ONS: Case Study 2
The 2011 UK Census
Objectives of the 2011
Census
• To provide accurate census population estimates
• National population estimate has 95% CI of +/- 0.2%
• All LA level population estimate has 95% CI of +/- 3.0%
• National response rate of at least 94%
• All LAs have a response rate of at least 80%
• To provide accurate population characteristics
Background to the UK Census
Background to the Census in the UK
A UK Census occurs every ten years since 1801
A count of all people and households.
Latest Census : Sunday 27 March 2011.
Online Completion
Twitter, Facebook and online gaming used in publicity.
Three Stages of Engagement
• Consultation: (2007/8)
On statistical geography for ONS
On outputs from the 2011 Census
• Publicity (2011):
supporting recruitment,
raising awareness of the census,
delivering key messages
informing and engaging the public
• Publication:(2012/13)
broadcasting census data releases
promoting third party use and re-use of published data,
planned in phases from summer 2012
Consultation
• Engage a wide range of census data users
• Identify requirements for 2011 Census products
Online survey.
Blog
Forum
Wiki
Publicity
• A comprehensive multi-platform marketing and
communication campaign
• All census information and support was provided
online
• A central Census website was the first point of
contact for the public.
• The 2011 Census was the first UK census to allow
people to complete their forms online.
• With 46.7 million internet users in the UK
• A digital strategy for a digital population.
Publicity
• A Flickr stream
• live events and competitions.
• The Census Facebook
• family history, key groups such as students
• Online viral game (Census Man):
• Younger audience - hard-to-reach youth market of 18 to 24yrs.
Developed by a viral games company, Koko.
• To date, the game has notched up more than 700,000 plays.
• A Census YouTube channel
• Enhanced information and historical context
Publicity
• Twitter feeds:
• Media, the public, and the Welsh language audience.
• Informal voice promoting events
• Steering to other online media.
• Update the public on progress
• Publicising key milestones
• Promoting local and national media coverage.
Publication
• First 2011 Census Results: July 2012
• ONS Web Strategy based on Data Feeds
• Encouraging machine to machine transfer of data from ONS
website
• New websites built by organisations and individuals outside ONS
• Data from a single ONS source
• Re-usability of data in open formats.
• 2011 Census working with the developer community
Social Media for Census Outputs
• Social Media will be used to:
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Broadcast and promote ONS and 3rd party releases
Distribute data (information) to users
Provide analysis
Mash up census data with data from other sources
Present new visualizations (Hans Rosling & Gap Minder).
RSS feeds for updates
Social book-marking
Spread the word…………………………………..
Lessons Learned (Consultation)
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Moved us (a little) beyond typical stakeholders
Foundations of a broader community of practice
Response to the online survey was very good
A high level of continued and returning traffic to the
blog and wiki
• BUT
• It attracted the usual suspects.
• The majority maintained only passive participation
Lessons Learned (Publicity)
• A considered review of activities will soon be conducted
• Current evidence is very promising.
• Anecdotal success at meeting the primary objectives
• Twitter was successful at publicising events and key dates.
• Re-tweeting by local government and other stakeholders
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Conclusion
• The use of Social Media by government statistical
organisations cannot be a pass time (no dabbling!)
• It requires proper resources and constant engagement.
• The organisation must have something to say
• Be prepared to listen to outsiders and act on their feedback
• The most cost effective use of social channels in the future for
ONS will be as a broadcast platform to:
• announce releases
• promote the best uses and 3rd party releases of data,
• encourage such reciprocal promotion from stakeholders and partners.