Can talking to customers on social media make water utilities more efficient?

Working with the European Junior Water Programme, we are looking at the scale to which utilities could experience positive operational benefits from using social media channels to communicate with users and customers.

The initial results are interesting but we need your help to get a much more robust understanding of this issue - so please answer this short survey.

The survey and research is open to everyone to contribute - service providers and users/customers and from all over the world.

We think this work will really be of value to utilities in developing countries as they progress on making their operations more digital, a need that they became acutely aware of during the pandemic.

Of course there are some utilities that actively engage in two-way communication with users on social media, so people can report problems like leaks and service disruptions quickly.

The UK water companies are good examples. I remember recently tweeting about a leak I spotted to Thames Water and I got a response back quickly. But could and should this be replicated elsewhere? And how useful really is it to users and utilities? This is what we are trying to explore more. If you already have information and data on this, please let me know!

What have we found so far?

The initial results show almost half of those surveyed feel that social media would be a good place to share and receive news about water issues eg service disruptions, water quality and hazards like floods.

However, there is less appetite for direct, two-way engagement and communication from respondents with their water provider and public authorities.

Only about 30% of respondents would join a social media group (e.g., Facebook) to receive information about water issues generally and/or use an app on their phone that contains information about these issues.

And only 25% of respondents would like to receive updated information directly from their water provider via social media - but 35% of them would use social media to inform the water provider about water system/supply issues.

So the initial results are interesting because they did not show as much willingness among users to engage with their utility on social media as I expected.

This suggests a nuanced approach from utilities and service providers aiming to use social media to support customer services and provide a more efficient service.

I still believe that social media can be a way of improving service and being in touch with users. However, we need more research, particularly on the tools and channels that could be most effective.

So please complete the survey and let us know what you think.