2.04 Strategies for effective social media engagement

Academic team: Prof Harith Alani, Dr Miriam Fernandez
Policing partners: Humberside Police, Gloucestershire Police, Dorset Police
Status: Complete

The aim of this project, which builds on previous research conducted through CPRL, is to understand what attracts citizens to engage with social media policing content, from corporate as well as from non-corporate accounts. The proposed approach combines learnings from existing theories and studies on user engagement as well as from the analysis of 1.5 Million posts from 48 corporate and 2,450 non-corporate Twitter police accounts. Results provide police specific guidelines on how to improve communication to increase public engagement and participation

Outputs

TitleOutputs typeLead academicYear
Social media engagementFinal ReportAlani, H2018
Policing engagement via social mediaPresentationFernandez, M2017

News

What does the next decade of evidence-based policing look like? Join us for the CPRL Engagement Day on 21 January 2026

This event provides a collaborative and welcoming environment for shared practice, reflection, and strategic direction-setting. Together, we will explore how our partnership can drive forward the next generation of research, innovation, and professional learning across UK policing.

27th October 2025