The Federal Council has been on Instagram (@gov.ch) since Monday. The somewhat long trailer raises high expectations. It shows beautiful moving images from everyday life of the government and fast flickering keywords, accompanied by music. The trailer got nearly 600 likes in its first hour.
The first real contribution turns out to be a lot more sober. In pastel colors, the state government explains in a pie chart which energy sources supply Switzerland with what percentage of energy. After all, the article is available in three national languages – a different place would probably have been needed for Romansh. Rhaeto-Romance posts are only “selectively” planned, according to the media report.
Even without a fourth national language, ten new officials will soon be deployed for the Bundesrat Canal. Six of these vacancies have already been filled. The goal is to make three posts per week on Instagram.
Social Media Strategy
The Insta officials are also responsible for other internet activities. They are part of the «social media strategy». The government wants to modernize its communication. In doing so, the Federal Council pursues three goals, as the spokesman for the Federal Chancellery Urs Bruderer explains: “First, he wants to use more audiovisual means to explain his business on all channels. Secondly, he also wants to reach younger segments of the population, who mainly use social media to get their information. Third, he wants to strengthen communication with other countries, which is becoming increasingly important.”
One person per department should be responsible for this new strategy. Another four people coordinate the activities at the head office. According to Bruderer, the additional people will work in the following areas:
- Audiovisual formatsie the creation and publication of videos, photos, illustrations and infographics for all communication channels of the Federal Council and departments
- topic planning and Content creation prepare the most important decisions, transactions and activities for all channels in the different languages
- Follow comments on the channels with the users Interactionserve even more channels in the future (Twitter in English from 2023)
- In addition, they must develop. For example, they should examine the use of new technologies, modernize the website and media reports of the Federal Council and departments, clarify the potential of new platforms for government communication and evaluate the legal basis for communication in social media.
The Insta officials are therefore responsible for a whole range of tasks. So far, only the Instagram account can be seen. Staff costs still seem quite high in relation to online output.
Confederation wants to achieve “news deprived”.
According to the federal report, younger generations get their information almost exclusively through social media. In total, 53 percent of 16- to 29-year-olds are so-called news poor who are insufficiently aware of what is happening. The federal government wants to achieve this through the new channels.
“Social media has become an important field in political opinion-forming. And their influence continues to grow,” according to the press release. The target group expects political actors to present themselves and their decisions on social media. The reliable information from the federal government is also intended to combat fake news.