Left-Brain Creative

GSA new media comes out in ComputerWorld

The General Services Administration (GSA) is riding the momentum of President Obama's new whitehouse.gov site to relaunch its own Web 2.0 effort.

In this article from ComputerWorld, the GSA points to its RSS feeds and gadgets (widgets) as new and improved ways to share information with the public.

Yes, RSS and widgets are nothing new in progressive commerical companies, but pushing those tools through the government system is a little like pushing a straw through a brick wall.

GSA has been working with new media for more than a year, most visibly on its GovGab blog. I had the pleasure of attending a presentation on blogging by GSA employee and GovGab blogger Colleen Ann Bayus at the Social Media for Government conference late last year, and I can say with all honesty that these folks get it.

To keep internal peace, the bloggers work under a policy that keeps things clean. (Colleen admitted that she had to delete a not-so-complimentary reference to Britney Spears in one of her posts.) The agency also screens comments, but tries to be tolerant of grumbling that doesn't come wrapped in bad language or defamatory speech.

GovGab is part of USA.gov, the official portal to the United States government.

Inauguration Day, 2009

A note to all communication professionals in the U.S. government: Your biggest boss, the President of the United States, is now leading the way in using new media to communicate with the American public.

Just a few minutes past noon today, as President Obama recited the oath of office, the whitehouse.gov site become the official domain of the 44th President of the United States. If you're familiar with President-Elect Obama's Web machine, you'll find President Obama's Web machine familiar and intuitive. Blogs, slideshows, videos and lots of information on issues provide tons of engaging content. The site is neat and clean, modern and simple.

The blog's first post is written by someone who has what is now the world's coolest job: director of new media for the White House. (Not that I'm jealous or anything.) The post says the new media initiative will be based on three principles:

1. Communication: providing timely and in-depth content
2. Transparency: pledging a "window into the business of government"
3. Participation: allowing public comment on major new issues.

Now, the social media junkies out there will quickly recognize that the blog does not allow for comments, which conflicts with the "participation" principle above. But since it's the president's first day on the job, and since he may have a thing or two more important to do, we'll cut him a break.

As the blog states, change has come to whitehouse.gov. And that's a good first step.

2008 Pew Internet survey released

One of the most frequent questions I get from clients who are new to social networking is this: Do I post as myself or as a professional employee?

The question is interesting because it assumes that if you're posting as a professional employee, it's not you who is doing the posting. It's someone who looks like you, sounds like you, drives your car and lives in your house, but it's most definitely not you.

Such is the state of the personal/professional divide in our lives. We play roles, and we see little in common between our personal roles (as spouse, parents, friends, etc.) and our professional roles. We keep them separate, on one hand, to shield our personal life from the intrusion of work, and on the other, to present an image at work that doesn't have time for the silliness of being human.

According to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, that's all about to change, and, in fact, it's changing right this very minute. Entitled "The Future of the Internet III," the report says that the divide between our personal time and our professional time, our personal identifies and our professional identities, will continue to blur as more people integrate Internet technology into their lives and the traditional 9-5 workday begins to crumble.

In a related finding, the report says that social computing will result in a greater degree of transparency for both organizations and individuals, meaning we'll all be more open about what we do, how we do it, what information we have and what information we share.

I'll take the liberty of combining those two points to answer the opening question: It's neither the personal "you" nor the professional "you" who posts on social media. It's the smooth integration of the two, weighted toward your professional side. Share information and observations that relate to your profession, but don't be afraid to post a photo of your kitchen remodeling project. It's OK to be human.

Other report highlights:

• Mobile devices will be the way most people connect to the Internet by 2020.
• Although people and organizations will become more transparent, society won't necessarily improve because of it.
• Voice recognition and touch screens will become more popular interfaces.
• Intellectual property law and copyright protection will still be an "arms race" between people who seek to protect intellectual property and those who believe it should be free.

Download the full 138-page report in PDF.

DoD new media video

The post two days ago mentioned a quote from Robert Gates that set the tone for DoD's social media activity. Here's a video version (with some attitude) ....

Social Media for Government: DoD goes social

About a year ago, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a lecture audience at Kansas State University the following:

"It is just plain embarrassing that al-Qaeda is better at communicating its message on the Internet than America. As one foreign diplomat asked a couple years ago, 'How has one man in a cave managed to out-communicate the world's greatest communication society?'"

Those words were symbolic marching orders for the Department of Defense and part of the reason why Charles "Jack" Holt stood before an audience of federal government employees at the Social Media for Government conference today.

Jack, the chief of new media operations for DoD, is a pleasant guy with a sharp mind. (Check out his LinkedIn profile and follow him on Twitter.) He's behind many DoD initiatives that take advantage of social media for what Jack calls "dynamic power" and "systemic power."

Dynamic power, he says, is developed when speed and agility combine to put information "into the hands of those who can use it," all the while allowing information consumers to provide feedback, which in turn helps the communicator make adjustments to improve communication. Systemic power, he says, is the ability of new media platforms to capture and archive knowledge over time. He calls it the "long tail" of information, referring to the popular business book by Chris Anderson titled The Long Tail: Why the future of business is selling less of more. Fewer people get the information, Jack says, but the long-term cumulative effect is impressive.

Programs now underway at DoD include the Bloggers Roundtable, a forum for connecting influential bloggers with subject matter experts at DoD, and a YouTube-like video channel called DoDvClips, which shows news from The Pentagon Channel. Here's a little taste of what you can find there ....

Upcoming projects include a joint military service blog that combines blogs from all military branches with a blog from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a one-stop shop for military bloggers.

Coming from an organizational built on hierarchy, strict regulations, and secrecy -- you know, those things that keep soldiers alive -- it's impressive that Jack and his colleagues have embraced social media to the extent they have. The bigger test will come when DoD develops a history of content. Will they be able to walk that fine line between required military secrecy and transparency?

Time will tell. But one thing is certain: If DoD can embrace social media, there's nothing stopping the rest of us.

Live, from D.C., it's Social Media for Government

Let's be honest. Government isn't always on the bleeding edge of things. Especially things like "transparency" and "social conversations." But this time, let's give our public sector employees some credit. While the commercial marketing world is pulling its hair out trying to justify a radical shift in commercial communication practices, the U.S. government is out there making it work.

Don't believe me, do ya?

The proof is at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington. Those skilled in social media and those looking for tips have congregated here at the Social Media for Government conference to talk about what's working and what's not. And let me tell you, there's a ton of interest in making it work. Check out this partial snapshot of speakers and attendees:

• Department of Defense
• General Services Administration
• Transportation Security Administration, Dept. of Homeland Security
• National Institutes of Health, Dept. of Health and Human Services
• Central Intelligence Agency
• U.S. Coast Guard
• U.S. Geological Survey, Dept. of Interior
• National Academy of Public Administration
• Smithsonian Institution

Mixed in are a few state-based public organizations, a few non-profits and a couple government contractors who are working with the government to tap the promise of social media. It's a literal smorgasbord of people who want to make social media work to create a stronger, more responsive government and a more engaged society.

There will be lots to talk about from this conference in the coming weeks, but for tonight let's cut it down to a few quick top-line themes.

First, the government is making social media work. Yes, the vast majority of government agencies are uncomfortable with social media and are nowhere close to jumping in the pool. But an impressive number are. Mike Panetta and Kevin McCann from Grassroots Enterprise pulled out a few examples during their Social Media 101 workshop:

The TSA blog
USA.gov Facebook Page
The Iowa Lottery
Environmental Protection Agency MySpace Page
FEMA YouTube Channel
The State of Virginia YouTube Channel

Second, even though a few government agencies are making progress, internal resistance is spirited and challenging. This should come as no surprise to anybody in either commercial or public sector marketing and communications. Social media represents a major whack to the very core of corporate and institutional communications. You are no longer the King of the World shouting royal commands to the masses. You are simply a participant in a conversation that is bigger than you could ever imagine. And the conversation is about you. Scary, huh?

Instinct tells us to run and hide and deny that social media is a permanent addition to the communications mix. Problem is, it's not going away, and it is slowly replacing the old forms of communications, such as newspapers and magazines and even traditional television. So we have to learn to work it. We have to accept the fact that people -- even people in our own organizations -- will talk about us and won't always be "on message." We have to accept the fact that some people with bad tempers will say downright nasty things about us, and they'll do it in a very public way. It's the new reality, and we have to grow up and learn how to take the good with the bad, all the while making attempts to tell our side of the story. 'Cause if we don't, everyone else will have the floor.

Third, government resistance to social media is going to diminish ... in approximately five weeks. After eight presentations here at the conference, I can safely say that just about everybody thinks President-Elect Obama is going to take government communications, maybe kicking and screaming, to the next level. Web 2.0 is in. Old style, don't bother. He proved the power of social media during the campaign, and he's going to do it during the presidency. If you haven't visited Change.gov or Obama's YouTube channel, do so now.

More tomorrow from the Social Media for Government Conference ....

P.S. If you came here looking for Left-Brain Creative, my old blog, surprise! It's a new day, and the way we approach communications must change. Hence, Social Capital.