marketing & social media strategy consultant and trainer focused primarily on helping public sector organizations achieve their objectives more efficiently and effectively
I’m heavily buried in the process of preparing my materials for the upcoming MARCOM 2009 conference, however I wanted to post this up rather than just tweet about it. Basically, Apps for Democracy , the Washington D.C crowd sourcing initiative that I often use in my presentations, has just launched a new initiative called Apps for Democracy “Community Edition”. Citizens get to submit their community improvement ideas in real-time and vote using this insights portal.
Why do I think this initiative will work? Because last time they had very little support and yet they managed to have citizens develop 47 applications in 30 days using crowd sourced government data. The estimated cost had they gone through the RFP process, would have been $2.3M, not to mention 12 years of procurement. The total cost ended up being the prize money of $50K. The ROI therefore was 4000%.
“This video, created by the Air Force Public Affairs Agency, Emerging Technology Division, shows how our Airmen are using social media to stay informed and inform others. Airmen have the ability to communicate and tell the Air Force story better than anyone else. By reaching out with social media tools, they’re able to it quickly and in their own voice. Every Airman is a communicator and these examples prove that. It’s time for you to tell your story.”
Have a look for yourself:
Question for us Canadians: Why are we so far behind? This is not rocket science. These tools are free. Terrorist networks are using them to organize themselves, meanwhile we are still blocking Facebook and Twitter access within the Department of National Defence and the various arms of the military in fear of security breaches and intelligence leaks.
Answer: Same as always, the organizational culture/mindset must change. This has nothing to do with the tools, but rather with the lack of awareness and/or fear of the fundamental paradigm shift that has occurred over the last few years. The senior officer fear of not being in control of “the message” and “the brand” of the military keeps them from properly engaging on these channels beyond the 1-way dissemination of information. The fact that lower ranking officers have access to the most powerful media platform in the world at their fingertips scares many in the senior ranks. The truth of the matter is, no matter how hard you try to block access, people will use social media regardless, since it is now an inherent part of human social interaction. Imagine the reaction if senior officers were suddenly told that they are not allowed to use the phone anymore since at any given time “the enemy” might be tapping their conversations (the same excuse is used to block Facebook). Chances are that such an order wouldn’t go too smoothly. Instead, a mitigation strategy should be put into place, just like with the phone (secure lines for “secret” conversations). At the end of the day, what needs to be taught here is the proper, responsible use of social media as opposed to an outright ban. Here are three things the Canadian Military should do right away:
Invest in training programs for recruits that show the potential power of tapping into the giant world pool of collective intelligence (fed through content creation via social media channels) as well as the flip side to this, i.e. what “the enemy” is doing. Essentially, a social media monitoring 101 workshop would do the trick. It would also quickly smarten up the recruits that have no idea everything they do online is easily track-able.
Create a social media engagement policy, clearly expressing what is and isn’t acceptable. This policy should be derived from existing “values & ethics” of the organization in question. At the end of the day, the same rules should apply as to those governing in person “conversations” with the public. Note that social media is not to be treated as a “communication” channel, hence why I specifically use the term “conversation”. Imagine you were talking with someone at a restaurant, being in the military chances are you would not suddenly disclose secret information and then proceed to swear profusely and badmouth the Canadian military. This mindset should be applied when using social media channels. Treat any digital content (including a message to your best friend) as content that could potentially be seen by your superiors, your mother, your neighbour and your enemy.
Create a “strategic” social media engagement plan. I say this every day, and I will likely continue saying this until I end my career, social media is not about the “tools and technology” it’s about the “people” powering those tools. If you think that by simply joining Twitter and having Facebook and YouTube profiles you are a “web 2.0 organization”, think again. True engagement takes time , commitment, transparency, and a true understanding and appreciation of the people at the other end of “the conversation” (i.e your audience). Before choosing specific channels of interaction you should set measurable objectives, target specific audiences, write down clear risk mitigation strategies and above all, understand how these channels work by participating yourself first.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
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.
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.
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.
Find out who else is blogging or publishing on the topic, and cite them.
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.
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.
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.
