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Entry bubble Government and Social Media

By: Joanne | October 28, 2008 | Category: General

connectLast week the Social Media Club of Washington kindly invited me to join a panel presentation on social media in government. It was a great opportunity for me to talk to the group about how USA.gov is exploring social media to connect with the public and to deliver government information and services in this powerful new way.

I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback about the government using social media, and when I was with the Social Media Club it was really energizing to see the level of interest the social media community has in government using social media tools.

That’s why we’re stepping up to the next level. Government agencies are using social media tools like blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter to reach out and give you information. USA.gov is working on a strategy to use social media tools to better engage in conversation with the public and to deliver information and services the way you want to get it. Do you like to get your information from the printed page, hold that publication in your hands? Do you like to talk to us on the phone? Or are you into blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and the like?

Help us form our strategy by telling us what you like – fill out this quick (about 5 minute) survey.

| View Comments [12] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: blog   club   facebook   government   joanne   media   social   twitter  

Comments (12):

blue comment bubble Posted by thomas on October 28, 2008 at 11:28 AM EDT


Great survey! Thank you GovGab team. You all are a great source of information.

Thomas

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blue comment bubble Posted by Sandeep on October 28, 2008 at 11:37 AM EDT

Social Media is a excellent way to connect with people - quickly - effectively - and instantly. In cases of emergencies - Social Media is great - become people will become your messangers.

Also - Social Media enables people to connect to Gov authorities which is critical for establishing trust in the minds of people.

Excellent post.
BTW we have created a excellent FLASH animation on "WHat is Social Media" available here
http://vizedu.com/2008/10/social-media-explained-visually/

thanks

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 28, 2008 at 11:48 AM EDT

Thanks for participating in the survey, Thomas. The more responses we get, the better the results will be!

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 28, 2008 at 11:55 AM EDT

If anyone needs to learn more about what Social Media actually IS, I encourage you to check out Sandeep's slideshow. It only takes a minute or two and is very easy to understand. It's at: http://vizedu.com/2008/10/social-media-explained-visually/
thanks Sandeep!

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blue comment bubble Posted by Wonk on October 28, 2008 at 02:05 PM EDT

Just wondering. . . has this survey passed through OMB approval through the Paperwork Reduction Act? I would think it would have to, but I don't see any OMB approval number.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 28, 2008 at 03:41 PM EDT

Hi Wonk,
I checked into your question and the survey is being conducted by Captura Group, not the government.

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blue comment bubble Posted by HB on October 30, 2008 at 01:47 PM EDT

How cool, that the federal government is "exploring social media to connect with the public and to deliver government information and services in this powerful new way." Of course, as a federal employee, if I try to access twitter, flickr, facebook, myspace, or any of the other "social networking and personal" sites from work, I immediately get a blocked page message from "Websense." And yes, I tried to click on the links in this article and got the usual message that it's been blocked. I know some people probably abuse their internet access during work, but it gets pretty ridiculous when I access a US government webpage that has big empty spaces on it because someone is linking to pictures on flickr.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 30, 2008 at 02:19 PM EDT

Well HB, you're not alone. There are a lot of federal employees that are blocked from viewing social networking sites - heck, I even know of federal employees who can't even look at the GovGab.gov blog because they're blocked! Some agencies ban social networking sites citing concerns of proper use, bandwidth, and security, which is unfortunate because I think it hinders colaboration, and just blocks the agency's communications professionals from using these tools to help market and achieve the agency's mission.
I'm grateful that my agency (the General Services Administration) has a sensible policy about accessing social networking sites, and we're able to use these tools to connect and serve the public.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Kristin Alexander - Moderator for WA Attorney General's All Consuming Blog on October 30, 2008 at 06:19 PM EDT

Great idea. I'd be very interested in seeing the results of your survey. As a media relations manager for the Washington Attorney General's Office, I'm constantly on the look out for new ways to get the word out about government programs and resources.

Our All Consuming blog (www.atg.wa.gov/allconsuming.aspx) gives me another way to communicate with the public about consumer protection issues.

The challenge to any organization, of course, is determining the effectiveness of public relations, outreach and education strategies. Social media gives us some idea of who is listening and responding.

Kristin Alexander

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on October 31, 2008 at 09:44 AM EDT

Kristin,
We love to share what we learn - be sure to check out webcontent.gov to leverage the collective intelligence of the government web content manager community. Since you're in media relations, you might try a social media news release instead of a traditional press release some time. We did a social media news release to celebrate (and promote) the first birthday of the GovGab.gov blog. You'll find it at http://www.usa.gov/social-media-pressroom/govgab-birthday-09192008.shtml

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blue comment bubble Posted by Mike on December 03, 2008 at 05:36 PM EST

Is there a list of government organizations, Agencies, Departments, etc. on Facebook, Twitter, and so on? I work at the National Agricultural Library and want to get the word out about our Facebook page(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beltsville-MD/National-Agricultural-Library/15937211215), but there doesn't seem to be a coordinated effort to publish federal information. It would be great to have a one stop shop!

Thanks!

Mike

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on December 04, 2008 at 09:27 AM EST

Hi Mike,
I don't know of any list of government organizations on Facebook or other social networking sites. Government agencies have been moving into the social networking spaces, it's widely discussed and experiences are shared in the government web content manager community but the effort has not been coordinated. I think things are going to change rapidly and really think the next year is going to be an exciting time for government and social media. If you're a government employee (any level of government) I encourage you to join the Web Contnent Managers Forum to stay informed and involved: http://members.webcontent.gov/?page=About_Us

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