How two State Agencies uses online Communications and P.R

I think it is important to define what a state agency is before I discuss how one uses online Communications and P.R to its benefit. A state agency is a government run and funded organization that provides a service to a particular group or the wider community. One notable example would be Teagasc (the agriculture and food development authority). Teagasc established in 1988, provides a service in which they educate the young farmers of the future. They also advise more seasoned farmers on the best ways to increase outputs on their farm; they also provide a multitude of other services. Teagasc is part funded by the exchequer fees for reaserch advisory and training services income from EU research programmes as well as revenue from farming activities. Teagasc is probably the  best example of how a government run agency has used online Communications and P.R to promote itself. This state agency not only has s fully functional website it is also quiet active on social media sites such as  Facebook and Twitter and it even has a blog, but it is probably not as good as this one!!!!!!!! I found it interesting how on the website it gives you an opportunity to share any interesting articles or pieces of research you may find on social media sites i.e. (Facebook and twitter).. I believe while it is important to generate positive press on social media, however it is a proven fact that people treat state agency websites as a more reliable source of information. In this blog I have spoken about Teagacs and how it has used online Communications and Public Relations to its benefit. However it would be wrong of me not to highlight the fact that there is many farmers who avail of certain services from Teagasc that have no internet access, and therefore if this state agency’s main audience can’t access their online message one would have to ask how effective is it?

The Department of Health is an area of government that is of interest to all or least it should be. Its core role is to support the Minister in the formulation of polices for the health services. We have seen in the past the department’s poor attempt at Public Relations. It seems there online Communications and P.R effort is not even marginally better. Due to the current economic situation government departments are coming under increasing pressure from not only the media but also members of the public. Therefore the Department of Health needs an effective online Communications and P.R plan. It is a well-known fact that websites act the as the centre of any such plan along with other online tools such as social media. However I would rate the Department of Health website as poor on a number of fronts. Firstly I struggle to understand why there is a need to have a link to the gathering on the Department of Health website. Secondly they give little updates in terms of press releases. For the most controversial corner of government I find it hard to believe it only issued four press releases so far this year. Finally the main page would not encourage you to return. Perhaps if the departments’ online Communications and P.R effort improved somewhat maybe they would be less controversial