FACEBOOK & CO. – Rheintal communities and the new media: those who post reach more citizens

Every congregation maintains a website, but only some of the new media have different levels of intensity. Which channel the Rheintaler communities use in addition to the daily newspaper depends on their respective size and individual needs.

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The new media can no longer be described as new. The classic Facebook went online in February 2004. New providers keep joining him. Usually they set their own focus with text, image or video and address a limited target group.

A church cannot choose its target group. It has to inform the whole population. Which channel the Rheintaler communities use in addition to the daily newspaper depends on their respective size and individual needs. If a community relies on new media, its goal is always to want to strengthen communication and exchange with the population.

Old hand on a new medium

In Au, the community can already celebrate a Facebook anniversary. Almost to the day it has been ten years since your first post. Au was one of the first parishes to operate this canal in April 2011. Since then, it has regularly reached up to 1200 users in this way. The trend continues to rise.

Au does not want to be active on Instagram and Twitter in the future either. “The ten years have shown that our strategy is working,” says council clerk Marcel Fürer. “If we focus on a social media channel, we reach a few more people in addition to the newsletter and the website.” Marcel Fürer draws a positive conclusion. «Communication is rather one-sided. We are happy to receive feedback. ” However, this is not a substitute for a face-to-face meeting at an information event, he says. Hopefully this will be possible again soon.

You always have to keep an eye on a social media channel. So far, the council clerk has not yet had to censor any offensive comments. “It’s very cultured,” he says. Pleasing comments keep coming in, now and then from homesick Auern and Heerbruggern.

Council has not yet looked at new media

Apart from a website, Marbach does not have an account. “The topic has not yet been addressed in the local council,” says mayor Alexander Breu. “We haven’t given any thought to the added value of the new media yet.” Nobody in the village has expressed such a need to this day. “Smaller communities have a harder time with resources than larger ones,” says Alexander Breu. With the same effort, Marbach reaches far fewer people than Diepoldsau, for example. Marbach relies on providing information via the daily newspaper and the “remaInfo” of the trade association girema. «We still have a village correspondent. Andrea Kobler writes about social events from the point of view of a journalist », says Alexander Breu.

Promote dialogue on as many channels as possible

Diepoldsau uses a multi-lane communication path. Simon Riklin has been the community’s first media officer since September. The former television journalist came up with the idea of ​​including four new media in the information concept: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. It started in March.

“There seems to be a need to use new media,” says Simon Riklin. He gets the greatest response from Instagram posts and stories. There are more and more subscriptions in all age groups. There were a total of 462 this week. Facebook has not yet promoted Simon Riklin heavily. With 103 subscriptions, the potential is not yet exhausted. The clips that the video journalist films and cuts himself are very well received. Youtube only has 42 subscriptions, but the current video was viewed by around 550 users.

Twitter uses Diepoldsau primarily to attract the media’s attention. “Our population uses the canal less.” He has 23 followers.

Simon Riklin is pleased with the successful start with the additional platforms. “The strategy has paid off,” he says. “We want to inform the population well on all channels and promote their satisfaction.” An exchange is slowly emerging. He quotes a comment: “It’s nice that we live in such a progressive community.”

Although Instagram is particularly popular, the website continues to be visited frequently. It should even contribute to the high number of users. The four platforms are marked and linked with a logo on the home page. There is no need to use a search engine. This also serves those users who want to read on Facebook, for example, but do not have their own account. This works if the profile is public. However, the provider tries to persuade non-members to register with an annoying pop-up window. The mobile version is also not exactly comfortable for non-Facebook users. Usually only the first post is readable, the others appear without a picture. This is Mike Zuckerberg’s marketing, not the community’s.

Simon Riklin knows that he has to manage all channels regularly so that the large-scale appearance does not turn out to be a flash in the pan. “I have the necessary capacity.” The information is mostly the same on all channels. However, he adapts the form to the channel and its target group.

A robot takes care of Twitter and Facebook

In January 2013, Alex Arnold moved into the Eichberg town hall as a “pirate”. The pirate party, from which he moved to the CVP a year later, is committed to freedom of expression and privacy on the internet. Eichberg’s Twitter account gives no indication of this. He gives information about the current weather every morning. “I don’t actively manage Twitter,” says Alex Arnold. “A robot does that.” All news from the community website appears automatically on Twitter and Facebook.

Alex Arnold self-critically admits that he has too little control over the new media. He doesn’t think about her. It would be wrong to use a lack of resources as an argument, he says. Anyway, all information flows together with the mayor. “So it would make sense if I would post it right now.” Alex Arnold wants to try to think more about actively communicating in the future.

The mayor is not very active in the new media at the moment, even privately. He prefers to sit in the garden than constantly dealing with articles about Corona.

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