IBM has just released a new guide to the use of Twitter in government. The do’s and dont’s guide, written by my colleague and writing pal Ines Mergel “is based on insights gained from discussions with social media directors in U.S. federal government agencies and observations of their daily Twitter tactics. The report offers helpful advice on the strategies and tactics prevalent in government today. It also has a good deal of real-world examples that will be especially helpful to the government social media neophyte.
National Study Ranks City Governments’ Use of Social Media (But Not Really)
National Study Ranks City Governments’ Use of Social Media - That’s the headline I stumbled across this morning on Ragan’s PR Daily. But I quickly discovered that it was not an accurate title for the report in question. The interesting new study from the University of Illinois did a nationwide ranking of city governments to determine their linkage between e-government and civic engagement (which of course goes way beyond just social media). The criteria for their findings, according to their news release were “opportunities for citizen participation and information,” which included:
• Hosting of open data portals;
• Comments allowed on blogs and social networks;
• The extent to which online discussions concerned policy as well as city services;
• Information on officials, budgets, city council meetings and neighborhood issues
The first criterion, open data portals, I think it is debatable with regards to social media savvy. Certainly it shows innovation and transparency, but I am not sure it illustrates the necessary interaction to be considered an indicator of two-way dialog. The final criterion, information on the details of the organization is definitely not an indicator of social media awareness. Rather I would consider this a basic building block of any online presence. This is just a stepping stone to social media use – if you don’t have the details posted, how can you have a fair and honest discussion about them? The middle two criteria, allowing comments and having discussions about meaty issues such as policy…that’s where the action is! The report is a very valuable catalog of cities and how well/how far they take the online discussion of policy decisions, with considerable detail about many of the highest ranking cities and the strategies they use to connect with citizenry.
With lots of ties noted, here’s the studies Top Ten results:
1. New York
1. Seattle
2. Virginia Beach
3. Portland
4. San Francisco
5. Kansas City, MO
6. Denver
7. Mesa, Ariz.
8. Louisville
9. Philadelphia
9. Long Beach, CA
9. Sacramento
10. San Jose
For more detail, you can review the news release from the University of Illinois at Chicago or the report itself (PDF). As for the summary, it identifies what many probably already knew – we’ve made progress but there is still much to be done:
“Cities provide an important wealth of information that has evolved over time. Compared to Ho’s assessment in 2002, there is greater transparency and interactivity. In contrast with the early efforts of the 1990s, cities use their websites without exception to connect citizens to their neighborhoods. Nearly half include some information about voluntary sector organizations or activities as well. Customization of information is common. But, there is little that resembles e-‐democracy as collective problem-‐solving or deliberation through technology. Accessibility is an area for improvement both in Illinois and nationally, as many local websites are not user-‐friendly for people with disabilities or with limited English. Although privacy and security have improved, not all cities have this, particularly the smaller cities that were examined in Illinois.”
I thought it was also interesting to note that while the report had a significant amount of detail and guidance for local governments, the closing paragraph of their Executive Summary showed that there is still significant questions and opportunities for more research:
“While this research examines the categories of information provided on local websites, more needs to be known about the quality of that information – for example, whether policy analyses are provided on major issues, and whether they are made available before decisions are made by government officials. Government websites can facilitate but not create citizen engagement, and so it would be useful to understand the extent to which citizens use these features on local government websites, and whether they affect knowledge, discussion, interest and participation. Finally, these rankings raise questions about why some cities outperform the others, and further analysis is needed to understand the factors associated with higher rankings on the civic engagement index.”
In other words – this stuff is still evolving like crazy, so we can’t be too sure about anything. I am not slighting the study in the least – it is a rapid and very fluid evolution. We can observe, note trends and provide recommendations, however nothing is concrete. But isn’t that what makes it so exciting? : )
Government Social Media Guidebook Update
Last year, my writing partner Ines Mergel and I signed a contract with Jossey-Bass/Wiley to author a government guide to social media. The product of our collaboration is a handy little tome called: Social Media in the Public Sector Field Guide: A practical approach to designing and implementing government social media strategies. Yes, I know it isn’t the most creative title, but it does get the point across!
The book is a guide for the social media novice – the government employee who is tasked (either by assignment or design) to develop and support the agency’s social media efforts. The book covers the origins and value proposition of social media in government. It explores the most successful tools and how to use them. We also cover the strategies, policies and tactics to ensure a successful launch and long-term value. The guide includes dozens of real-world examples and several case studies and testimonials from government 2.0 rock stars to help make the content practical and accessible.
The peer reviews starting rolling in about a month ago and I am happy to report that we’ve just submitted our edited manuscript back to the publisher for review. Please join me in a collective woot on reaching such a great milestone! If you think this book might be helpful, please stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to a release date.
So What’s the Deal With Pinterest?
I am not so sure that I understand the purpose behind Pinterest. First of all, they seem to make it a somewhat exclusive club by not allowing you to automatically sign-up. You either apply and wait or you beg for an invite from a friend who already has a Pinterest account. This seems like forced viral marketing…but for what reason?
I applied and got an auto email thanking me for joining the Pinterest waiting list. Wait…what? I have to wait to join? Why? A you really checking up on me? Do you need to see my credentials? After venting my frustration at being wait-listed, I did have a couple of big-hearted pals who took pity on me and sent me an invite to speed up the process:
Four days later, I was finally got the “approval letter” from Pinterest directly, but by then I was already in. By the way, drop me a line if you want a personal invite to check it out for yourself. I can’t seem to find any online resource about why they choose this process for inclusion, but I did find a lot of people asking the same question as me. However, the process isn’t slowing down their use rate. According to Alexa, Pinterest pageviews have increased 128% over the last three months, even though it has been around since March 2010. And according to their Wiki page, the company was valued at $200 million in Oct 2011. What am I missing?
To be fair, Pinterest has never claimed to be a game changer. Their stated mission statement is “to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people.” But other than being able to post pictures, what’s the appeal? I can see how this would be great for visual designers, photographers, interior designers, etc. to strut their stuff. But what about the rest of us? Just to see how it works, I created a board focused on the Imminent Zombiepocalypse. Last week I started adding images to it and since then, it has had hundreds of “likes’ and “repins” and new “followers”, but so what? I didn’t post anything that wasn’t already online or anything original, so who cares? I am not a renowned zombieologist, I’m just a guy who thinks zombies are fun. I contribute nothing original. How does the fact that Jenna or Kyle or JumaniXL repinned one of the images from my board help to “connect everyone”?
Do you see any business or personal value in using it? Is it just another online time waster? Is it just for fun? That’s cool with me, ’cause I know those are really popular. But somebody just tell me that so that I can let it go and move on and maybe try Tumblr next. Fact is, I have only a small bit of time for fun these days, and I don’t care to spend it looking at pictures of couches, but that’s just me. But don’t worry – become a faithful follower and I’ll keep posting those awesome zombie pics!
The Real-Deal Thumb Drive
The folks at Ubergizmo are offering a literal thumb drive for those of us that like to take geek humor all the way to the props level. This is hands down, a great gag gift for the nerds in your life. And it won’t cost you an arm and a leg! Thumbs up!
Google’s Barrel Roll and other Hidden Tricks
Google’s Barrel Roll and other Hidden Tricks – not necessarily productive but definitely fun! http://ow.ly/7jwvP #barrelroll #askew #geek
Internet Explorer Loses Browser Share…and Safari Stinks, Right?
Kickin' it old skool
Big browser news today in a post on Mashable – Internet Explorer, the long-standing behemoth of browsers can no longer claim their long and tightly held 50% of browser share:
“Safari’s hold on 62.17% of mobile traffic has reduced IE’s overall share of web browsing, despite still claiming 52.63% of desktop traffic, according to Netmarketshare.com.
The Microsoft browser’s diminishing share (49.6%) reflects its near absence from the realms of mobile and tablet, which now make up 6% of web traffic. However, chances are, you gave up on IE long enough ago that this milestone makes you more curious as to who actually still uses the browser.”
Good point. I gave up IE many, many moons ago. Back in the olden times, I was all about Netscape. Please understand I was a die-hard Machead so anything I could do to escape the clutches of the evil MS empire I would take. I have since mellowed a bit and now realize that there is a time and place for MS…not so sure about IE though. I went straight from Netscape to Firefox on my old home Mac cause they stopped upgrading IE anyway and I was quite smitten with FireFox. FireFox still holds the number two spot of browser share, at 21.20%.
Nowadays, I am all about Chrome on my PCs and Macs. My mobile devices are all Safari. I was happy to see that Chrome’s 16.60% of the pie continues to grow. Safari on the desktop lags behind at 8.72% because…well, it kinda stinks, doesn’t it? (Did I just hear the sounds of a thousand simultaneous Machead machinations begin to formulate my painful demise?)
But the bigger question is why does IE still hold the largest market share? Why do we still use it? It’s still the Windows default and I suppose it does its job for the casual surfer. Ah well…hamburgers and steaks…chocolate and vanilla…the world is full of choices. Choose wisely friends! If you are an IE fan OR a Safari on-the-desktop fan, please tell me why…what am I missing?
Lessons Learned Info Sharing: Social Media During Disaster Response
Here’s a timely follow-up to the post I did last week on FEMA’s aggressive adoption of social media in emergency management. The Lessons Learned Information Sharing Research Team (LLIS.gov) is looking for examples that illustrate the use of social media in a disaster response. Here’s the content of an email blast that went out today. Note especially the link to the Harris County, TX case study(requires a login):
Call for Documents
FEMA is collecting documents related to using social media during disaster response. As the use of social media increases throughout the county, many jurisdictions are incorporating Internet sites such as Twitter and Facebook into their public communications plans. Recently, the LLIS.gov team worked with Harris County, Texas, to develop an exclusive Practice Note, Emergency Public Information: The Harris County, Texas, Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management’s Implementation of a Social Media Protocol.
Does your jurisdiction have a similar story? Please email stories or documents to the LLIS.gov Research Team at research@llis.dhs.gov. Alternatively, you can always upload documents through the SUBMIT TO LLIS.GOV tab on the LLIS.gov homepage.
Where Should You Post Your Status?
A funny but unfortunately accurate depiction of the way some of use today’s social media channels. This graphic is attributed to Breaking Copy, but I couldn’t find the direct link. Feel free to post it here if somebody has it handy.
FEMA’s Social Media Efforts
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Still not convinced Social Media is important? Try telling that to FEMA Director Craig Fugate’s after you read his testimony on the topic. Kim Stephens over at idisaster 2.0 has a great post on FEMA’s use of Social Media in disaster management and emergency preparedness.
In the Social Media in the Public Sector guidebook that we just submitted to the publisher for peer reviews, we highlighted FEMA’s efforts in social media as a true testament to the value of crowdsourcing when you need quick, actionable information (i.e. immediately following a large-scale disaster.) Check out Kim’s great post for more info!
