Interview With... Hanwell Social Media Officer, Elsa Jones

At the age of 18 Elsa Jones has already had a few different roles within Hanwell Town. Her main role is Social Media Officer, providing content and information for fans through the mediums of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, amongst various others. Alongside this she does a number of other roles, such as operating the turnstile on a match day. Her love for Non-League football is shown through a stat she has provided, “Non-league football is very important to me, I just love it, before the Corona Virus I was averaging 3.2 games a week! It’s not just Hanwell, I’ll go to any game that is on.”

We interviewed Elsa to see just how much of an impact the Coronavirus is having on her roles at Hanwell and how important social media is during this pandemic.

Response to Coronavirus

Jacob Welch, JW: Hi Elsa, thanks for the interview. Now, how do you feel non-league has been treated by the FA and the government in regards to its latest announcements of procedures for all leagues below the National Leagues?

Elsa Jones, EJ: I think it could have been handled better, you can see from the comments on the League Statement that clubs and fans weren’t happy. I think with clubs the main issue was that clubs weren’t informed first, but looking at it from the league’s perspective, you can understand why they released it over social media first, so everyone found out about it at the same time. But I still think they could have given clubs a heads up, certain committee members at Hanwell didn’t find out until hours later because they don’t have social media. I think that clubs need financial support from the FA/Government, most grassroots clubs are the heart of the community, Hanwell have 28 youth teams! Now I think that the same decision should be carried throughout all leagues including Premier League, it’s only fair.

(Elsa standing next to the FA CUP at Hanwell vs Thamesmead, Ex-FA Chairman Greg Dyke was also present that day. Photo courtesy of Elsa Jones, @elsajones26)

Coronavirus and Social Media

JW: With you overseeing Hanwell's Social Media, how has the Coronavirus affected yourself being able to do the job you do?

EJ: We’ve been trying to keep everything very positive, sharing our favourite pictures/goals of the season and asking supporters for their favourite player. We’ve been retweeting all the info from the league and county to ensure our followers know what is going on.

JW: Do you think social media is an effective tool for helping to combat Coronavirus?

EJ: I think it has positives and negatives. The positive side of it is that there are adverts on all social media platforms reminding you to wash your hands and giving you updates. Another positive is it keeps people busy; all the challenges are great. It is also fabulous for helping us recognise the amazing work that the NHS and the public are doing. The negative can be that fake news can be passed around but that's no different from anything else to be honest. Overall, I think social media has been effective. The club's socials have been sharing posts from the NHS and about the current situation to keep our followers as updated as we can and to make them aware of the importance of the messages that the NHS and government are sending.

JW: And how do you feel social media has been affected in a wider footballing context through Coronavirus?

EJ: One thing is it keeps people going, staying in touch and reminiscing can be done over social media. As much as there is so much negativity around the use, it can be so important if used correctly.

JW: How hard has it been trying to come up with content during this quarantine?

EJ: It’s been quite hard, trying to time certain posts. Each week we usually have a folder of posts which we’ll spread out across the week and with all the uncertainty over what’s happening it’s been harder to know what to post. It helps when the players/managers/fans post something as we can retweet it etc. There have been different challenges across Twitter and Instagram so we have been engaging in them as much as possible too.

JW: Thanks for your time Elsa, and good luck!

#CORONA #CORONAVIRUS #PREMIERLEAGUE