Department of Education to monitor Facebook, Twitter

THE Department of Education has added Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets to news sources that it monitors each morning.

Officials in Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s department have increased to over 160 the number of key phrases and names to be scanned across all news forums as a way of tracking what is being said and written about education.

The new service, to begin in mid-January, will mean any newspaper article or online item featuring the names of ministers at the department, education journalists and or any of the other key words will be e-mailed to senior Department of Education management by 9am on weekdays and before midday at weekends. They are also notified of radio or TV stories and debates on education, with the option of getting recordings or transcripts.

As well as issues specific to education and topical areas of policy, such as “class sizes”, “prefab” and “third level”, the list of key words supplied to tender applicants for the contract includes areas of wider government policy that may be relevant. These include: “quangos”, “public sector reform”, “national recovery plan” and “eGovernment”.

The current system of press cuttings and monitoring radio and television is supplied separately by two companies at a total cost of almost €46,400 a year.

But the new contract will require a single supplier to provide newspaper and magazine cuttings, broadcast monitoring and any relevant education material online.

While staff in the department’s press office informally monitor news websites and social media, it wants to keep a closer eye on what is being said and reported online, with a number of recent education items having to be corrected on Facebook.

“Like the rest of the public service, our staffing is down in the last two years and the number answering press queries is down from four to two,” a department spokesperson said.

The department pays €42,108 a year to Business World for a press cuttings services covering newspapers and magazines, and the annual cost of a radio and television media monitoring service from NewsAccess is €4,283. Under those contracts, the department receives an average of 60 articles and is notified of 10 broadcast items a day.

The spokesperson said the service saves large bills on buying newspapers every morning and staff time that would otherwise be spent locating education stories. Although spending on newspapers has been cut by more than 90% from €117,311.66 in 2008, the department has still paid almost €11,250 on papers this year, even though the press cuttings can be accessed by all civil servants on the department’s internal internet system.

“It is important that the people involved in delivering education services and developing policy are kept aware of media coverage of education issues, including what the public and key figures in education are saying,” the spokesperson said.