April info shower…dominated by Twitter as usual

With March Madness finally winding down (always trickles into April),  I figured I’d quickly blog about a few things that caught my eye over the last few weeks:

• The top Google searches in Canada over the 12 months are  “facebook” & “youtube”. Proves that: a.) People don’t use URL’s b.) The internet is primarily a social platform.
• The term “social marketing” , properly defined here , is being misused left, right, and centre. Now Shaklee has filed an application to trademark the term, and true social marketers are in an uproar (rightfully so). You can follow the discussion by joining the Social Marketing Listserv.
• Thanks to R. Craig Lefebvre, there is once again talk of creating a Global Social Marketing Community. Let’s turn talk into action by getting involved!
• Public Safety Canada has launched a Social Media Press Release for their Emergency Preparedness campaign. Much more yet to come (full disclosure: PSC is a client of mine).
• University of Ottawa incorporates social media into its recruiting initiative Seek To Know
• Twitter hits 8 million users and increases the slope of its growth curve even more!
• Twitter potentially going to be bought by Google for a massive sum. Here’s a good explanation why in case you’re jealous.
• Twitter hashtagging is rising in popularity and in the number of potential applications. Search/follow the latest hashtags here.
• Changecamp Ottawa is gaining momentum and will surely catch the attention of some key public servant decision makers. Follow the Twitter hashtag here: #changecampottawa.
• Malcolm Gladwell is coming to Ottawa thanks to United Way. You can get your tix here.
• Rahaf Harfoush (member of Obama’s new media team) will be speaking at Marcom 2009 in Toronto.
• A plethora of new entries have appeared on the Government 2.0 Best Practices Wiki that I haven’t even had a chance to look at.
• The #gov20 Twitter hashtag is seeing lots of usage.

Ok, that’s my 5 minute midnight spontaneous brain dump. Upon re-reading it I realized that Twitter dominates the list. No surprise there. I’m finding myself using Twitter (via Tweetdeck) more than ever. Why? Like all social apps, the more people that use it, the more beneficial the tool. From a marketing/communications perspective (public or private sector), Twitter is an absolute dream come true. Remember, the key secret is the fact that you have the ability to FILTER conversations (e.g. Twitter Search).

For continuous live brain dumps like this be sure to follow my tweets: twitter.com/mikekujawski

A Sample Government Social Media Policy

Due to the Treasury Board’s current focus on internal social media initiatives, I have recently received an influx of requests to help public servants develop external social media engagement guidelines, particularly ones to do with blogging (lots of requests for this).

Government departments need to stop waiting for an official policy to come from TBS; It won’t anytime soon. Instead, senior leadership from within each department should be implementing their own policies, ideally consistent with other departments.

There is a growing effort on part of certain “social media activists” (internal to government) to standardize these guidelines/policies. The current GCpedia (internal government wiki) has numerous pages outlining “best practices” and sample guidelines that are ready for use.

Assuming you already have a “strategy” in place and proper resources to manage your social media tool(s) of choice, the following is a simple list of 12 guidelines originally developed by IBM and adapted by me to suit the federal government.

1. Know and follow GOC’s Communication Policy Guidelines and the Value & Ethics Code
2. GOC employees 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.
3. Identify yourself—name and, when relevant, role at GOC—when you discuss GOC or GOC-related matters. And write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of GOC.
4. If you publish content to any website outside of GOC and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with GOC, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent GOC’s positions, strategies or opinions.”
5. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
6. Don’t provide others with the GOC’s confidential or proprietary information. Ask permission to publish or report on conversations that are meant to be private or internal to GOC.
7. Don’t cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval. When you do make a reference, where possible link back to the source.
8. Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in GOC’s 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.
9. Find out who else is blogging or publishing on the topic, and cite them.
10. Be aware of your association with GOC in online social networks. If you identify yourself as a GOC employee, ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and clients.
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. GOC’s brand is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on GOC’s brand.

Common sense right? Sure, but the the tricky part is enforcement, which needs work.

Another excellent related source for you is this GoC blog proposal template developed by Douglas Bastien who is an avid public servant/blogger himself. For other public sector blogging and/or corporate blogging policies, be sure to download this great IBM report: The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0.

Canada Revenue Agency announces YouTube contest

Whenever I see a new addition on the Government 2.0 Best Practices Wiki, I immediately proceed to do a little investigative research to find out if it’s legit. The other day I stumbled upon this press release (via the CRA RSS feed) announcing the launch of The Canada Revenue Agency’s new “Underground Economy – Not your Problem?” YouTube video contest.

Essentially,  the CRA is inviting Canadians to tell how the underground economy is affecting them and their communities. The contest details are brilliantly laid out in this surprisingly “non-government like” YouTube video (that’s a good thing by the way…):

Here are some things I like about this initiative:

• It takes the existing “one-way” CRA YouTube channel to a “two-way” engagement state, calling on Canadians to submit their thoughts in the form of a video using a  medium accessed by over 336 million people each day.
• It shows that the CRA, an organization that is easy to pick on and “hate”, is ready to engage in dialogue and perhaps vocal negative feedback (this form of openness will surely make it succeed in the long run).
• It is “an idea worth spreading”. These kind of “memes” are worthy of a quick “tweet” and/or even a blog post like this one. The easy “embedability” of a YouTube video allows buzz to spread exponentially.
• It puts other departments that still don’t know what “web 2.0″  is to shame. If the CRA can engage in social media, why can’t department X?

Things I don’t like, or do I?:

• I noticed the comments on YouTube for this video are blocked. On the other hand, comments are not the main objective of this initiative. Besides, they would surely be filled with brainless absurdities from active tax evaders. If someone has something intelligent to say, it’s easy to find other places to do so that are tied in to this initiative. Therefore, while I am usually in avid support of comments, not including them in this case could be justified. Hopefully the contest information website is sufficient for people that have actual questions. Otherwise the only option is to email contest_concours@cra.gc.ca.

There have been numerous entries already, which is a good sign for initiatives of this nature. I’m looking forward to seeing the winning video.

What are your thoughts?