John Shewell | City View

John Shewell is the head of communications at Brighton & Hove City Council and recently wrote ‘Social Media in the Public Sector’ white paper published by DWPub.

John Shewell: Focus Beyond Reputation

Local public services are changing fundamentally in a way which could transform their delivery to citizens.

John Shewell: Why good communication can be disruptive

Earlier this month the Guardian ran a story about 'hacktivism' - the online equivalent to traditional activism.

John Shewell: The Guardian's three pigs are a good lesson for public sector

The Guardian recently ran a campaign depicting the changing landscape of media evolving from traditional broadcast to 'open journalism'.

John Shewell: Social media is the key to connecting with the public in 2012

2012 promises to be another challenging year for the public sector and the biggest challenge is reaffirming the sector's relevance in the minds of citizens.

John Shewell: Yes We Can!

Barack Obama clearly understood the power of communications and pioneered the use of social media in political campaigning to harness the goodwill of people and create a movement based on a simple story - change.

John Shewell: Be prepared for the next round of union protests

30 November 2011 is shaping up to be a big day for public sector comms as the unions take to the streets in protest over a range of issues, notably over public sector pay and pensions.

John Shewell: Internal comms - put people first

Local public service comms teams need to focus on internal comms as the sector goes through one of its most challenging periods.

John Shewell: Riots show the power of social media

Recent events have proved one thing - social media is a powerful communications tool.

John Shewell: Caritas in Veritate

The media landscape may be on the cusp of change following the closure of Britain's biggest selling newspaper on Sunday 10 July.

John Shewell: how to manage political change

Council comms teams face fresh challenges following the local elections on 5 May.

John Shewell: COI review doesn't go far enough - we need 'social design'

The Government's Central Office of Information (COI) recently announced the findings of its review which calls for the creation of a Government Communications Centre.

John Shewell: The limitations on council publications is a non-issue

There's been a lot of activity in recent weeks coming out of the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) ranging from opening up public sector spending to staff and the public taking over the delivery of services.

John Shewell: Collaborate with local media or watch it die

'Ninety per cent of paid-for weekly local and regional papers in the UK recorded year-on-year falls in circulation in the first-half of 2010' screamed the Press Gazette when they announced the Audit Bureau of Circulation figures last month.

John Shewell: Reputation management should be the most important function

The reputation of the public sector is in poor shape. In the past 12 months, the public sector has been ravaged by reports about social services (Baby P and recently the Edlington case), MPs expenses, chief executives' salaries, and pension payouts.