Social media is no longer a fad or what you do for fun at night. Instead social media plays a big role in how to connect with citizens and improve collaboration in public service agencies. This session will teach you how to use social media effectively in government from tactical tips to insight on navigating the legal and security hurdles.

1. Leveraging Social
Media Skills
July 26, 2012

2. Agenda
1. The Value of Digital Communications
2. The End Result = Meet Key Objectives
3. Top Uses and Mega Trends of Social Media in
Government
4. 3 Quick Tips to make social media work for you
5. 3 More Things to Know
6. Discussion: Article title “Should all social media
managers be under 25?”
#nextgengov

3. If Twitter was a country
Population: 140 million
It would be bigger than Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan
#nextgengov

4. If Facebook was a country
Population: 1 billion active users
It would be the world’s 3rd largest country
Bigger than North and South America combined
#nextgengov

5. If Email Was a Country
It Covers Continents
It would be an empire: 2.9 Billion users
#nextgengov

6. What is the Value of Digital Communications
Improved communication can have an incredible
impact on a public sector organization’s ability to
achieve its mission.
To be successful, most organizations must be able to
reach large and relevant audiences quickly with new
information.
Digital communication channels create new ways to
address the age-old problem of improved
communication with the public as well as higher
expectations and new complexities.
#nextgengov

7. Mission Objectives + Digital Strategy
“I want us to ask ourselves every day, how are we using
technology to make a real difference in people’s lives.”
– President Barack Obama: Digital Government Strategy, May 2012.
PURPOSE = Give people useful information to make a difference in
their daily life, around topics such as:
• Employment
• Housing
• Health
• Safety
• Recreation
#nextgengov

8. What are we really trying to accomplish?
1. Choosing to get a flu shot
2. Adopting a pet
3. Converting to a digital service
4. Applying for a grant
5. Commenting on a regulation
6. Creating an app from a government dataset
#nextgengov

9. Digital Services Innovation Center
• Improve services to the American People through
improved Web Services and Mobile Applications
• Goal = Digital services and government
information anywhere, anytime and on any device.
• Identify and provide performance and customer
service satisfaction measurement tools to improve
service delivery
#nextgengov

10. Agencies are now allowing access
2010: 55% of respondents said
their agencies were blocking
access to Social Media channels
2011: 19% of respondents
said their agencies were
blocking access to Social
Media channels
Source:
Market Connections 2011 Social Media in the Public Sector Study, Oct. 2011
http://www.marketconnectionsinc.com/Reports/social-media-in-the-public-sector-2011.html
#nextgengov

11. Top 5 Federal Uses of Social Media
Communicate with
Informed Decision
Citizens and Other Internal Collaboration
Making
Agencies
Research/Information Marketing and
Gathering Promotion
Source:
Market Connections 2011 Social Media in the Public Sector
Study, Oct. 2011
http://www.marketconnectionsinc.com/Reports/social-media-in-
the-public-sector-2011.html
#nextgengov

12. 5 Mega Trends
with Social Media and
Government*
*Source:
http://www.businessesgrow.com/2011/04/04/five-mega-
trends-how-social-media-is-transforming-government/com #nextgengov

13. 1. The Cry for Transparency
“This is a terrible time to be a control freak”
– Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State
• Broad recognition that government information belongs to the people
• Technology is enabling a new wave of sharing
• Best practice: U.S. Government Printing Office site
o volumes of documents now available at visitor finger tips
#nextgengov

14. 2. Citizen Engagement
“The opportunity of social media and government is not
economic or technological. It’s emotional.”
— Aneesh Chopra, Former CTO of the U.S. Government
• Challenge.gov rewards citizens with cash prizes and other non-monetary
incentives for solving government problems
• Data hackathons
• NASA has a range of programs encouraging active participation in agency
project – customize your own NASA project page
#nextgengov

15. 3. Humanizing Government
“Social media is not a second website,
it’s a community.”
— Tristram Perry, U.S. State Department
• People are people, brands are building an emotional connection
• Citizens are expecting government to do the same
• NavyForMoms.com
• U.S. Embassy, Jakarta = (502,927 likes) more Facebook likes than all embassies
combined
#nextgengov

16. 4. Crisis Management
While the networks rushed from the big cities and
Joplin's local news media found themselves
overstretched, local would-be journalists stepped
into the lurch.
#nextgengov

17. 5. Real-time Response (and Mobile)
• In private sector, there are many case studies about companies using social media
as an effective tool to solve problems in real-time
• These practices are being adopted by state and city (and federal) governments.
• With a tweet or text (or an app) — potholes, broken street lights and other issues
are being reported and fixed.
• 311-Twitter service in San Francisco, for example, has answered over 7 million calls
and thousands of more requests online.
Why wouldn’t citizens expect national
governments to do the same?
*Source: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2011/04/04/five-mega-trends-how-social-media-is-transforming-government/ç
#nextgengov

18. 4 Quick Tips
To aid you when implementing social
media in your organization
#nextgengov

19. 1. Aim for an integrated approach
#nextgengov

20. 2. You don’t have to do it all
Test => Learn => Iterate
#nextgengov

21. 3. Leverage existing resources
#nextgengov

22. 4. Learn from GovLoop
#nextgengov

23. 3 Things to Know
Want to Create a Facebook page?
Want to learn from others doing social media?
Want to start a challenge on Challenge.gov?
#nextgengov

24. 1. Creating a Social Media Account
COPE in Action
#nextgengov

25. Don’t say “No,” Part 1
Goal: not to say “No” to social media and block access
completely, but to say “Yes, following security
guidance,” with effective and appropriate information
assurance security and privacy controls.
#nextgengov

26. Don’t say “No,” Part 2
Provide periodic awareness and training of policy,
guidance, and best practices:
 what information to share, with whom they can share it, and what not to
share.
 mindful of blurring their personal and professional life - don’t establish
relationships with working groups or affiliations that may reveal sensitive
information about their job responsibilities.
 See what’s available
 Work with your agency POC
 Set up an account
 Put accounts in the Social Media Registry
#nextgengov

27. COPE in Action How to Be Successful
• Spark discussion and give people a reason to belong.
• Customize your information for your audience.
• Develop unique, engaging content.
• Post regularly.
• Set goals and reassess them periodically.
#nextgengov

28. COPE in Action Avoid the Pitfalls
• Do NOT unintentionally (or intentionally) violate the
Anti-deficiency Act
• Do NOT unintentionally (or intentionally) violate the
Hatch Act
#nextgengov

29. 2. Join Communities of Practice
Government social media
professionals are encouraged
to join one of the
HowTo.gov communities of
practice especially if you have
expertise in a particular area
you want to share including:
• Social Media
• Challenges and Contests
• Mobile Gov
• Social Media Metrics
#nextgengov

30. 3. Challenge.gov
#nextgengov

31. 3. Facts about Challenge.gov
• Today: 198 Challenges from 46 agencies
• 1.5 million+ visits this year
• Audience from 194 countries &
territories
• Median prize purse: $8,500
• 103k supporters
• 51 data-focused, 24 apps challenges
• Free to all federal agencies
• Full end-to-end platform
Follow @ChallengeGov and
Facebook.com/ChallengeGov
#nextgengov

32. Group Discussion
#nextgengov

33. COPE in Action Group Discussion
#nextgengov

34. COPE in Action Group Discussion
#nextgengov

35. COPE in Action Group Discussion
#nextgengov

36. COPE in Action Group Discussion
#nextgengov

37. COPE inGroup Discussion – Things to note
Action
1. The article was written on July 20 (6 days ago)
2. The author has still yet to respond to any comments
regarding the article, or she write a follow-up article
3. She blocked commenters when they reached out to her
on Twitter (even respectful comments)
#nextgengov

38. COPE in Action Discussion - Questions
Group
1. Why do you think this article elicited such a huge reaction?
2. What lessons can we learn from this experience?
3. What would you have done differently?
4. If you were faced with a similar public affairs crisis in your
agency, what steps would you take to remediate?
#nextgengov

39. Want more tips on citizen engagement?
Visit www.HowTo.gov or www.ReachThePublic.com
Clients, you can also join the GovDelivery group on GovLoop -
- - www.govloop.com/group/thegovdeliveryusergroup
Join GovLoop.com the knowledge
network for Government
#nextgengov

40. How to reach us
Betsy Steele
@betsyasteele
Center for Excellence in Digital Government
betsy.steele@gsa.gov
Joseph Porcelli,
@JosephPorcelli
Director, Engagement Services
joseph.porcelli@govdelivery.com
202-407-7461
Lauren Modeen,
@Exilauren
Engagement Strategist
lauren.modeen@govdelivery.com
#nextgengov