Chapter 6. GSA Encourages and Supports Social Media
Social media tools have been increasingly used by GSA to communicate with citizens and our customers. They can continue to rise in importance as a communications channel if we follow some basic procedural principles.
For example, a "Blog Request Form" is used to initiate a blog. Requests for blogs should be submitted to the OCIO’s Enterprise Applications Division. Blog requests at GSA should:
- Clearly define the subject matter that will be the focus of your blog;
- Provide some basic metrics that will be used to measure whether your blog is effective (e.g., posts per week, comments per post, etc.); and
- Define how, if at all, your blog will relate to other social media channels already created by GSA or organizations within GSA.
Before You Start using social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook or YouTube, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- GSA’s social media policy applies to any message written in your official capacity or with the express purpose of communicating about GSA’s business and mission.
- Apps.gov provides a host of free third-party tools with which GSA has signed an amended “fed-friendly” Terms of Service agreement. These tools are not necessarily compliant with Federal accessibility, privacy, and security laws out-of-the-box, so it is your responsibility to ensure that they are used in a compliant way.
- The Citizen Engagement Platform (citizen.apps.gov), hosted by GSA, provides Federal employees at all agencies with a fast and easy way to create a blog. The tools hosted by the CEP, including a WordPress blogging platform, are compliant out-of-the-box with all current Federal policies on privacy, security, accessibility, and others.
