My arguments for more UNESCO twitter accounts

Twitter: @Oosterenvan

I would like to make a plea for more niche UNESCO twitter accounts.

I’ve heard the argument that this “proliferation” of accounts would dilute UNESCO’s twitter audience and eventually lose it. I think on the contrary that if UNESCO manages this proliferation in a targeted way UNESCO would attract more followers, more different followers, and UNESCO would also benefit more from them. Let me explain.

More targeted, better branded

The current situation is that UNESCO already has a number of niche accounts besides it general @UNESCO account, like @IocUnesco, @UnescoIHE, @UNESCO_MAB, and @EFAReport. But I think potentially powerful niche accounts could be created for topics like UNESCO’s freshwater programme IHP, UNESCO’s bio-ethics programme and it's Education or Sustainable Development programme. Other niche areas could benefit from a clearer branding. As a matter of fact UNESCO’s flagship programme, the World Heritage Programme, now seems to have two accounts (@HeritageUNESCO and @unescowhc) with just 101 and 36 followers and no blue/white “v” check that confirms that this is really UNESCO World Heritage tweeting. In short: there is a big potential to gain via well-targeted and well-branded niche accounts.

Niche communication attracts new specialized audiences

Many social media users (like me) are looking for niche material. An ocean scientist for example would like to learn about UNESCO’s work in the field of oceans. She doesn’t necessarily want to be "flooded" by updates on world heritage in danger, freedom of media etc. She needs fit for purpose material she can use for her work. That's exactly the added value of the niche accounts I mentioned above: they attract specific user communities that a general and diverse account cannot attract.

And niche communication works! Why does my colleague Alexander Verbeek (@Alex_Verbeek) have so many followers? Besides his communication talent, it's also because he addresses a specific community: the large group of people interested in sustainable development. Why does David Korenfeld, the Chair of UNESCO’s IHP Council, have so many followers? In part because he writes about meteorology, which addresses the specific needs of a large group of people. In sum they don’t just reach out, they target both their topic and their audience very specifically.

OECD’s successful niche accounts

I looked at the OECD’s successful niche twitter accounts like @OECDGov and @OECD_Centre. Even a “super niche account” like @OECD_EVALNET, which tweets about "development evaluations", already has 4.6k followers. Their tweets would probably have zero outreach if they had to go through the general @OECD account. They might even reduce the @OECD account’s audience: imagine what would happen if the general @UNESCO account started tweeting regularly about neurolinguistics. Instead of filling a special need and niche, they would pollute a more general account. And don’t underestimate the outreach of small specialized audiences: each one of the 4.6k followers has her own specialized and well connected network.

Good tweeting triggers interaction

Another argument for more niche accounts is that the organization can learn from them. Followers do not only follow, they also react to tweets, especially in their field of expertise. Take my example: I’ll be naturally tempted to correct a poorly formulated tweet about UNESCO because UNESCO is my field of expertise. And when an account follows me back it opens the possibility for me to interact with it in a more discrete way via direct messaging. The result is a networking and learning experience. That’s why Barack Obama follows so many people: he wants to know what’s going on.

It’s easier to create this type of dynamics with specialized audiences that are strongly involved in the niche topic. This is especially relevant for UNESCO, which is a network organization engaged with many, very different communities in the field of education, science, culture, communication and information. UNESCO can benefit from good niche accounts as they can trigger useful contributions to UNESCO’s work and even increase its network.

The “personal audience effect”

One last argument for niche accounts: the psychological “personal audience effect”. I don’t agree with the argument that the power of a twitter account mainly depends on its financial means. I think it also depends on how you use your human means. The best way to motivate staff members to tweet is to simply allow them to have their own audience. A growing audience is no different from love and attention: it’s a damn good motivator. It’s no secret: everybody likes “likes” and followers, especially when they like and follow you and your team. It’s just more motivating to develop a twitter dialogue with an audience of people interested in your topic than to be one of UNESCO’s 1,500 staff members feeding one general @UNESCO account.

Ask Guy Berger and Irina Bokova

To test this psychological argument just ask UNESCO’s Director of Freedom of Expression @guyberger what he thinks. He has no less than 9,6k followers. That’s almost twice as much as UNESCO’s water university @UnescoIHE. And Berger would be number 4 (!) on the social media champions list of my Ministry of Foreign Affairs (see link) which employs over 5000 people. Just ask him how he got there, if the personal audience effect played a role. Or ask his boss @IrinaBokova if her recent and sky rocketing audience helps her to tweet more and better. She jumped to 3k followers in just a few weeks. I’m pretty sure they both agree.