Friday, July 2, 2010
Social Media Presence at NRC
Darren Ash, CIO, NRC
With the support of the Chairman and the Office of Public Affairs, we chose to take a methodical, thought-through approach to things
Thursday, July 2, 2010
I was recently asked about NRC’s use of social media tools. The two questions I got had to do with why NRC doesn’t yet have an “official” presence. Examples of social media sites include Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. As has been detailed in NRC’s Open Government Plan, the Chairman recognizes not only the importance, role, and value these sites play in keeping the public and stakeholders informed, but also their ability to enable collaboration (particularly within the staff) and further enable public participation. For the NRC, I do see the ultimate use of these capabilities as an augmentation of the processes and activities long in use here.
With the support of the Chairman and the Office of Public Affairs, we chose to take a methodical, thought-through approach to things; and a measured, planned out use of social media tools. With respect to establishing an official agency presence, rather than simply start using a site (and multiple sites) just because they are available, we’re thinking holistically about business value first. What for and why would we use these sites? We also wanted to make sure that we’ve thought through records management, policies, procedures, security, and other requirements, too. Finally, we’re building off of documented public and private sector best practices. Rather than doing the work piecemeal over time, I sponsored a cross-agency group to tackle all of the issues together over a four month period. With two months left, I’m pleased with the progress made. I believe that a key ingredient to the group is that it is made up of all internal stakeholders, including representatives from our Chairman’s office, Office of General Counsel and Office of Public Affairs, our program offices and our support offices. All are committed to an agreed-upon set of goals, with a proposed policy and roll-out plan as two of the final work products.
The end state, I believe, will be an official NRC presence of value on a variety of social media sites.
