The Internet is Not an Excuse for Bad Communication

Picture this. You, Average Q. Planner, are at an open house for a public project, to help people learn more. You are asked by a citizen for more information on something, and you state, “oh, go look on the project web site, your answers are all there.” You are then asked a few more specific questions, and state “I don’t know, but you can go onto our Twitter feed and ask us there, and get a response.”

You, the staff person, are proud. You’ve done your job, and better, you’ve done it in a new and innovative way by using your organization’s web site as well as social media.

But what about the citizen? The citizen is walking away from the meeting just as uninformed as when they entered the room, and feeling cheated somehow.

What actually went wrong here?

The Internet — and especially social media — are often viewed incorrectly by planners and engineers working on public projects. They are quite often viewed as a method to disseminate information more efficiently. What they fail to realize is that communication is not about efficiency, it’s about building relationships. By telling someone to look elsewhere, you’re shutting off a conduit of relationship between yourself and a citizen. To put it another way, when helping projects get built the exchange of information is just as important as the content.

Is it the wrong move, then, to put your project information on your web site, to direct people there, or to use social media tools like Twitter? Not at all. These are all great ideas. They are not, however, replacements for real, face-to-face conversations, nor phone calls, nor email. Nor are they ways to reduce your personal workload. Viewing them through that lens turns public outreach into a mechanical model, which is all about efficiency rather than inclusivity.

Outreach is about building relationships. It’s about empowering citizens, not dehumanizing them. Use the Internet for public outreach. Use social media. But don’t use them as an excuse for bad communication or the elimination of face-to-face contact.