For some time now, alongside its existing Facebook page, Instagram page, YouTube page, website, local app and so on, the City of Geesthacht has been running an additional group with the promising name "Geesthacht in Dialogue". A group, alongside the page.
682 members. Not a single external post is accepted. Barely any comments. Barely any likes. Barely any dialogue.
Welcome to the dialogue.
What the City Itself Promises
In its very first post, the city writes:
"This group is a place for information, exchange and participation. Feel free to comment your perspectives, ask questions, bring in ideas and discuss with us."
And: "This group lives from your participation."
Those are not small words. That is a public, verifiable promise made to 682 members — incidentally the same 682 who already have nothing to say on the city's existing Facebook page or its other accounts. The same people who do not comment there, do not share, do not interact, were simply invited into a new group. With a new name. And the hope that somehow this time everything would be different.
It was not different — in fact it only got worse. Anyone who looks, looks on and sees the city's entire social media construct quietly collapsing in on itself. Post by post. Week by week. Without anyone sounding the alarm. But what do I know...
What Taxpayers Should Say About This
A Facebook group takes thirty minutes to create. Filling it with content costs time and expertise — and time in a city administration is paid working time. Every hour a city employee spends drafting, coordinating and publishing content for "Geesthacht in Dialogue" comes out of the public purse.
For a channel that is editorially identical to 15 other social media presences, that is a rather curious social media strategy, is it not?
Let Us Apply Some Very Simple Logic:
If you have one app, a notification rings once. If you have 10 apps, the same notification rings 10 times. If you receive 10 identical notifications from 5 apps, that is certainly something — but it is not added value. If that were the great selling point, Nike and Porsche would each have 20,000 Facebook pages disguised as groups. They do not, because it makes no sense and ultimately damages their entire reputation.
What I know: I would shut the project down — and I mean that sincerely, not because I begrudge the city anything, but because you are unfortunately making such serious mistakes that end up causing you more harm than you even realise.
What Concerns Me Most About All of This:
It seems increasingly difficult for certain people within the administration to pause and reflect. Instead they prefer to lash out wildly. Heaven forbid anyone should accept advice. Whether that stems from fear of losing control, from ignorance, or from both — I cannot judge from the outside. What I can judge is the result.
This is not dialogue, it is not freedom of expression and it is not exchange. These are monologues across an ever-growing number of channels that are currently damaging the city's reputation and costing money. All that is missing is for the city to like its own posts, comment on its own posts and nominate itself for the next civic award. Then the concept would be thought through to its logical conclusion.
