Expectations around good quality online services and facilities have never been higher. This isn’t limited just to internet-based companies, but for all organisations with an online presence. This includes trade unions. Back in 2012, I carried out research into online joining facilities, looking at the offerings from all the TUC affiliated unions. I’d developed one of the first ever full union online joining systems for Prospect back in 2005 and had always been keen to see progress in this area. In 2012 I found that 18 unions offered full online joining, with a further 10 offering a partial

Every year, I carry out an analysis of the TUC affiliated unions to see how they rank for influence on Twitter. I compile the results into a league table, so unions can monitor their movements over the last year. I have been carrying this out since 2012, with the previous results available on my blog (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019). For this analysis, I’ve used a tool called Kred. Kred analyses tweets, retweets, followers, mentions etc. to gauge the influence of each active account on Twitter. No Union Name Kred Notes 1 (1) Unite @unitetheunion 968 2 (3) FBU @fbunational

Every July, I carry out an analysis to see how the websites of TUC affiliated unions compare for their perceived ‘authority’. This is a technique used in the Search Engine Optimisation industry to estimate how influential a website is. The previous years can be seen here: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012. The more a union’s website is linked to or shared online, the more important it is seen by search engines like Google. This usually results in higher rankings when calculating search results. I’ve used the leading Domain Authority metric compiled by Moz. They actively monitor

I’ve been working with the TUC on the development of their new Intranet. It’s just been launched and is developed entirely in SharePoint. The TUC uses the Microsoft 365 platform as their core business software, for example, for email and document management. A key part of this offering is SharePoint online - a powerful document management and file storage facility. SharePoint can be complicated to set-up and migrating from a traditional, server based, file system to SharePoint is a hefty project. It also requires training and support, as it’s quite different for users who aren’t familiar with

I’ve been working with the TUC on the latest version of their digital healthcheck tool, with our third major release (version 3) seeing a significant revision. It has been several years since the last revamp, and so these latest changes reflect the fast-moving world of technology. For those who have never used this tool before, our digital healthcheck is a simple tool that allows unions to benchmark their digital and technical maturity. It is an interactive Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, providing ‘best match’ choices across a broad range of categories. Alongside the use of technology, it also

In November every year, I carry out an analysis of the influence of twitter accounts for all the TUC-affiliated unions. I compile the results into a league table, so unions can measure their progress over the last 12 months. This is the eighth year I’ve been doing this analysis, and previous results can be found on this blog (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018), As with last year, I’ve used Kred, a service that attempts to measure social influence of Twitter accounts by analysing data such as Retweets, Replies, Mentions and Followers. The influence score is scored on a scale of 1,000

Every year I carry out an analysis of the websites of all the TUC affiliated unions to compare their perceived ‘authority’. I compile the results into the trade union website league table (see previous results: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012). I use metrics that indicate how influential or authoritative the website is. This is done by analysing how often a website crops up in a link or a mention across the internet. For example, a site with lots of mentions on social media and links from news outlets is judged to be more ‘authoritative’ than a site with fewer back links. These

Unionlearn, the learning and skills organisation of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has recently launched a new careers area on their website called ‘Careerszone’. The aim is to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ with information and resources on careers. I’ve led on the development of this new facility, which uses official ‘big data’ sources to generate careers data alongside other resources. One of the key tools is a comprehensive careers directory, which has a detailed breakdown of almost 400 occupations as classified by the Office for National Statistics. This includes job descriptions, required

Every November, I compile metrics to see which union are the most influential on Twitter. This is the seventh year I’ve been doing this analysis, and previous results can be found on this blog (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017). For the last few years, I’ve been using a tool called Klout to collect the metrics, but Klout has been taken over and now shut down by a company called Lithium, who acquired Klout in order to obtain their AI and machine learning technologies. However, another tool I've used in the past called Kred is still going strong and has improved, so this year I’ve used

Every year, the TUC hosts an Annual Communication Awards ceremony to celebrate some of the great work being done by unions. I always take particular interest in the awards focused on using technology and digital communication. The awards were revamped a couple of years ago, with the new format having a ‘Best membership communication – digital’ category that replaced the previous two digital awards. However, this doesn’t stop technology based communications featuring in some of the other award categories. The winner of the ‘Best membership communication – digital’ award this year went to the