10 local government social media myths

February 17, 2009 — Ingrid Koehler

In order for social media to be embraced by local government, I think we need to bust some
social media myths:
1. You have to be (technical/ geeky/ a bit weird) to use social media.
Millions and millions of otherwise ordinary people use YouTube and social networking sites
like Facebook or MySpace. On the IDeA’s own social media platform -Communities of Practice
- over 20,000 local government types are registered and that’s growing every day.
You may have to be a little bit geeky to build some of the applications, but not always. Anyone
can set up a blog in a few clicks. Anyone can upload a photo. Anyone can set up a profile or a
group in Facebook. It does take a little expertise to get it all meshed into a good corporate-
looking standard. But for individuals and local interest groups, there’s no such onus and it can
be a powerful communication tool straight out of the box.
Linked to this…
2. It’s all about tools
Too often social media folk use the names of popular tools (like Twitter) to describe types of
interaction and social networking. Unfortunately, that’s just the way things have evolved – a bit
like vacuuming being described as Hoovering. Tools are the support, but people make the
conversations.
3. It’s only young people who use social media, that’s where the key benefit in consultation
is.
Nah, not true. Younger folk may use it as a matter of course, but lots of “older people” use
social media, too, and more and more are using it all the time. Here’s a nice link to headline
demographics of MySpace, Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn
You do need to have a good idea of who’s congregated and where online though. And
understand that some people just don’t want to engage this way. That’s ok.
4. It’s a big old waste of time.
Human beings are amazing in their ability to waste time. But they don’t need social media to do
it. People waste time browsing the Internet, emailing their friends, chatting about Formula 1,
wandering around aimlessly holding a piece of paper. And people can waste time on social
media, too.
So before you go banning Facebook, make sure that council workers aren’t using it to check how
people are discussing local issues and engage with local people. And anyway, so what an
employee spends 5 minutes catching up with an old friend online, how much time are they
spending answering emails, reading papers, going to community meetings in time that should be
their own?
Communicating and listening constructively is never a waste of time.
5. It’s too hard
It’s not that hard. There are lots of easy ways to get started, and you can focus on doing one
thing at a time – like Twitter or blogging or a Facebook page and getting to grips with doing it
well. And the great thing about social media is that there are a lot of very social people to turn
to for help once you get started.
6. It’s easy
Well, it is and it isn’t. Much of social media is easy and accessible. But good conversation,
consultation, listening, facilitation and communication skills take time and effort to develop. We
don’t expect people to find their public speaking voice the first time they step onto a stage. We
don’t expect the first report someone ever writes to be a masterpiece. That doesn’t mean we
don’t do it. And just because many people do these things, it doesn’t mean we don’t respect
those people who do it well.
There are skills and talents in social media and online facilitation which should not be taken for
granted.
And as Mark Evans explains in his 5 social media myths, there’s some hard slog, too:
a successful social media campaign consists of working it every day and making small, but
constant, gains. It means hours of effort to monitor, track and engage with people on dozens of
platforms.
7. If we let people say anything, then they’ll say the worst thing
A public sector site must never be the home of nasty vitriol, and ____ist diatribe or links to
porn. And these are all things that can happen if you open up conversations on your own site.
But most people are pretty responsible. Most people know what’s appropriate. Do we trust local
people? We don’t let the random blow-hards and loudmouths stop us from holding public
meetings. And we shouldn’t let the Internet equivalent stop us from holding public
conversations in spaces online.
Trust, but verify. Be prepared to step in and moderate.
8. Social media is too risky.
What are the risks of not doing it? What are local people talking about? If you’re not listening to
their message where they’re saying it, then you’re missing a trick and it’s a big reputational and
service risk.
On the flip side, mistakes will happen. Only by actively managing your approach to social
media in an open environment can you hope to mitigate that.
9. You have to hire a flash consultant to make social media work.
Local government is a big employer. Chances are there’s already somebody working within
your council who is passionate about social media and they know local government already.
Find those people and use them to build your approach. (and maybe hire some consultants as
well, but beware there are few that understand the public sector and social media.)
10. It’s a replacement for traditional consultation and engagement
The invention of the printing press and the development of political pamphlets never stopped the
need for us to hear directly from thinkers and talk about it ourselves.
True enough, as you gear up your social media some people which switch over from traditional
means of consulting with you. But more likely, is that you start to get more and different people
engaging with you. And I suspect that what also happens is that as you demonstrate that you’re
listening online and support an active community, you’ll actually get more rather than fewer
people turning up to that drafty hall on a wet Wednesday evening.
This, of course, has cost implications. But we either believe that democratic engagement has its
own value and that involving people will make services more appropriate and therefore more
efficient or we don’t.
_______
I started drafting this and then saw the Mark Evans’ excellent 5 Social Media Myths and this
inspired me to finish off the post. I almost must acknowledge Steve Radick’s fantastic Twenty
Theses for Government 2.0
And I’m sure there are more myths that need busting as well.

http://davepress.net/2010/03/17/social-media-resources-for-local-government/

Social media resources for Local Government

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Dave

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

Why local government shouldn’t be on Facebook34

Tags: communication, communications, communicators, engagement,
facebook, government, local government, media relations, medway,
public+sector, social, Social media, Twitter, using social networks, ved,
videos
Over the past six months I’ve picked up an increasing interest in social media among public
sector communicators. I’ve met more people, had more calls, emails and tweets about this than I
did this time last year – there’s clearly a recognition that social media has an important role to
play in local government and more generally public sector communications.
Most councils are still dipping a tentative toe in the water with social media – trying to see what
they can and can’t do and see what’s working for others.
In particular at the moment it seems that Facebook and Twitter are the two social media tools
that are attracting most attention. More on Twitter soon, but I’ve been thinking about how local
government should be using Facebook.
There are already many councils that have set up a page on Facebook for their council – and
have attracted “fans” with varying degrees of success. Their pages usually feature a mix of
aggregated content from other sources, photos, videos and a scattering of comments and the odd
response from the council.
I’m not going to mention names here, as my observations are about councils generally rather
than any specific council – and to be really clear, I think it’s better that councils are trying
Facebook rather than avoiding it altogether.
But my real concern is that I don’t think councils should have a presence on Facebook for
themselves as a council.
I think it’s the wrong approach and I think it misses the point about the way people interact on
social networks.
People using social networks befriend (or fan, whatever the appropriate phrase is) organisations,
movements, clubs etc on Facebook and other social networks because they have an emotional
bond of some description with that entity.
They might be fans in the muscial or film sense (eg by signing up to a band’s page), be
replicating membership of an offline group (eg by signing up to a sports club’s page) or be part
of a shared interest movement (eg by signing up to a campaign or political group’s page).
All of these conscious choices by individuals using social networks are done because they have
some empathetic or emotional relationship with the entity to which the page belongs. They
become a fan because they want to and because they care in some way.
How does this sit with a local council? In the real world I’m not convinced people have such a
bond with their council as a corporate body – yes, they have that emotional or empathetic
reaction about many of the services that their local council provides them, but not about the
council as a whole. There’s no real world basis for the creation of an online community.
And that’s why I think councils that set up corporate pages on Facebook aren’t going to
experience much success. I’m sure they’ll get a growing number of “fans” as the numbers using
the social network grow, but I’m not convinced of the worth of corporate pages as a
communications and engagement tool.
So what should councils do on Facebook?
Well I think there are two areas that councils should be focussing on:
1) Create Facebook pages for things people care about
Think about those things your council does that people care most about. Which do they feel most
involved or engaged with? Where might there be a shared interest that would naturally lead to
the creation of an online community? What do people care most about? What are the most active
issues that are concerning residents in your area?
In Medway we’ve not created an official Facebook presence for the council, but we have used
Facebook groups to promote festivals and theatres – as we know that the customers for these
services do have a sense of belonging with the service and so there’s a basis for an online
community to form.
Once you’ve created a page there’s lots more to think about – like how you’re going to manage
and develop the community and ensure the council is actively engaging with the page’s fans, but
more on that in a later post.
2) Reaching out to existing users
The oft-repeated adage about “build it and they will come” is as wrong on Facebook as it is
anywhere else on the web.
Just because you have a presence on Facebook (whether it’s as a corporate body or for a specific
service area), that doesn’t mean you’re automatically using Facebook to its greatest potential as a
communications tool.
Try searching out people in your area using Facebook already. Look for groups that are
concerned with your area. Try to spot activists among the groups – who seem the most active and
vocal?
Once you’ve done this think about how to engage with these people appropriately – and I don’t
mean send them a message saying “I see you’re from XXX, why not join our group?” – the
skills and subtleties of engaging with residents through social media are as complicated as the
more traditional media relations that councils are so familiar with.
If handled sensitively, most people will be impressed their council is engaging residents directly
through social media – and once you have established a relationship with key activists or players
in the local social network scene, then you have the platform to start using that network to spread
council messages in a credible and effective way.
There’s far more to it than creating a page and loading it up with council content I’m afraid – but
the rewards for doing it properly will include reaching and engaging with parts of the community
that traditional council communications struggle to reach.
http://www.simonwakeman.com/2009/02/25/why-local-government-shouldnt-be-on-facebook/

Sample social media policies17

Tags: communications, guidelines, local government, policies, public
sector organisation, Social media
An important part of managing the impact of social media on an organisation is having an
effective social media policy for staff.
A good policy helps staff understand what they can and can’t do with social media at work, as
well as helping protect the organisation against some of the risks of using social media.
Written carefully a policy should be an enabler, rather than a hindrance. It should help encourage
staff to use social media tools in a way that’s appropriate to their role and help managers have
confidence in this use.
I’m also a firm believer that a social media policy needs to focus on behaviours, rather than
tools. Regular review of policies is, of course, important, but focussing on desirable and
undesirable behaviours gives a degree of “future-proofing” for a social media policy.
Intel
These guidelines do a good job on focussing on activities rather than specific tools. They
reference other codes that staff need to be aware of and make the organisation’s expectations of
its staff clear. They also offer positive guidance about what constitutes “good” and “meaningful”
online engagement which should help encourage constructive use of social media.
I also like the way the Intel guidelines make clear that responsibility for what staff use social
media for lies with staff – it makes ownership clear while also making strong links with the
impact that staff use of social media can have on the organisation’s reputation as a whole.
UK Civil Service
Strictly speaking these aren’t a full set of guidelines, but advice to civil servants about how the
existing Civil Service Code applies to social media. There’s nothing in there that’d I’d disagree
with, but I’m not convinced how useful these would be in practice – although some guidance is
better than none at all
However these have the feeling of something that’s been negotiated by numerous committees
and through that process of negotiation and amendment has been oversimplified to reach
agreement. I’d be interested to know how useful these guidelines are for civil servants working
in this space – I suspect there may be departmental policies that provide more specific guidance
on applications of social media relevant to a particular service.
Gartner public web participation guidelines
Similar to the Intel guidelines, these are focussed on ensuring productive use of social media and
draw a clear link between use of social media and delivery of business benefits for the company.
For public sector organisations writing a social media policy I think it’s important that this link is
made – to reduce potentially time-wasting but well-intentioned use of social media that doesn’t
contribute to productive outcomes for a particular service.
It also tackles the thorny issue of an individual posting content that could be seen to contradic a
corporate position on a particular issue. While I like the approach, I think local government in
particular may need a stronger line on this because of the role of non-political officers in
delivering public service in line with policy – this makes the issue of personal points of view in
contradiction to corporate policy more challenging.
Devon County Council social media and online participation policy and guidelines
A bit closer to home for public sector communicators, the Devon policy is one of the best I’ve
come across in the local government sector. I like the fact they’ve got a clear definition of scope
and some underlying principles that can be interpreted by officers depending on the tool they’re
using.
The more detailed guidelines by channel are useful in helping officers interpreting what
behaviours the organisation consider acceptable and unacceptable without being overly
prescriptive.
The only aspect that I think is missing from the policy (and this may well be because it’s
somewhere else in the organisation – that’s alluded to in the context of youth engagement) is
how the council manages its service presences on social media – who is allowed to set up what
presences? Can officers do their own thing or is there a approval or regulation process that needs
to be followed?
For any organisation looking to draft a policy there’s a lot to learn from what other organisations
have written, but equally a “copy and paste” approach won’t work either as every organisation is
different and will have subtly differing things they need to achieve with their policy.
If these aren’t enough food for thought you can find even more information and comprehensive
lists of social media policies here and here.
If you’ve got any more policies worth sharing, please post them in the comments here so the
local public service communications community can benefit from your find!
http://www.simonwakeman.com/2009/12/07/sample-social-media-policies/

Three steps to effective local government social media

relations24
Tags: communication, conversations, email, facebook, google, local
government, local public services, media relations, monitoring, nielsen,
reputation, RSS, Social media, social networks, technorati, tracking,
Twitter, website
This is the second in a two-part series of posts. Yesterday’s post explored some background into
social media relations in local government and local public services.
This post sets out a three-step model to effective social media relations in local government. It’s
focussed on the business of proactively and reactively managing reputation through social media
channels.
Step 1: Monitoring
The first step to doing social media relations properly has got to be to have a good understanding
of the environment in which you’re operating – just as you’d undertake an environmental audit at
the start of any communications project.
I think there are two parts to this when it comes to social media (and indeed the online world
more generally).
The first is to undertake an audit of the local internet scene. This involves deep research into
local websites and local presences on key social media platforms. The purpose is to identify key
influencers and networks that exist online and relate to a local area. Try to understand who the
key players are in these networks – what are their positions on issues that your organisation rates
as important? How do these people link into existing offline networks of influence?
This audit can be quite a time-consuming piece of work and is only a snapshot of a particular
time. The nature of the social web means new networks and influencers can emerge rapidly, but I
don’t think that negates the importance of doing a proper online environmental audit on a regular
basis.
Once you’ve got the audit out of the way, it’s time to think about setting up some regular online
monitoring. There are plenty of paid-for solutions out there, but here are a few free services that
can be used to set up a basic online/social media monitoring service:
• Google Alerts – particularly good for “normal” websites, blogs and online
news sites. Provides web interface, email alerts and RSS feeds.
• Twitter Search – keyword and advanced search of Twitter messages. Provides
web interface and RSS feeds. For email alerts try Tweetbeep.
 • Facebook search – search people, pages, groups and places. Main issue here
is that I haven’t yet found a reliable alerting system for Facebook so regular
manual searching seems like the only option (this is probably because FB
want to keep people on their site as much as possible – so search results
aren’t exposed much through the site API).
• Backtype – good for tracking conversations in comments on blogs. Email
alerts only, no RSS.
• Technorati – blog-focussed. Used to be one of my favourites, but doesn’t
seem to pick up keywords as quickly/widely as Google Alerts on blogs now.
Web based search and RSS feeds available.
• Icerocket – quite a broad search engine, but particularly useful as it includes
MySpace results. Web based search and RSS feeds available.
• Socialmention – billed as “Google Alerts for social media”, this sites covers a
broad range of social media properties, including bookmarks. Offers web-
based search interface, RSS feeds, email alerts and downloadable results.
Also has some sentiment and other metrics, although haven’t paid a lot of
attention to these so far.
• Social media firehose – a raw Yahoo Pipes mash-up allowing you to search a
whole bunch of social media sites effectively. Web-based search, RSS, email
alertts and other options available.
• Nielsen Blogpulse – blog-focussed, but with plenty of trend and other
analytics. Includes RSS feeds and email alerts.
• BoardReader – forum-focussed search engine. Offers RSS feed and email
alerts.
(I don’t claim this list is by any means comprehensive, but these are the services that I’ve used
over the past few years. If you have any more must-have free social media monitoring services,
leave them in the comments below.)
When setting up alerts, it’s worth thinking broadly about the terms you need to monitor on.
Consider places, issues, names of key people, organisations – and learn how to write more
advanced search queries on each tool to eliminate unwanted results from your searches.
It’s also worth thinking about having accounts set up on key social networks that you can use to
join groups – so that you receive notifications of group activities that don’t show up in normal
searches. However this can be uncomfortable and potentially risky if officers need to use an
identifiably personal account (that they may use primarily for their own personal home use) to
join what could be controversial issue-related groups on a social network.
However even with this wide range of tools at your disposal, there’s no substitute for manually
reviewing the results. There will often be overlap between results from different sources that
arrive at different times that require careful reading and intepretation.
Step 2: Assessment
So you’ve got a pretty refined alerting system in place and you spot some social media coverage
that sets alarm bells ringing. What happens next?
It can be tempting to leap straight to the conclusion that a response is the right solution, but
now’s the time to sit back and assess what’s been said, by whom and how.
Is the person involved a troll (someone with a history of persistent narky, abusive, critical
comments)? If they are, is it worth responding? In my experience it probably isn’t and tends to
just incite further critical coverage.
Similarly if the content is obviously a joke, taking the mick or satirical, a response probably isn’t
the right solution.
The assessment also needs to take account of that person’s influence – how influential are they in
the networks you’ve identified in your local online audit? The more influential they are, the more
likely your need to engage with them online to achieve your communications goals.
You also need to consider whether you can engage online – in local government there are
restrictions on, for example, officers engaging in a political debate. If your assessment is that a
particular issue could be construed as politically sensitive then remember the limits to your
ability to respond as an apolitical officer.
Having thought through all these factors, there are three outcomes to consider:
• ignore and do nothing
• monitor and review regularly – and maybe if the content spreads or develops
consider a different outcome
• actively engage
Step 3: Action
So if your assessment is that you need to act, it’s time to think about the appropriate way to do
this.
I’m assuming here that as a communicator a mandate exists for you to engage with social media
participants – which ideally would be something specifically enabled in the organisation’s social
media or communications protocol.
In my experience the best way to deal with an “angry mob” situation, where there are a large
number of people critical of the organisation, isn’t to wade into the public discussion to try to
advance your case. It’s better to try to take the conversation forward with key influencers in the
group either privately or on other channels.
For example this could mean asking for someone’s email address so that you can have a more
considered and lengthy exchange of messages than is possible or practical on say Facebook or
Twitter. Indeed for some tricky situations I think it’s preferable to try to have a direct telephone
conversation with the person involved – this can help eliminate some of the misunderstandings
that can creep into written electronic communications and can help establish a more personal
relationship than is possible purely online.
Sometimes if the purpose of responding is to correct misleading or incorrect information, it may
be the right course of action to post directly in response, either in the same place as the original
coverage or on your own social media presence (and then placing a link as close as possible to
the original coverage).
However if you do this, I think you need to be prepared to then engage in the inevitable
subsequent online conversations that follow – to not do so could give the impression that the
organisation isn’t prepared to genuinely engage and undermine the intent and purpose of the
original intervention.
Regardless of the type of response you choose to make, I’d suggest a few principles that you
must keep to:
 • Transparency – disclose who you are and who you work for. To not do so is
unethical, breaks professional codes of conduct and will most likely backfire
when someone traces the comment back to you or your organisation
• Timing – social media moves fast and if not addresses quickly enough, the
story can develop well beyond its original scope. This means having the
organisational processes in place to respond quickly and accurately – who
needs to sign off social media responses?
• Considered – once you’ve made your response, it’s out there on the internet
and there’s no retraction – so you must be happy that what you’ve produced
might be published in public (even if it was sent as a private message),
quoted, interpreted, forwarded on and thrown back at you. Don’t publish in
haste and take out unnecessary passion – if in doubt, ask a colleague to read
it before hitting send.
• Tone and style – it feels like heresy saying this as someone responsible for
corporate style, but you need to match the tone of your response to the
environment into which it’s being published. YouTube has a different feel to
its language than say Facebook or Twitter – your response needs to
acknowledge this in the way it’s written. And the chances are writing in
corporate style or (even worse) unintelligible public sector jargon won’t be at
all appropriate.
Once you’ve completed your response, it’s time to tweak your monitoring to include potential
impacts of your response and then start the whole cycle over again.
This three-step model is my initial stab at setting out a methodology for handling social media
relations in the local public sector. It oversimplifies a lot of pretty complex and judgement-based
decisions but hopefully provides a basic framework on which more complicated processes can be
developed.
I’d be really interested in readers’ thoughts, comments and challenges to this model in the
comments below. http://www.simonwakeman.com/2009/09/11/three-steps-to-effective-local-
government-social-media-relations/

Final Draft – Social Media and Online Participation Policy

and Guidelines
by Carl Haggerty on May 1, 2009

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/

The Future of Local Government…

by Carl Haggerty on June 4, 2010

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 could of course be wrong about this ) http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/the-

future-of-local-government/

The Future of Local Government Part 2 – Social

Enterprise Council
by Carl Haggerty on June 9, 2010

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

Monday 28 September 2009 18:16

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

Barriers to Digital Engagement

by Carl Haggerty on April 20, 2009

Whilst on holiday in Melbourne, i managed to spend 45 minutes or so with Despina Babbage

from DIIRD (Depart for Innovation, Industry and Regional Development). We had an interesting
conversation about digital engagement, social media, web 2.0 and Melbourne as a place to live.
Afterwards my thoughts turned to the same question that has been bugging me for some time
now.
Can we really do Digital Engagement, or will it only ever be tokenistic?
I see a kind of resistance in the area of digital engagement that doesn’t seem to be there with
general communications and i believe that is because the communication professionals who are
now embracing such tools are not be followed in the same way as the professionals who deal
with public opinion and policy creation.
The issues as i see them are:
Can we really provide a platform for electronic engagement which ensures that real people can
contribute, participate and debate real issues in online spaces that are formally recognised as
engagement spaces by either government or local councils?
And
How can we facilitate, nurture and foster such spaces whilst avoiding council ownership and
maintaining the fluid and social nature of online spaces?
I am not arguing that people are not capable of engaging in such spaces, or even want to engage
in such spaces with us, in fact there are a good number of examples in my own council (youth
participation, libraries etc) where social networking sites have broadened the reach and and
scope of participation. BUT when you talk about what engagement really is and what democracy
is all about, we need to ensure we truly understand how representative democracy and
participative democracy can unite to provide a REAL agenda of digital engagement.
Also how do people intend on evaluating such engagement activity and manage the process of
receiving multi channel responses, within current skills sets. Has anyone or any council
embarked on a training and development programme around this activity?
I fear that digital engagement is less about technology and more about skills, trust, faith,
competencies and need i say it but REAL LEADERSHIP.
What i do see is that the way to reach people is not directly broadcasting from the top of an
organisation but to use the existing connections that real people may have with services and
develop new channels into those avenues to maximise and to leverage the opportunities of social
media tools for digital engagement.
Digital Engagement for me at least is about connecting people with services through new
technologies and enabling them to contribute to service improvements and decisions – this can
happen now and must be encouraged at every opportunity and where practical.
This must be supported with an agenda of business change which addresses the culture and skills
required to move it to a more mainstream environment.
For the wider and more strategic issues of engagement, i’ll wait for the director of digital
engagement to provide some steer. http://carlhaggerty.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/barriers-to-
digital-engagement/

Using Social Media to Bridge the Public With Local

Government and City Services

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.

YouTube: President Barack Obama is using YouTube to do his weekly

address to the nation, so why can’t your local mayor do the same thing? Get a video camera, edit,
upload, and release it. Embed that to your city’s website and keep the people informed on a
regular basis all the while giving your mayor a face and a voice rather than just a name. Twitter
that as well when the new video is posted.
Podcasting: More often than none, official, city meetings usually have a PA system in the rooms
they are held in. Get something you can record audio with and find out how you can get a feed
off of the system in the room so you can record it, and then you can post every recording as an
episode of the official podcast of your local city council. Even if you have some device you can
stick in the middle of the room that can capture all of the conversations in an audible enough
manner, that’s perfect, too. It might take some work to edit and publish every episode, but the
more you do this, the more archives you’ll create over time. Oh, and be sure to post an update on
Twitter that the latest podcast episode is up as well as a link directly to it.

Blogs: Text is always going to be the saving grace of any official

organization, and creating content that is search-able is key. If you have a new resident to a
community, what better way is there to get to know a community than to have an official blog
from the office of the mayor with his weekly/bi-weekly/monthly video addresses, thoughts on
events going on in or around the area, progress reports on his or her city plan, or announcements
of great community events that you should go check out because the mayor will be there as well?
I think the new person in town might have to subscribe to the RSS feed of the mayor’s blog
because it seems like a good way to stay informed about this new city they are now living in.
On top of that, the more text based content you have, the better your search engine optimization
(SEO) goes up when some one tries to search for something on Google about your community.
Wouldn’t it be best if some of the first search results that come up are those coming directly from
the folks running the city? That would seem very important to people involved in local tourism
and chamber of commerces. Of course, Twitter any and all updates to the blog or website so your
followers are reminded to check it out.
By no means are all of these thoughts complete or are they everything that one could do when
taking social media into consideration for a governmental organization that run cities large or
small. The fact is, the tools are there and within easy grasp of using, and it’s not out of the
question to get going on some of these concepts within a matter of days, on little to no budget.
The results might surprise you as suddenly a public service actually opens itself up to the public
it is meant to serve.
If you have additional ideas or even examples of cities doing concepts like this, feel free to share
them in the comments below. http://sixty4media.com/2009/03/22/using-social-media-to-bridge-
the-public-with-local-government-and-city-services/

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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/

How can local government use 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

Is Social Media a Friend or Foe of Government?

States and localities want to engage citizens, but social media comes with a lot of
legal risks and management concerns.
Tina Trenkner | December 31, 2009 http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/Is-Social-Media-
a.html
Jeffrey Horne wasn't new to social media. He liked using Facebook and Twitter to keep up with
friends and had dabbled some in blogging. Early last year, when he was the city administrator of
Mitchellville, Iowa, he got to thinking that Facebook could be a good thing for civic engagement,
too. Horne created a Facebook "fan page" for Mitchellville. He knew that not everyone in the
town of 2,300 was on Facebook. But he figured that those who were might enjoy using the
popular Web site to communicate with their local government.
The experiment started out well. About 30 citizens became "fans" of Mitchellville, allowing
them to see news from the town alongside the updates of neighbors, colleagues and old
classmates with whom they were Facebook friends. Then trouble started. One grumbling resident
used the page to post complaints. Horne had a hard time keeping up with who was joining the
conversation and moderating the comments. The page became a free-for-all, and more irritation
than Horne thought it was worth. He deleted it altogether. "It just didn't work well," Horne says.
While Mitchellville is no longer on Facebook, it's hard to ignore the fact that more than 100
million Americans are. Citizens increasingly go there and to other social-media platforms such
as MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter to connect with old acquaintances, find out what their friends
are reading, and pass time playing popular virtual games like FarmVille. These are no longer
kids' toys--the fastest growing demographic of Facebook users is people age 35 and older.
There's evidence that Americans want to use social media to connect with government, too. A
2009 report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that one in five Internet users
searched for political information, posted their views about issues or engaged in another civic
activity on a social network. "I think people realize this is no longer a fad," Alan Shark,
executive director of the Public Technology Institute, says of social media. "This is a way of
life."
Last year, Shark's organization surveyed chief information officers of local governments about
their social-media plans. Some 72 percent of those who responded said they were currently using
Facebook or Twitter in outreach efforts, or planned to do so. There are other signs that the public
sector is getting on these sites. GovTwit, a commonly used directory of government Twitter
accounts, has close to 1,000 of them listed with the "state-local" tag. And while it's almost
impossible to say exactly how many state or local government profiles exist on Facebook, a
casual look around the site will turn up dozens of pages for governments or individual agencies.
Yet for every fan page or account created, it seems there's another city or state holding back from
social media. Many officials are simply worried that Web 2.0 experiments will spiral out of
control, as Horne's did. But there also are a lot of legal risks and management concerns involved.
For example, should government-posted content on a third-party Web site be considered public
record? Who owns the content, and does it need to be archived? If advertisements show up on a
government fan page, does it imply that the state, city or county is endorsing the advertised
product? And how should officials handle rude or libelous comments?
Social media is new enough that there aren't yet clear answers to all of these questions. But some
guidelines are beginning to emerge that may help government officials figure out how to interact
with their online friends, fans and followers.
One set of guidelines comes from Florida. Last year, Coral Springs Mayor Scott Brook wanted to
create a Facebook profile for his city. Putting up the profile, Brook knew, would be simple
enough. But publishing information under the city's banner isn't. Most such activity is covered by
public records laws. Mayor Brook talked it over with Samuel Goren, the city attorney. Goren
wasn't sure how to play it either, so he decided to ask Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum
for his opinion about how local governments should approach Facebook.
McCollum's response caught the attention of many local officials across Florida. As long as the
page was created for a municipal purpose (as validated by the city commission), a Facebook
page could stand, he said. But there were a few rules to go by. For example, city commissioners
could not make online comments to each other on issues that might go before the board, on the
grounds that such communication would violate sunshine laws.
Another issue had to do with friends of the city's Facebook profile. Would their online
information be subject to open-records laws? Probably so, McCollum concluded, at least if the
information had been "made or received in connection with the transaction of official business
by or on behalf of a public agency such as the city." To be safe, McCollum advised that Coral
Springs place a warning about the public records law both on its Facebook page and on its city
Web site.
One local official in Florida felt the attorney general's opinion wasn't cautious enough. Ft.
Lauderdale City Attorney Harry Stewart released his own opinion on the matter a few weeks
after McCollum did. Stewart discouraged Ft. Lauderdale's mayor, vice mayor and commissioners
from participating on Facebook, citing the risk of violating public records and sunshine laws. He
also expressed concern about how information on Facebook would be archived and how long it
would stay there. "I'm not telling them 'Don't go on Facebook,'" Stewart says. "I'm telling them
to be very, very, very careful."
For the most part, state and local governments have been navigating these questions on their
own. In Rhode Island, for example, it's up to each state agency to determine for itself whether
Facebook, Twitter or any other service is worth using and whether the terms of service are
acceptable. The state of Utah created its own "acceptable use" provisions for social media.
Similarly, the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia, created terms of use for engaging with Facebook
and Twitter and ran it by the city attorney. Employees who post items on these sites on behalf of
the city also make sure to remind followers of the city's usage rules by regularly reposting them.
Doug Robinson, executive director of the National Association of State Chief Information
Officers (NASCIO), says several states have approached him with questions about these issues.
One of the things NASCIO is doing to help states navigate the risks is to convene an ad hoc
group of lawyers, deputy state CIOs, and technology and policy professionals. The group is
trying to put together some formal guidelines for states on issues regarding governing laws,
liability and endorsements.
A complicating factor is that sites such as Facebook and Twitter have terms of service of their
own. When users sign up, they agree to abide by those rules. As state and local governments
write their own terms of use for social media, there's a question as to whose rules prevail: those
of the government or those of the site? If it were the sites' terms, that would mean almost all
disputes over social media would be heard in California, where most of them are based.
Last year, the federal government reached agreement with Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo
and blip.tv, essentially resolving federal agencies' concerns about liability, endorsements,
freedom of information and governing laws. (The feds did not need to pursue an agreement with
Twitter because its rules were deemed compatible with federal use.) NASCIO hopes its
proceedings will produce similar agreements between social-media sites and the states.
Whatever comes of these efforts, governments will always face some element of risk when using
social media. Nobody has control over what their Facebook friends do -- that's the fun and the
flaw of Web 2.0 for governments. Then again, when citizens go to the microphone at a council
meeting, nobody has control over them, either. Social media will continue to evolve and mature.
And as it becomes more intertwined in Americans' lives, it will become more intertwined in how
they engage with their state and local governments.
That's still what Jeffrey Horne believes. Horne has moved on to a new position as city
administrator of Clinton, Iowa. And while the memory of his Facebook flop in Mitchellville
remains fresh in his mind, he's intent on figuring out a way to use social media to engage
citizens. He thinks Twitter could be useful for broadcasting alerts to citizens when there's, say,
sewer work they should know about. Horne says, "I don't think there will be much of an issue
with this."

Social media has “big part” to play in local government

Posted by Jon Wilcox on Fri, 26/03/2010 - 17:16
http://www.publictechnology.net/sector/local-gov/social-media-has-big-part-play-
local-government

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.”

Guidance for use of social media in the Victorian public

sector
State Services Authority, Published: 18 August 2010
http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/website-practice/web-2-0-a/social-networks-and-social-media-in-
government/guidance-for-use-of-social-media-in-the-victorian-public-sector.html
Purpose
The purpose of this guidance for Victorian public sector bodies and employees is to clarify their
existing obligations under the Code of Conduct for Victorian Public Sector Employees (No 1)
2007 (1) in the context of using social media. It is high level principles based, and addresses both
official and private use.
Given the broad and diverse nature of public sector organisations, this guidance addresses
standards of behaviour rather than detailed policies and procedures. It is not possible to provide
detailed guidance for every conceivable situation; therefore emphasis is placed on guiding
principles of behaviour that are applicable under the Code of Conduct.
It is recognised that this guidance will need to be supported by additional information and
guidelines at the local level. Departments and public entities will need to review and possibly
amend their policies having regard to this guidance and in the light of their Gov 2.0 activities and
initiatives.
Scope
The guidance:
• Provides clarification for the Victorian public sector on existing obligations
under the Code of Conduct;
• Helps strengthen links between the Code of Conduct and local policies by
providing a reference for Victorian public sector bodies when issuing policies
and procedures on social media;
• Reflects the provisions of the Code of Conduct that hold employees
accountable for the consequences of their private actions where they may
have a bearing on their standing as a public official;
• Makes it clear that participating in social media is subject to the same
standards of behaviour, set out in the Code of Conduct, that apply when
participating in any other media or public forum; and
• Is a reminder that ramifications of breaching the Code of Conduct when using
social media may result in disciplinary action.
This guidance does NOT:
• Modify the Code of Conduct or existing policies of any individual organisation;
 • Seek to regulate how social media are used as a work tool/communications
medium. It is up to each organisation to develop their own policies and
protocols in relation to social media and enforce them.
Official and private useWhether using social media for official or private purposes, employees
are reminded that comments will often be permanently available and able to be reproduced in
other media. For the purposes of this guidance, the definition of official and private use is as
follows:
Official use: Using social media tools when acting as an official representative of the Victorian
public sector.
Private use: Using social media tools in a private capacity
Social media- defined
Social media is the term used for internet based tools for sharing and discussing information
among people. It refers to user-generated information, opinion and other content shared and
discussed over open digital networks.
Social media may include (although is not limited to):
• Social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace)
• Video and photo sharing websites (e.g. Flickr, Youtube)
• Blogs, including corporate blogs and personal blogs
• Micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter)
• Forums, discussion boards and groups (e.g. Google groups, Whirlpool)
• Wikis (e.g. Wikipedia)
• Vod and podcasting
• Email and instant messaging.
Social media also includes all other emerging electronic/digital communication applications.
Responsibilities
The Code of Conduct for Victorian Public Sector Employees (No 1) 2007 sets out the standards
of behaviour expected of Victorian public sector employees based around a framework of values
from the Public Administration Act 2004.
Victorian public sector bodies have responsibility to develop and implement policies and
procedures, to support the application of the Code of Conduct. These may provide further detail,
including specific requirements regarding the use of social media by their employees, contractors
and consultants.
Social media and the Code of Conduct
The Code of Conduct applies when participating in social media in the same way as when
participating in any other media, public forum or engagement with the community. The Code of
Conduct applies to Victorian public sector employees when participating in social media for
official and private use.
In addition to the sections of the Code of Conduct referred to below, other sections may also be
applicable in specific circumstances.
The sections of the Code of Conduct that are of particular relevance to this guidance have been
identified:
• 2.2 Remaining apolitical
• 3.5 Making public comment
• 3.9 Public trust
• 5.3 Work resources
• 5.4 Open to scrutiny
• 6.1 Fair and objective treatment
• 6.2 Privacy and confidentiality
• 6.4 Equity and diversity.

2.2 Remaining apolitical

• Where staff are authorised to use social media relating to the administration
of policies and programs of the elected government, they should avoid
making statements or engaging in activities of a party political nature.

3.5 Making public comment

• Use of social media for making public comment in relation to duties must
follow the appropriate internal communications process and authorisation.
• When using social media for official purposes it should not be used to express
personal opinions.
• When using social media for private purposes, staff must ensure that they
make it clear that any comments relating to Victorian government activities
are not official, and that they are speaking only on behalf of themselves.
• Staff must ensure that any personal comments don’t compromise their
capacity to perform their public role in an unbiased manner.

3.9 Public trust

• Whether using social media for official use, or in a private capacity, staff must
not do anything that may adversely affect their standing as a public official or
which could bring themselves or the public sector into disrepute. The nature
of social media increases the risk of reputational damage through private
activities such as:
○ posting images, information or links to images or information;
○ disclosing one’s own and others’ personal information;
○ engaging in a heated debate or argument.

5.3 Work resources

• Staff must comply with employer policies regarding private use of work
resources, including their use in engaging in social media. Those policies will
have regard to not only the efficient and effective use of public resources, but
also the risks associated with their use for private purposes (e.g. ‘electronic
footprints’ which could identify the user as working for the public sector).
5.4 Open to scrutiny
• Staff must maintain accurate and reliable records of their official use of social
media as required by relevant legislation, policies and procedures.

6.1 Fair and objective treatment

• All communication of an official nature should be objective and courteous in
dealings with the government, community and other public sector
employees.

6.2 Privacy and confidentiality

• Staff must ensure the privacy and confidentiality of information acquired at
work is protected at all times and treated in accordance with relevant laws
and policies. The potential scope and ramifications of a breach of privacy or
confidentiality when using social media are severe.

6.4 Equity and diversity

• Obligations on public sector employees to support an environment free of
discrimination, harassment and bullying also apply to their use of social
media.

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.

Local Government Guide to Social Media

Presentation by Jason Dawson to SOLGM Local Government Communications Forum, 24 May
2010, Wellington, New Zealand.
Why should local government use social media?
• It's free!
• It's easy to use.
• It's fast.
• Reach.
Social media can help my Council by:
• working openly,
• being accountable,
• enhancing democracy,
• keeping your citizens informed,
• helping citizens report problems,
• assisting with campaigns,
 • helping build communities,
• delivering services, and
• extending audience reach
http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/website-practice/web-2-0-a/social-networks-and-social-media-in-
government/local-government-guide-to-social-media.html

Key Questions: Local Government and Social Media

Posted on 18th February 2009 by Nick Booth
http://podnosh.com/blog/2009/02/18/localgovernmentsocialmedia/

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: