releases
• promoting third party use and re-use of
  published data, planned in phases from summer
  2012

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Consultation

• Engage a wide range of census data users
• Identify requirements for 2011 Census products
• Online survey.
• Blog
• Forum
• Wiki

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Publicity

• A comprehensive multi-platform marketing and
  communication campaign
• All census information and support was provided
  online
• A central Census website was the first point of
  contact for the public.
• The 2011 Census was the first UK census to allow
  people to complete their forms online.
• With 46.7 million internet users in the UK
• A digital strategy for a digital population.

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Publicity

• A Flickr stream
• live events and competitions.
• The Census Facebook
• family history, key groups such as students
• Online viral game (Census Man)
• Younger audience - hard-to-reach youth market of
  18 to 24yrs. Developed by a viral games
  company, Koko.
• To date, the game has notched up more than
  700,000 plays.
• A Census YouTube channel
• Enhanced information and historical context

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Publicity

• Twitter feeds
• Media, the public, and the Welsh language
  audience.
• Informal voice promoting events
• Steering to other online media.
• Update the public on progress
• Publicising key milestones
• Promoting local and national media coverage.

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Publication

• First 2011 Census Results July 2012
• ONS Web Strategy based on Data Feeds
• Encouraging machine to machine transfer of data
  from ONS website
• New websites built by organisations and
  individuals outside ONS
• Data from a single ONS source
• Re-usability of data in open formats.
• 2011 Census working with the developer community

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Social Media for Census Outputs

• Social Media will be used to
• Broadcast and promote ONS and 3rd party releases
• Distribute data (information) to users
• Provide analysis
• Mash up census data with data from other sources
• Present new visualizations (Hans Rosling Gap
  Minder).
• RSS feeds for updates
• Social book-marking
• Spread the word..

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Lessons Learned (Consultation)

• Moved us (a little) beyond typical stakeholders
• Foundations of a broader community of practice
• Response to the online survey was very good
• A high level of continued and returning traffic
  to the blog and wiki
• BUT
• It attracted the usual suspects.
• The majority maintained only passive participation

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Lessons Learned (Publicity)

• A considered review of activities will soon be
  conducted
• Current evidence is very promising.
• Anecdotal success at meeting the primary
  objectives
• Twitter was successful at publicising events and
  key dates.
• Re-tweeting by local government and other
  stakeholders

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Conclusion

• The use of Social Media by government statistical
  organisations cannot be a pass time (no
  dabbling!)
• It requires proper resources and constant
  engagement.
• The organisation must have something to say
• Be prepared to listen to outsiders and act on
  their feedback
• The most cost effective use of social channels in
  the future for ONS will be as a broadcast
  platform to
• announce releases
• promote the best uses and 3rd party releases of
  data,
• encourage such reciprocal promotion from
  stakeholders and partners.