My thoughts on Social Media in the Arizona State Government

Everyone is talking about Twitter these days, but is it being used the best way it can?

Social Media is what you make of it

Just like most any Social Media today, it can be used in many ways.  And not necessarily the way the creators intended it to be used.  The simplest example is blogging.  What do you consider a blog?  A personal journal?  A companies press releases?  Updates about the kids for the family?  News?  Reviews?  etc…  The list goes on and on.  The technology of blogging could be described as easily updated web pages, so it can be anything.  Twitter is no different.  Even called micro-blogging, it is a 140 character blog.  While not as permanent as a blog, it is effectively a tiny blog that can be used any way the creator of the account intends.

The "usual" way Twitter is used

Twitter started off as a way to update your friends on what you were doing.  The fact that it is being discussed here on a blog about Social Media in the Arizona Government shows how far it has come.  But what I expect when I see a Twitter account is what is interesting to who I am following.  If it is a non-person, like a business or government agency, I expect to see updates about the company, but only second to interaction with the community.

How Twitter "can" be used

This isn’t the only answer however.  Many people have specialized Twitter accounts.  For example, if you use a service like Brightkite, Seesmic, or Qik, you may not necessarily want those posted to your twitter every time you update but you still want to tweet it.  Make a new account for each service, then whoever wants to those updates can follow that feed in addition to your primary feed.  The way this translates to the state of Arizona is it must have a main feed and sub-feeds.  (like @ArizonaTourism does, which is another post coming soon)  The state is not on top of this at all.  I just registered @StateOfArizona .  Both @arizona and @az are not run by the state.  Twitter is where the conversation is right now, and the state isn’t in the conversation.

What I just said

Each area of government should have a Twitter account.  Start it.  Use it.  Twitter is what you make of it.  But I suggest for the most success, talk about things interesting to people following you that relate to your department.  And most of all, interact with the other twitterers.

The most successful Twitter accounts are interactive, not just a feed froma blog.

What say you!?  Thoughts? Ideas?

Tagged as: arizona, government, twitter

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I was just checking out the Jan Brewer Transition Team website, and I have some critiques of it, so while I’ve got a blog about Social Media in Government, why not a case study on the very administration I’m trying to help. :)

The first thing I notice when I arrive at brewertransition.org, is they have a

• YouTube account
• Twitter account
• Jan Brewer Facebook page

Not a bad start!  Allow me to discuss each one…

YouTube:  There are many video hosting sites on the internet, but YouTube is the largest by a long way.  So this is a great move.  The Brewer Team has only one video up so far, but it’s a good one.  I hope that more can be added as we move forward.

Twitter:  Twitter has captured the attention of just about everyone who frequents the web, so having a Twitter account is a great move.  As of this writing, there are only 9 updates however, so I would encourage the team to step that up.  Social Media is about being social, not just making broadcasts, so rather than just announcing things, be social with it, invite an open discussion with @teambrewer on Twitter.

Facebook:  Facebook has it’s limitations, so I won’t penalize anyone for not doing much there.  The page is not a Transition Team site, but that’s of little concern.  Setting up the page is a good step, there are some people commenting there, but still no discussion going on.  With 190 web savvy supporters, it would be nice to see more interaction from the Brewer team.

The website:  It’s simple, but that is a compliment.  Simple is good.  Google has created an empire on being simple.  On increasing interactivity, I applaud the team for having contact information (phone, email, physical address) on the home page.

There is a “Sign Up” page which is nice, but I suspect it will merely be used to broadcast what is going on.  More than the sign up idea, I like the idea of “Your Vision of Arizona“.  But it falls short.  It is great to be able to tell the Transition Team what is important to you, but it would be powerful if there was a discussion going on.  Even a simple forum would be better than filling out a form that disappears into the Internet ether.  I suggest doing something more along the lines of a forum or what the transition team for Barack Obama’s Change.gov site as done, which is accept questions, and allow other users to vote up or down their feelings of the importance of those questions.  That is just part one however, part two is that they are going to take the highest rated questions and give answers to those questions.  Interactiveity, conversation: these are two things Social Media is about.

Finally for the brewertransition.org website, this isn’t a necessity, but more a standard these days, where is the blog?  You are doing a number of blog type things, like the video page, the press room page, email sign up, and Twitter, but many many people go to a site giving out information, and look for the blog.  In this new world, we want to consume information in our own way.  Twitter and email are ok, but it could be better.

In conclusion:  Not a bad offering.  But no interactivity.  Very Web 1.0 if you will.  BrewerTransition.org is not the example of how Arizona should use Social Media going forward.  But there is hope.  All of these things can be improved upon.

What do you think?  Leave a comment <— notice that interactivity :)

Tagged as: arizona, brewer transition, facebook, social media, twitter, youtube

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Drat, just missed it.  I just came across this site for the Social Media in Government conference, December 8-11th in Washington, DC.  The tag line being, “How to Engage your Employees and Citizens By Using Blogging, Podcasting, and the Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results”  Hmmm, sounds pretty good.

This looks to be aimed toward the Federal Government, but Arizona could be highlighted at a place like this within a year or two of hard work.  It’s possible.

Here are their “Key Take Aways:” that I will discuss here on this blog as well…

• Developing a social media (blogging, podcasting, wikis, etc.) strategy to drive performance-based communications
• Building senior management support for your social media programs
• Integrating social media tools into your internal and external communications practices
• Communicating more effectively and efficiently through the use of social media (blogs, podcasts, Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, video podcasts, and much more)
• Demonstrating the Return on Investment (ROI) of your social media program
• Measuring the impact social media has on relevant performance measures such as quality, service and cost
• Operating social media tools within the boundaries of government restrictions and firewalls
• Gaining inside knowledge of social media and why it is a crucial addition to your communication arsenal
• Using social media tools, such as, blogging, podcasting and RSS
• Incorporating other social media tools such as blogs, podcasts and social networking into your current communication strategies
• Maximizing awareness of your agency’s mission to the public
• Learning how to easily communicate to the public through external blogs, podcasts and video podcasting
• Assimilating cutting-edge communication techniques and tools presented by your peers who are already using social media
• Utilizing social networking tools as sources of information that the public can use and trust
• Engaging your employees and the public by connecting them to your organization’s goals and strategic plan for the future

Stay Tuned!

UPDATE: There is another one coming up in 2009, March 23-29th to be exact.  The Social Media representatives from Arizona should attend this.

Tagged as: conference, government, social media, social media in government conference

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I did a little brainstorming last night when I decided to create this blog, so for a first post, I’m just going to dump my results here, and flesh them out (and more) in future posts.

So here is my initial to-do list (Keep in mind this is merely a typed dump of my written out on paper dump, so they are not complete thoughts):

• Analysis of what is being done already (federal, state, local)
• Internal Communication - The heads of every department should ahve a weekly or at the very least monthly, “State of the Department” address.  Once reserved for the President of the US in a radio address, Social Media makes it possible and accessible to anyone.  What format? (email? video? newsletter? blog? podcast?) (password protect to protect data?)
• External Communication - What the departments are up to.  Everyone can be a Sheriff Joe.  Don’t let the media control the message, go right tot he people. (example, milblogging).  Possibley college all State of the Department addresses in once central location.
• Consider the balance of quick and produces updates:  quick updates (like Twitter and short blog posts) vs. more produces updates (like bogs, podcasts, videos)
• Define your customer, know who you are talking to.  Direct the conversation toward them, stay on message.
• Use Social Media to increase communication between state and local.  State and federal.
• It is a conversation, it goes both ways.  Not just a radio address and op-eds anymore.
• Market to Tourism
• Better ways to find businesses and resources
• Why can’t I sign up for a business license online?
• Think online
• What do you need to accomplish this?  To start, commitment from the top. (Brewer)
• What will this do?  Transparency in government.  Taxpayer appreciation?  more of an understanding of what happens in government.  More informed decision makers.  See the decision process, be a part of it. (even if a decision goes against you, you will understand where it came from)
• Possibly highlight important issues that may not otherwise get attention.
• How to integrate Social Media into existing communication channels.
• Social Media is deliberate.  It is not an accident.  It needs to be thought out, implemented, and kept on top of.
• … there needs to be a driver.  Some who encourages already busy people that it is still important to communicate (this is for external communication and internal ‘State of the Departments’)  Internal tools, once integrated, should be self propelling.
• Use Social Media to listen to the taxpayers.  But unless you have a system in place to act on these concerns, you are better off if you don’t start at all.
• … Set up concentrated discussion of a given topic.  Internal and External application.

I have more flopping around in my head, but I just need to start writing them out… this is a start.

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