Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
http://davepress.net/2010/03/17/social-media-resources-for-local-government/
A flurry of activity around social media this week from our chums at the Improvement and
Development Agency.
The first thing is Local by Social, a rewriting of the excellent Social by Social by Andy Gibson.
As the IDeA website states:
Social media is changing the world in which we work, socialise and govern. From Twitter to
eBay, Facebook to YouTube, new tools are emerging every year that place the connecting power
of the internet in the hands of every one of us.
In this context, the expectations on councils to engage, work openly, be accountable and move
more quickly on issues are growing. Meanwhile, councils are facing the biggest cuts in spending
in the post-war period and are being asked to do more with less just as demands from local
people are rising. Higher expectations combined with drastically fewer resources make the
imperative to innovate critical. A new set of tools is needed to meet this challenge.
This document outlines how local authorities can use social media to achieve more for less. It
also highlights the risk to councils if they ignore the technological advances of social media and
the people using them.
how to embrace social networking in local government
by pamela weaver antil
http://webapps.icma.org/pm/9109/public/cover2.cfm?author=pamela%20weaver
%20antil&title=how%20to%20embrace%20social%20networking%20in%20local
%20government
If you have picked up this issue of PM magazine and are younger than 30, you are likely already
an expert at navigating social media and social networking in your personal life. But whether
you've struggled to understand blogs and Twitter or find them old hat, applying them to the daily
practice of government is still a valid question.
Whether you see yourself as old-fashioned or on the cutting edge, if you aren't using tools like
LinkedIn, Facebook, or Plaxo at work, you may soon be called a dinosaur for not connecting
with the vast number of potential contacts in your extended network worldwide. And if your
organization has not created a fan page on these sites, you may be missing out on the fastest-
growing, hottest way to communicate and connect with your community. Intrigued? Read on. . .
As we look back over our careers as public administration professionals, many of us remember
our offices evolving from carbon paper to copier machines, from typewriters to computers, and
from receiving letters and phone calls to receiving e-mail requests and calls for service.
In fact, many public administrators have seen a decline in "live and in person" participation at
public meetings, focus groups, or other venues where we seek the public's input on important
topics related to budget, planning, and public safety.
BlackBerry smartphones, texting,
and instant messages keep us even
more connected to our business
contacts and our community
members—albeit sometimes at the
expense of our personal lives and
downtime. But all and all, these
tools have allowed our
organizations to respond to the
mandate of better, faster, cheaper.
The companion article on social
media and social networking
written by City Manager Rick
Cole of Ventura, California,
highlights the social media
phenomenon and its uses to
engage citizen participation. This
article highlights the importance
of that article's sister topic—social
networking.
What Is a Social
Network?
In the not-too-distant past, the extent of social networking was your neighbors over the fence in
the back, and both sides of the house, and maybe across the street. By the way, these were the
same people who ratted you out to your parents if they saw an infraction that you somehow
slipped by your family!
As we became adults serving in the public sector, our networks included community activists,
business groups like chambers of commerce and Rotary, and program and service participants
from recreation, citizen police academies, and the like. These networks were highly important
and, in many ways, created that sense of community many of us serving in local government
long to re-create in the cities, villages, townships, and counties we serve.
These local networks remain important today but are harder to engage. This proves to be even
more difficult as many of our colleagues and community members wish to be engaged
electronically through our websites, e-mail, and other technology. This is especially true for
people aged 35 and younger.
No one argues that networking is not important or is not a good business tool. In fact, building
these networks is critical. You never know when you might need to call on a friend of a
colleague in another city to help with a project or assignment.
In these times of increasingly complex business being conducted globally with local contacts, we
need to be able to do this effectively but less expensively than traveling the globe. A virtual
meeting through teleconferencing is one tool that is used, but that is only after the essential
business contact is made. Such a meeting is much harder to achieve if you know whom you need
to meet but have not been introduced to that individual or organization.
The next wave of communications technology that we can't ignore as public administrators is
technology-based social networking opportunities. Facebook, Plaxo, and LinkedIn, to name a
few, have extended our business contacts beyond people in the immediate vicinity to contacts
with coworkers and colleagues around the globe. Some believe these sites are entirely social in
nature, but these networks actually give us the ability to connect with even more members of our
communities and our professional colleagues for business purposes.
In fact, such member-community sites as MySpace and Facebook account for almost 10 percent
of all Internet time according to the recent report, "A Nielson Report on Social Networking's
New Global Footprint" published in March 2009 by The Nielson Company. These sites have a
growth rate more than twice that of any of the other largest, most popular activities on the
Internet, including 1) search, 2) general interest portals, 3) software manufacturers, 4) member
communities, and 5) e-mail. This information was provided by the Global Index, December 2007
to December 2008, at Nielson Online.
A social network is simply a social structure made up of nodes (generally individuals or
organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency such as friendship,
employment, financial exchange, likes, dislikes, relationships (professional or personal), beliefs,
knowledge, and prestige.
The idea is simple. If I know John Smith from the city of Anywhere, and he knows Sally Jones
from the Anywhere Economic Development Authority, and Sally happens to know Bob Brown
from the Big Company That Is Expanding in the Midwest, and I want to meet Bob Brown to
discuss the possibility of moving some operations to my city, I can do this through a series of
introductions that link me from John Smith all the way to Bob Brown.
The idea behind extended connections and their usefulness is not new. Thousands of years ago,
the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus wrote, "A hidden connection is stronger than an
obvious one." He was on to something!
Technology provided by LinkedIn, Facebook, and similar social networking sites allows the type
of introductions described in the example not only several states away but also internationally.
Incidentally, membership in ICMA is tailor-made for such sharing of contacts because LinkedIn
and Facebook offer ICMA member groups.
By linking to others through these sites, your personal network grows to include other useful
colleagues and contacts—like Sally Jones and Bob Brown whom you've met through John Smith
in the above example. Sally and Bob were always in your extended network because they were
connected to you through John Smith, but they were hidden from you before. By adding them to
your network through John Smith, that part of your network is no longer hidden and is suddenly
more useful.
How to Join a Social Network
Most social networking sites are free to join. As a participant adds more information to a
personal profile, the LinkedIn network "suggests" contacts who you may know. In addition, as
you add more colleagues by e-mail, the potential network grows.
Just like using a map to help you get to a destination you haven't been to before, these sites allow
you to connect with your hidden network more easily. Most individual networks have huge
potential for business contacts, information related to jobs, places to live, and the like. But they
are only as valuable as the personal connections you can see. Your potential grows because you
can see not only your personal friends and professional contacts on these sites but their personal
friends and professional contacts, too.
There are numerous examples of the great variety of uses of these sites, and, most recently, we
saw an explosion of their potential during the 2008 presidential campaigns. Both candidates of
the two major parties used LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook to connect to millions of social
networking users to open a virtual dialogue with extended networks of supporters and critics. On
a much smaller scale, but no less important, local government can use this technology to engage
citizens in community dialogues.
Protecting Your Privacy
For many of us, social media and networking have changed our lives in some meaningful way.
Perhaps we've reunited with a college or high school friend. Maybe a professional colleague
introduced you to a business contact that led to a new job. Collectively, social media is changing
the world—and for the good. Given the pace of innovation, change is a constant in most of our
lives, both personally and professionally.
Because of the power of these tools, it is important to remember these tips as you enter into the
world of social networking:
• No matter what type of password protection you have, the sites are NOT
private.
• Post only what you'd want your board, council, supervisor, parents, AND
spouse or life partner to see.
• Your page is the equivalent of your digital résumé, so make sure it's
accurate. Recruiters do look at these sites.
• Remove any objectionable images, ideas, comments, or information that
other people might post on your page or your wall.
• Do not use your page or wall to vent about last night's meeting, a
professional colleague, or a business or company. People have been
terminated over rants on their networking sites and blogs.
• Apply the ICMA ethical standards when considering posting recommendations
or promoting an event, vendor, or person. Musing about an upcoming
election is not a good idea.
• Avoid providing too much personal information about your home and family
on information and profile pages. If you want to connect "live" with a contact,
communicate "off grid" by telephone or e-mail to identify an address and
phone number for someone.
• View the pages of government staff. Yes, it is legal to do so in order to ensure
that information they are providing does not reflect negatively on the
organization as a whole.
• When in doubt, contact Martha Perego at ICMA (mperego@icma.org) for
further guidance on protocol and related ethics issues.
The generations behind us will inherit a world profoundly changed by technology and the social
media movement. Teens today are already constantly communicating electronically and will
mature into adults with the same expectations, taking for granted that they will be connected
globally to thousands of people.
Much like the transition from mailed letters to e-mail and from newsletters to website updates,
we as public professionals need to anticipate these changes in communication expectations and if
we haven't already, join the social networking movement. The possibilities are endless.
Pamela Weaver Antil is the assistant city manager, Novi, Michigan (pantil@cityofnovi.org).
View her profile and connect with her via LinkedIn or Facebook.
http://www.simonwakeman.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Local-Government-Web-2-0-
Survey-Analysis.pdf
UPDATED -April 2010 – Revised version of Social Media Policy and Guidance now published
———————————
I have been meaning to republish this for some time now, and after the 2 events i have attended,
they have given me a virtual kick in the bum to get on with it.
This will come in 2 parts, the broad policy and supplementary guidance which i will post
separately. We are working through a process and have already conducted an equality impact
and needs assessment as part of our commitment to equality and diversity in DCC.
Feel free to adapt
Introduction
‘Social media‘ is the term commonly given to websites and online tools which allow users to
interact with each other in some way – by sharing information, opinions, knowledge and
interests. As the name implies, social media involves the building of communities or networks,
encouraging participation and engagement.
Principles
These principles apply to your online participation and sets out the standards of behaviour
expected as an employee of the Council. Remember, you should participate in the same way as
you would with other media or public forums such as giving presentations.
• Be professional; remember that you are an ambassador for your
organisation. Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of
your directorate, department or team.
• Be responsible, be honest at all times and when you gain insight; share it
with others where appropriate.
• Be credible, be accurate, fair, and thorough and make sure you are doing
the right thing.
Always remember that participation online results in your comments being permanently
available and open to being republished in other media.
Never give out personal details like home address and phone numbers.
Also be aware that you may attract media interest in you as an individual, so proceed with care
whether you are participating in a business or a personal capacity. If you have any doubts, take
advice from your line manager.
Stay within the legal framework and be aware that libel, defamation, copyright and data
protection laws apply.
General Guidelines
Blogs are perhaps the most well known example of social media, but the term encompasses other
platforms. Examples include podcasts, ‘wikis’ (such as Wikipedia), message boards, social
bookmarking websites (such as del.icio.us), social networking websites (such as facebook, bebo,
MySpace) and content sharing websites (such as flickr, YouTube).
‘Social media’ can be referenced in a variety of ways, often depending on which sector is
discussing it. Other terms which may be used in a similar context include ‘social software’,
‘social computing’ and ‘Web 2.0’. For convenience we use ‘social media’ throughout.
The growing popularity of social media has attracted the attention of companies and individuals
who believe that these platforms open up new opportunities for communication. The
opportunities are indeed there, as are the pitfalls. The following guidelines are there to provide
you with information to make responsible decisions and to get the best out of the tools available.
Whether or not a DCC employee chooses to create or participate in a blog, wiki, online social
network or any other form of online publishing or discussion is his or her own decision.
However, emerging online collaboration platforms are fundamentally changing the way DCC
employee’s work and engage with each other, customers and our partners.
People have been dismissed because of their online activities. While such cases may be rare, it is
important as an employee to be aware that posting information about your company can not be
isolated from your working life. Any information published online can be accessed around the
world within seconds and will be publicly available for all to see.
As an employee, you must take the following into consideration when using social media:
1. Know and follow DCC’s Employee Code of Conduct.
2. Understand your responsibilities identified in the Social Media and Online
Participation Principles and Policy
3. Don’t forget your day job. You must ensure that your online activities do
not interfere with your job, your colleagues or commitments to customers.
[added 4th June] If you are not using the sites/tools to support you directly in
your employed position you should always access the sites/tools in your
personal time.
4. DCC Employee’s are personally responsible for the content they publish on
blogs, wikis or any other form of user-generated media. Be mindful that what
you publish will be public for a long time—protect your privacy.
5. Identify yourself—name and, when relevant, role at DCC—when you
discuss DCC or DCC related matters. And write in the first person. You must
make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of DCC.
6. If you publish content to any website outside of DCC and it has something to
do with work you do or services associated with DCC, use a disclaimer such
as this: “The views expressed here are my own and don’t necessarily
represent the views of the County Council.”
7. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
8. Ask and seek permission to publish or report on conversations that are
meant to be private or internal to DCC. Don’t cite or reference customers,
partners or suppliers without their approval. When you do make a reference,
where possible link back to the source.
9. Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity,
or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in the workplace. You
should also show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that
may be considered objectionable or inflammatory—such as politics and
religion.
See acceptable behaviour policy and equality and diversity policy
10.Be aware of your association with DCC in online spaces. If you identify
yourself as a DCC employee, ensure your profile and related content is
consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and
customers.
11.Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t
alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
12.Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. DCC’s
brand is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on
DCC’s brand.
Please note: Failure to comply with the above guidelines may result in disciplinary action
http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/final-draft-social-media-and-online-participation-
policy-and-guidelines/
I have been thinking a lot recently about the future of local government not just because I work
in local government but because I am really interested in how we (all local government people)
are going to tackle the pressures and financial constraints put upon us. In some ways I am
relishing the challenges ahead as it will only lead to radical thought and eventually
transformation across the sector.
Earlier this week I met up with Steve Dale and Hadley Beeman for a couple of drinks as I was in
London for a Knowledge Hub meeting. In the conversation I referred to a model that I had been
thinking about which was that the Future of Local Government is purely a conceptual layer of
Government.
So let me try to explain this in a bit more detail and why I think we are already moving towards
this future.
The Drivers
Huge pressures on Local Government to join up, deliver shared services and this isn’t just
neighbouring councils, we are really pushing towards regional shared service providers as well
as joining up with 3rd sector agencies to provide and deliver public services.
The cloud is having an impact on ICT services in councils – it is clear that the level of
transformation required will require additional investment in ICT but it is unlikely that a single
council could justify the spend on its own, so would need to look at a shared arrangement for
cloud services or even a public sector cloud – The Government Cloud is obviously driving
people’s thinking here and will have a huge impact.
Financial pressure will make councils seriously consider what services they can afford and see as
priorities for their specific local areas – Total Place will drive an approach which will inevitably
bring 3rd sector and communities themselves to the table as service providers in some instances.
Central Government’s success with Directgov could be seen as a model for local government to
drive out efficiencies and cost savings for local government transactional services – either
through an enhanced LocalDirectgov portal or directly offered through Directgov.
The drive for open data will allow a greater level of local innovation by social innovators and
entrepreneurs and in some instances delivering council services directly and in a more usable and
useful way (FixMyStreet etc).
A greater push for more local involvement in decision-making and greater transparency to enable
citizens to provide scrutiny and shape services directly.
The Impact
In my view what all of the above essentially does and could lead to will be the complete breaking
down of local government as individual organisations unconnected, uncoordinated and
duplicating functions.
So we could get to a situation (I am making some big assumptions here but after all I’m only
sharing some thinking) - I don’t believe it will be that long before we see it – where the only
aspect of local government which is truly local is the actual service delivery and decision
making. The organisation behind it all could well be a mix of local, regional, national and cloud
based services all supporting an individual worker (who may not actually be employed by the
council) to deliver a service to someone in a community.
To me this will mean that local government is purely going to be a conceptual layer – with
greater transparency and openness, radical approaches to service delivery and support services,
this will all mean that the only aspect of local we really need to focus on will be the People in the
Community. In my view this will be a great outcome, albeit very painful and a political hot
potato in some areas. But this approach in my opinion would drive out the inefficiencies in local
government and offer greater local involvement in service design and creation.
I want to continue on the theme of my last post on the Future of Local Government and look at
how this is shaping up and what we can do in government to enable it to happen more
dynamically and effectively for the benefit of everyone.
So to recap briefly in my last post I attempted to outline the drivers and impacts of a number of
significant pressures facing the public sector as a whole and came to the conclusion albeit not a
radical one that Local Government will only be a conceptual layer of government that will only
have a key role in decision-making and accountability – the service provision layer will be a mix
of joined up public services, private sector, voluntary providers and some of it hosted in the
cloud as part of the wider technology infrastructure.
So what I think I am actually saying is that we will be moving to a “Social Enterprise Council”
model – this is not really new or even radical as you will learn as you continue reading this post.
For the context of this post social enterprise means – those businesses that create products and
services that help people in a variety of ways while staying true to certain moral and social
principles.
It is important to remember that when I refer to a conceptual layer – what I really mean is that it
will become harder to identify a single organisation responsible for delivering public services in
a given area. As long as there are clear accountable links to decision makers and funding (where
appropriate) local government will in all essence disappear and will just become part of the
community and its capability to provide or support services.
I guess the most practical example for illustrative purposes is Lambeth Council in London who
in February this year announced that they would become a “John Lewis Council”. The article in
the Guardian outlines the approach and benefits the council believes will be realised – in
particular in states:
…Under the plans, being promoted by Tessa Jowell, the Cabinet Office minister, Lambeth could
borrow ideas from the way John Lewis is structured as it becomes a “co-operative council”.
While users of services run by the “co-operative” council would not become shareholders, the
people of Lambeth will be asked to get involved in the running of all their services along the
lines of John Lewis and other “mutuals”, with the possibility of financial recompense further
down the line.
…Greenwich Leisure, an employee-owned company, is already running Lambeth’s leisure
centres. Two Brixton housing estates are about to join a national grouping of tenant-run estates.
Lambeth already has more tenant-run estates than any other London borough.
The Local Government Information Unit’s (LGIU) Blog made some comments on this approach
in comparison to the Barnet “Easy” Council model.
I also have some reservations about the John Lewis model. Citizen involvement in prioritising
services is absolutely essential and it is clear that user involvement is a key element of this
model, but I am yet to be convinced that citizens would want to be involved in the actual
delivery of services.
I do agree that there is a huge assumption that the general public wold be willing to take over
services, but i do think that currently we don’t engage people well enough to activate any desire
they may have.
To foster and encourage this kind of active involvement requires a major shift in how people see
public services, it requires everyday people to start thinking less about “public” services and
more about “community” services and how they can get involved directly through volunteering
or indirectly by sharing their views on what’s important to them.
I think back to a recent post of mine about the World of GovCraft where I comment on a video
of Game designer Jane McGonigal who spoke about harnessing the power of game mechanics to
make a better world. In the video she talks about “gamers” and the super powers they have
developed and how these super powers can help us solve the worlds problems.
The 4 super powers that gamers have are:
Urgent Optimism – extreme self motivation – a desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle
combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success.
Social Fabric – We like people better when we play games with people – it requires trust that
people will play by the same rules, value the same goal – this enables us to create stronger social
relationships as a result
Blissful productivity – an average World of Warcraft gamer plays 22 hours a week: We are
optimised as humans to work hard and if we could channel that productivity into solving real
world problems what could we achieve?
Epic meaning – attached to an awe-inspiring mission.
All this creates Super Empowered Hopeful Individuals – People who are individually capable
of changing the world – but currently only online /virtual worlds….
….So some observations:
If people have “Urgent Optimism” then what are we doing to tap into that to help solve and
tackle obstacles?
if people have a “Social Fabric” what we are we doing to build trust with them and do we play
by the same rules and share the same goals?
If people have “Blissful Productivity” then what are we doing to mobilise and optimise the
people around us in our communities to work hard at solving real world problems
If people can be inspired around “Epic Meaning” what meaning are we providing in our
engagement and participation offering?
We should recognise that games are powerful in more ways than we can imagine, we need to
think hard and fast about how we can develop the right kinds of games to engage people and to
involve people in shaping their future and solving common problems
So let me try to answer these questions now in the light of this post, I’m not saying that the
responses are enough but there is something we can build on and develop further to really engage
with people.
Urgent Optimism – The budget cuts in the public sector will mean that some services will no
longer be offered or developed – if people (you or I) see these services as important and we want
them to continue we will have to start getting involved or risk losing it altogether. The reality of
the financial situation will mean that the threat is more real than ever.
Social Fabric – The government has made a big play during the election campaign and since
about the Big Society, this is an attempt to unify people to a common agenda and common
purpose which previously didn’t really exist in my view. I do think however we need to go a lot
further and start talking and acting more local.
Blissful Productivity – Social tools are be used albeit sparingly to help mobilise people to get
involved and contribute to solving the real world problems we are facing. The government have
announced that they want citizens to contribute ideas to how we can save money and which
services we should consider reducing funding on.
I think we need to connect the digitally mobile and engaged with the offline folk who traditional
get involved to create richer conversations and deeper discussions about how we can shape local
services.
Epic Meaning – The mission we have created is to reunite society, reconnect people locally and
to provide services which meet the needs of local people. This mission can no longer be just the
responsibility of a single local authority.
AS i said earlier the idea of a Social Enterprise Council is not new or radical – The challenge is
how we empower people to actually care enough to take direct action, we need to go further and
inspire through the 4 areas listed above and dig deeper into peoples motivations.
More importantly we need people to come forward and start asking about managing services -
only then will we really understand what is involved and what the unique local circumstances of
each community/social enterprise offers. http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/the-
future-of-local-government-part-2-social-enterprise-council/
Can social media save local government?
Simon Moores
The great Ernest Hemingway once said: "There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it
comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with
charges", so when it comes to finding a really good read, local government publications can
normally be found somewhere near the bottom of any bedtime book choice. Not that town
halls don't try very hard to reach out to the public in every conceivable way but by its very
nature, even the brightest and most positive news stories from the public sector rarely
attract the traffic they might deserve.
Most lately, you may have seen on the BBC Politics Show, criticism surrounding Brighton and
Hove City Council, which advertised for a new social media officer with "expertise" on both
Facebook and Twitter at a time when other staff are facing pay cuts. The council offered the
reason for this appointment as: "Increasing visibility, building our brand and learning about our
audiences by utilising social media."
For the cynics among you, this may sound like one more extravagant example of a wild idea
being funded by the public finances, in the finest tradition of the Guardian appointments section
but Brighton's experience may prompt a broader debate, one which may yet capture the interest
of local authorities across the country.
No different perhaps to newspapers and television channels, local councils are facing two quite
separate challenges in the new media world of the internet. The first of these, is that they have to
compete for an increasingly narrow public attention span against other sources of news and the
second, that the proliferation of local weblogs, some heavily politicised or with a particular
agenda and others good, bad and indifferent, leave councils ill-equipped to challenge a corrosive
climate of rumour, allegation and occasionally, purposeful disinformation, often repeated as fact
without proper checks by the local media.
Efforts to leverage the social networking phenomenon of Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube
are a natural reaction on the part of councillors and council officers to an expanding world of
instant communication that many don't understand and others would simply prefer to ignore.
Historically, local councils spend a great deal of money on printed communication, leafleting
and their own websites, with RSS news feeds now making a welcome appearance for more 'up-
to-the minute' information. However, the challenge remains that community-focused news is
rarely compelling or even interesting to many people; the average citizen perhaps preferring to
read something scurrilous about their council on a weblog, than a laudable official press release
on social housing targets or successful dog fouling prosecutions.
So how can councils use the internet and engage the new social networking technology in more
interesting and proactive ways? As I think more deeply about the challenges facing us at my own
council, I am convinced that like ticking a series of 'new media' boxes, joining the headlong rush
to embrace social networking is symptomatic of a much wider communications problem that
needs solving and which by simply having a presence, does not offer more than an illusory
answer.
By all means experiment and engage but at the same time, local government as a whole, needs a
collective review of an increasingly tired-looking communications strategy, which places its
well-established channels at a distinct disadvantage, at a time when blogs and tweets and pokes
are increasingly a popular source of information and news for the public-at-large.
Simon Moores, is vice-chairman (policy development) at The Conservative Technology Forum
and Conservative district councillor for Westgate-on Sea
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/09/28/237899/Can-social-media-save-local-
government.htm
John Bollwitt
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
4 Comments
I heard this story on the radio this morning, and it got me thinking. Why are there not more city
services, such as those run by a city hall in any township, using more elements of social media?
One local politician wants the Vancouver Park Board to get in on the act.
A motion going before the Board Monday night will ask members to look at not only posting
audio of their meetings on-line but also to explore providing citizens with regular updates via
social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. [...]
“I think that with all this social media that we have there is just so much that we can do. The
more we can bring people in, the more we’ll know about what people want and the better job we
can do.”
Blyth says the web is a good way to keep people informed about issues covered in upcoming
meetings, as well as little known Park Board events. [news1130]
Now before you start rolling your eyes at the notion of another pusher of the Facebook and
Twitter bandwagon, you need to start considering the ramifications of what these free and easy
tools of direct contact really are.
Let me say those keywords again. Free and easy. Direct contact.
These terms should be enough for those organizations and committees to perk up a little bit if
you have ever heard or said the notion of things getting done in local government but the public
doesn’t get involved. Perhaps they judge interest on who shows up at those meetings in which
anyone can attend.
Even better, how many times have you heard of something being decided by a city council to
only have it be exactly the opposite of what the majority of the public wanted to have happen?
Usually that happens because the public was unaware of it even being a matter of discussion
because, and let’s be completely honest, reading those city council minutes are not the top
priority of every single person that they affect.
So, to give you some basic idea of what your local government could be doing, here are some
tips that I brainstormed this morning. Consider them starting points because you can really push
things much further depending on how far you want to take these concepts.
Facebook: I’ll start here because there are some brilliant ways to use this
service. Most importantly, starting Groups and then using it to announce and invite members to
Events are great. It gets added to their profile and they can see when, where, and who is going to
be there. And since you don’t need one person to moderate the group, you can utilize your whole
organization to interact with the community online and in person. In fact, you never know if your
members will start having meetups, outside of official meetings.
Twitter: Say what you will, but Twitter has a reach that is tough to beat.
Announce scheduled meetings, send out updates, remind followers of scheduled events, take
feedback from your followers, make live updates of what is going on at meetings or events, send
out links to your agendas and minutes as soon as they are published to your website, etc. The
possibilities are really endless.
UStream: In the past month, I’ve seen more and more high schools using
UStream’s free, live video streaming service to show basketball games as they happen. So why
can’t more local governments being using the same technology to “webcast” city council
meetings or school board meetings? You don’t need a local cable access channel to do it. All it
takes is an Internet connection, a laptop with decent audio input, and a webcam. It might not be
the ideal setup, but you can embed that video into your organization’s website where anyone can
watch and listen from home. You’ll also want to send out an update on Twitter to let everyone
know that the video stream is live and that the meeting is about to start.
« Bold Horizon to Sponsor National Contemporary How the mighty Telecom has fallen (to its
Art Award knees) »
Jun 11
Use of social media in local government
Social Networking Add comments
Guest blog by Jason Dawson, Association of Local Government Information Management
We all know that social media has changed the way in which we work, do business and
socialise. But has your local city, district or regional council embraced social media?
With growing expectations on councils to engage, work openly, be more accountable and move
faster on issues, social media provides an ideal platform for local government to deliver results
and services.
Despite the low cost and clear advantages to Councils, a recently commissioned survey by the
Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) on Council websites and
online services found the use of social media by Councils is still low. Of the 71 Councils which
completed the survey, only 24 Councils use Facebook, 17 are on Twitter and 15 utilise
YouTube. There was an even lower take-up of other social networking tools like LinkedIn,
Flickr, MySpace and Bebo.
In April 2010, the biennial ‘Kiwis Count’ survey of New Zealanders' satisfaction with their
public services was released by the State Services Commission. The result gave another
compelling reason for councils to use social media, with 81% of people surveyed preferring the
internet to carry out transactions with public services
But times are changing. There are successful examples of councils around the country that have
embraced social media and have added it to their communication and consultation toolbox.
I work for the Northland Regional Council where we have been actively using social media for
the last 12 months. We use Twitter for delivering public notices, environmental data, civil
defence warnings, job vacancies and event information. We also tweet live during Council
meetings.
Our use of Twitter has given us the greatest success. For example, we used our Twitter account
to post confirmation that no tsunami had been generated from an earthquake in Vanuatu on 8
October 2009. This tweet provided a link to the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency
Management’s website which achieved 1298 clicks, 196 shares on Facebook and 186 comments.
We use FaceBook for campaigns such as Northland 2011 (our regional Rugby World Cup
countdown), have a company profile on LinkedIn, and use Ning for some of our communities of
interest. And there are many others councils which are embracing social media, rather than
ignoring it.
Central Hawke’s Bay District Council was one of the first councils to use Twitter
(@chbcouncil), and as at 1 June 2010, 13 councils are now tweeting – from Rodney District
(@RodneyDCouncil) in the north to Queenstown-Lakes District (@QLDCComs) in the south.
You can find out whether your council is using Twitter through the list:
http://twitter.com/NRCexpress/nzcouncils
Successful uses of Facebook within local government include Environment Waikato’s ‘Hamilton
Halo’ which promotes reporting of native birds within Hamilton City and Tasman District
Council’s ‘Waimea Inlet’ project to encourage community action for this important estuary.
Both of these are centred around a community page to generate support for a topic or cause, with
‘official’ council pages used by a few like Wanganui District Council, New Plymouth District
Council and Palmerston North City Council.
Libraries were early adopters in councils with the use of blogs, like the Christchurch City
Council Libraries blog and the Auckland City Council Library blogs which both provide
extensive commentary on a number of interesting and relevant topics.
Rick Cooper, Mayor of Taupo District, is active on Twitter (@RickCooperTaupo) and recently
asked his community to vote for a webcam in the Council Chambers for meetings and events.
Video streaming or podcasting of council meetings has been available in Canada, United States
and the United Kingdom for a few years.
With the local government elections in October 2010, it will be interesting to see if current
Mayors and Councillors, as well as potential candidates, will use social media to create
conversations with their respective communities. The challenge to all of us is will we join the
conversation or choose to ignore it.
Jason Dawson is General Manager - Community Relations Manager at the Northland Regional
Council and manages the Council’s social media channels. He is also on the Executive Board
for the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM), co-convenes its
annual Web Symposium and oversees an annual audit and survey of NZ local government
websites http://www.boldhorizon.co.nz/brand-marketing-blog/index.php/social-media-local-
government
Thoughts about (local) government and social media
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 3:47 | Posted in Estonia, Finland, Media, helsinki, internet, social media, tallinn | 2
Comments
Tags: euregio
I have been approached by Helsinki-Tallinn Euregio Forum to participate in the event which is
going to take place in Tallinn 14th and 15th September. I am going to write more specifically
about what I am going to do there closer to the date. My input is connected to the workshop
“Bloggers, portals and social media“.
The Forum is a biannual event organized in one of the two capitals, this year in Tallinn. It
involves the local governments of both of the two cities plus regional administrations of Uusimaa
in Finland and Harjumaa in Estonia. The twin city concept is an essential part of the Forum. This
year’s event discusses developing a common Helsinki-Tallinn information space.
As a part of my preparations for the Forum I am going to discuss related topics both in this web
space, my Finnish and Estonian blogs and elsewhere. One of the places is the Facebook page
“Helsinki-Tallinn Capital Regions Common Info Space“. To kick it off I am posting some loose
thoughts about (local) government and social media. Since the idea is partly to build up my own
input and partly to give a chance to anybody interested (whether they actually participate in the
event or not) to contribute, your comments are most welcome either here in the blog or at any of
the two Facebook pages linked above (1, 2).
If you browse the web sites of Helsinki and Tallinn you do not easily detect signs to suggest that
social media would be actively and systematically used as a tool by either city. Yet I know that
there is a growing interest in social media in both administrations and it is probably being used in
a light scale by both. It is more than likely that neither Helsinki nor Tallinn has yet a
comprehensive social media strategy, i.e. they have yet to figure out how to use it and what for.
Please correct me if I am wrong but I have in fact not detected any active social media presence
from governmental organisations in Finland, neither local, regional nor central government. The
picture is somewhat brighter in Estonia. Various levels of government are using the channels of
social media in various ways and with a variable level of success.
Most notably, the President of Estonia, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves has a Facebook page of his
own. The page is being frequently updated and is very popular (9,575 people like it). Each post
collects a lot of comments. The president does not seem to talk back but I do not really think
anybody would expect him to.
The Estonian Foreign Ministry has an official blog which is very actively updated by Estonian
diplomats around the World and by civil servants of the ministry. The comments are very few
and practically never responded to. The blog portraits a colourful picture of life and people in
external service but basically works as a one way street.
Returning to the local level of government, the City of Tartu appears in Twitter. The tweets are
posted fairly regularly and almost always consist of links to the city’s web site. By following
them I get quite a lot of interesting information about current events in Estonia’s second largest
city without drowning into a bulk of stuff less interesting for me which would be the case if I
subscribed to their RSS feed.
The city does not seem to discuss with their followers. Alas, I conclude that their strategy is to
get their message through effectively. Looks like it works reasonably well and does not require
very much resources to be invested to. On the other hand, Tartu does no doubt miss the benefits
of the very idea of social media: it is a two way street. Incidentally, the University of Tartu
seems to have a bit more sophisticated approach: they also link to sites other than their own and
even occasionally respond to comments and retweet.
The most boring approach to social media is the Twitter feed of the Government of Estonia. The
feed is practically a duplicate of their RSS feed, thus adding no value if followed. Despite having
(at this moment) 566 followers they only follow back 8, all of which are governmental
organizations or institutions. As you could expect, no replies or retweets to be found.
As you may or may not know, the two European Capitals of Culture next year are going to be
Tallinn and Turku. The Foundation Tallinn 2011 has a pretty nice presence in Twitter. Not only
do they post operative info about preparations to the year as Cultural Capital, they also discuss
with their followers. Add to that their activities in Facebook and YouTube and you get
something which looks like an impressive social media strategy for an institution sponsored by a
local government.
These are just a few examples of different approaches to social media in various governmental
operators. They all have a different strategy (or in some cases lack of it). I hope to soon return to
the question of social media strategy more specifically. In the mean time I would appreciate any
thoughts you may have. http://larko.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/thoughts-about-local-
government-and-social-media/
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Ingrid Koehler at the IDeA has posted some questions about how local government can use and
engage with social media. As an ex-local councillor (where my responsibilities included being
lead member for corporate communications and customer services) and as a public relations
consultant that works with the public sector I thought it would be worth responding on the blog
as well as in the comments.
• What are the greatest areas of potential benefit in councils using social
media?
Interesting one this. My advice is often “don’t think too big”. Some of the best social media ROI
might come from smaller or niche uses. For example how about using you can use it to improve
communication within an area management structure in order to reduce the number of meetings
required between officers, community groups, members and other organisations.
• How can councils support local communities and individuals in becoming
digitally enabled and empowered?
Don’t aim too high. Initially you don’t need to convert/empower/support the wider community.
Start off with the ‘empowered citizen’ (sometimes known as the ‘usual suspects’) who are
already active in community groups and forums.
• How can local and hyper-local social networks increase community cohesion
and empowerment.
Yes, but as an addition to face-to-face real world communication, not as a replacement.
• How can councillors develop their leadership and communication skills using
social media?
This must be down to councillors themselves with support from their political parties. I think I
was the first councillor in the UK to start a blog and one thing that made it successful was that it
was political. The ‘local politics’ posts were the most popular, for example knocking the Tory
executive member for leisure because he cancelled our local November 5 bonfire. If councillors
have official support they can’t create the content that really interests and fires up local people.
But thing councillors must understand is that a successful local ward blog isn’t the same as a
national political blog.
• How can councils create the space for community conversations without
overpowering them?
Not sure what is meant by “create the space”. The spaces already exist and it is about finding
appropriate ways to participate. That means looking at what you can give, rather than what you
can take. It’s no different to how businesses should be behaving in the space. “Create the space”
sounds dangerously close to ‘build it and they will come’ – well they won’t necessarily.
• How can social media be used for more effective social marketing
encouraging the behaviour change necessary to achieve complex outcomes?
Huge question and not space to answer here, other than to say that’s already what we’re doing
for some of Wolfstar’s clients.
• What’s the “next practice” in social media, including virtual worlds and more?
Everyone has their predictions, with lots published on blogs as new year forecasts. I’m not going
to get into that game other than to say that mobile and convergence will become even more
important.
If you’re really interested in social media for local government then I’d highly recommend you
read Simon Wakeman’s blog, he’s the head of marketing at Medway Council.
http://stuartbruce.biz/2009/02/how-can-local-government-use-social-media.html
A report published by NESTA/I&DeA has issued a call to arms for local authorities to
effectively use social media to improve local engagement and promote efficient
communication.
“Social media tools represent an extraordinary opportunity to innovate, to do things that weren’t
possible before, and we are only just beginning to see what is possible,” says Andy Gibson,
author of a new report on social media usage in local government.
Gibson’s Local by Social report was published this week by NESTA (National Endowment for
Science, Technology and the Arts) and I&DeA (Improvement & Development Agency), in
which he argues the core role social media tools could play in delivering higher levels of public
engagement across local authorities. More than this, he argues that the forthcoming reduction in
public spending will mean authorities will be under greater pressure to innovate.
“Expectations are growing on councils to engage, work openly, be more accountable and move
quicker on issues,” said the report. “Meanwhile, councils are facing the biggest ever post-war
reduction in spending from 2011 – still more in discretionary spend – and are being asked to do
more with less. Higher expectations combined with drastically fewer resources make the
imperative to innovate critical.”
Gibson highlighted one of the key issues facing councils and social media today. “The problem
for councils though, is that not engaging now represents a far greater risk than engaging. Citizens
will still use these networks to talk about you, whether you add your voice to the conversation or
not.”
“Citizens will expect their council to engage with them on their terms, via their channels, and to
be openly available online,” he added. “In fact, it is becoming increasingly clear that if councils
don’t use these tools, the citizens will do it for them, and bypass the council entirely.”
Beyond increasing communication and engagement, Gibson pointed to analysis completed by the
Society of Information Technology Management’s (Socitm) that compared the cost of customer
service interactions. Socitm’s report found that, “web transaction costs [are] 27p on average,
compared with phone transactions of £3.22, and face-to-face transactions of £6.56. The web is
cheaper, and quicker. Councils that find ways to shift their business online quickly will save
money.”
He warned it’s essential that councils learn about harness social media tools. “The choice for
councils is stark: get on board, or get left behind.”
Footnotes
1 Employees of ‘special bodies should refer to the Code of Conduct for Victorian Public Sector
Employees of Special Bodies (No. 1) 2007. Your employer will have informed you, if this Code
applies to you. If in doubt, check with your manager or Human Resources area.
Ingrid Koehler at the IDeA Srategy Unit poses seven good questions. Here are my thoughts,
although they boil don’t to one key answer: Get involved and act like normal people do.
1 What are the greatest areas of potential benefit in councils using social media. These
spring from the culture change which social media can help to drive, or rather requires you to
adopt. Organisations which are alive to how social media can build trust, strengthen relationships
and allow people to collaborate will eventually benefit from being able to work much better with
the people they are there to serve. It helps make you a council which learns quickly, acts quickly,
collaborates well inside and outside the organisation, is transparent and more trusted.
2 How can councils support individuals in becoming digitally enabled and empowered? I
think the answer is to start with your own staff. Councils employ a goodly proportion of those in
work in any area and if they get it then that will reach many others. Give them access to
organised yet informal help on how to use social media for their work. Reward those who share
what they know and make sure they know they have permission to help the ‘citizen’ to also learn
how to use the social web. Why doesn’t a housing repair team use social media to talk about
what they do – why can’t they then share these skills with the people they meet in their work?
Support would include identifying digital mentors in your teams and offering social media
surgeries, some for insiders, some for outsiders and some for both. Don’t underestimate how
much people enjoy using the social web and treat that as an opportunity. Oh, and open up
internet access to council staff.
3 How can local and hyper-local social networks increase community cohesion and
empowerment. At it’s simplest these networks help people know each other. That in turn
allows them to see what they have in common and to begin to organise around shared problems
or opportunties. Don’t imagine that a council run ning for each neighbourhood is the answer
though. Often councils have to go to where networks have begun to spring up. Don’t expect
people to come to you. Equaly don’t think of these online very local networks (they could cluster
around a blog or series of blogs, perhaps even people on twitter) are separate from you as a local
authority. Just be sincerely part of them.
4 How can councillors develop their leader and communication skills using social media?
The key here is not the tools but the habits. If they participate in the conversation as normal
human beings they will develop more sophisticated collaborative and conversational
communications skills and be more accountable as leaders. If they learn to seek help from their
networks and in turn help people within those networks they can build a great deal of social
capital – which is core to being a leader. On the other hand, if they use the tools as a one way
broadcast mechanism they won’t gain much benefit from social media.
5 How can councils create the space for community conversations without overpowering
them? Usually it will be wrong for a council to think they can make a space and it will work.
(I’d prefer to say always – because the usually could be the excuse for thousands of moribund
council created ‘social’ sites). People working in councils have to be granted permission to think
and act as part of a network. You wouldn’t blunder into your knitting club and start saying that
things are going to a certain way because you are in charge. You would help to negoatiate what’s
best.
6 How can social media be used for more effective social marketing, encouraging the
behaviour change necessary to achieve complex outcomes? People using social media are
already beginning to collaborate on solving complex problems – often with ad hoc networks of
expertise attracted to particular issues. So the answer to this question can’t be prescriptive other
than to say officers and politicians in local authorities need to begin contributing professionally
to other people problem solving. They need to use their skills and reosurces beyond their normal
areas or permission. That way they can learn techniques which they can then apply to their own
proferssional problems.
7 What’s the “next practice” in social media, including virtual worlds and more? Virtual
worlds are essentially a slightly clutsy toy at the moment (sweepeing genralisation I know – and
much of the work being done is valuable) . There may well be something new about how
information internally is processed – internal (perhaps semantic) search offering the right stuff to
the right person at the right time. Included in that stuff will be information coming from bloggers
as much as newspeprs or academia. So digital media literacy and refined critical skills for
information processing will be critical.
More importantly local authorities have not yet particularly begun to ‘get’ current practice in
social media. The key is to learn to share openly and generously. Social media practice includes
being wiling to give away what you know, help people solve their problems in the knowledge
that they in turn will help you solve yours, praise, support, respect people for what they do and
know, not their status and relax. Social media is like government – it’s never finished so don’t
behave as if it should be.
See also: