What I’m especially proud of however, is the level of progress WiC has made in terms of social media engagement. They actually make an effort to respond to questions on their Facebook Page that are within their mandate and re-direct questions that aren’t. Obviously, there is still room for improvement in terms of “human tone”, but that will surely come eventually as the GoC as a whole opens up to true dialogue on these channels.

There is also the very useful branded Working in Canada YouTube Channel with useful videos and enabled comments. The Working in Canada Twitter Account is currently used as a broadcast medium, however I’m optimistic that it will transition towards an engagement platform eventually as well.

What I’m most excited about however is their efforts in the mobile space. Here’s a stat for you: Over 50% of internet access in 2012 will occur via a mobile device yet under 1% of all websites are mobile friendly. It’s great to see proactive government organizations taking initiative to address this. A while back I actually created a Google Doc under www.mobilegovernment.ca to begin compiling a list of government websites in Canada that are now mobile friendly and/or have created a stand-alone app. This list has since grown considerably, to the point where I even decided to create a presentation on the State of Mobile in the Canadian Government.

The folks over at WiC have launched the Mobile Working in Canada Website, which is essentially the WiC tool itself optimized for cross-platform mobile devices. Try it out. Tell anyone you know that is looking for work anywhere in Canada, they will appreciate it. This tool is brilliant and best of all, continually evolving. I have also provided the HTML embeddable widget below , which is another great way Working in Canada is expanding its reach via social platforms.

My vote went to the Etho App. An iphone application that “provides shoppers with relevant health, social & environmental facts on the spot to aid them in making ethical purchases”. I’m already addicted to apps like RedLaser, which allow you to scan bar codes for price information, so this would be a natural evolution of that by overlaying environmental data.

Which one did you vote for? Deadline is August 29th.

Why is this good news for government organizations? The majority of decision makers in government like to follow not lead.

By far, the hottest trend I am picking up right now as a consultant in this field is the need for guidelines/policies surrounding digital engagement. At the end of the day, these are merely reminders of existing policies and guidelines that employees are already supposed to be adhering to in day-to-day interactions with other people.  They are just updated and simplified to reflect the real-time digital information environment that we currently live in. Various proactive organizations have already begun creating these (or issuing RFP’s), while the reactive ones are waiting for something to come top-down (at a significant cost in terms of missed opportunities).

Want to create guidelines on your own? Browse the Social Media Governance Database and derive ideas from an existing template.

I’ll likely be posting one about the need for open data and/or 2-way social media engagement unless someone beats me to it.

Here’s a link to the YouTube channel where you can submit and also vote on questions for Prime Minister Harper. His speech and interview will also be streamed on this channel. Additionally, here’s a link to the YouTube blog with more info about this particular initiative.

Special thanks to Geordie Hyland for the heads up.

To solve our logistical dilemma , we decided to partner with an organization that has been conducting workshops successfully for decades, The Centre of Excellence for Communications. Yes, I know it’s ironic that we happen to share similar names, however don’t let that confuse you. The CEC’s core business is workshops, whereas CEPSM’s core business is the consulting side (although training is part of our consulting process). I’ll stop confusing you though. The bottom line is this, on November 25-26, 2009 CEPSM/CEC are jointly launching the 2-day Social Media Strategies for the Public Sector workshop. The intent is to offer this workshop in major cities across Canada for the first year and then see how it evolves from there.

Those of you familiar with my 1-day workshop will notice the switch to 2-days. I wanted to change things up a bit and add a hands-on session where each participant can get their hands dirty by actually using all of the tools I introduce during Day 1.  Further still, we will be using a live Google Doc to fill out certain sections of the workbook collaboratively.I like to practice what I preach as much as I possibly can. This is a great opportunity for me to do so.

For those of you interested in receiving this training as part of a University Certificate, be sure to see if our Professional Certificate in Public Sector Marketing course offered through Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business is a right fit for you. I’m really looking forward to being part of the instructional team this year!

Ok then, if you have any questions whatsoever, fire me an email or give me a call. Also, to stay up to date on my speaking schedule visit the Upcoming Speaking Engagements page on my blog. And yes, we will still be offering our private workshops for those interested. This is not meant to replace them.