Archive for the ‘Government’ Category

22
Jan

@Twitter and @Government (Not so fast…)

   Posted by: Dawn Tags: , ,

Yesterday there was a buzz about the speed with which the new administration was modernizing procedures and technology.  The have a Director of New Media, for goodness sake!  Part of this excitement drove me to start digging for agencies and individuals who were embracing this notion of Communication and Participation by the new Obama administration.  At first, yesterday, I came across dozens of agencies actively participating in social media and microblogging.

Anyone who was connected to social media over the past year was aware of the twitter accounts for candidates:

@BarackObama and @JoeBiden are both still active, but have fallen silent for most of the time between winning the election and the inauguration.  @joe Biden hasn’t updated his twitter page since August, and @BarackObama has posted twice since winning the election.  @JohnMcCain hasn’t updated since Oct 24, and Sara Palin… well, one can’t quite be sure if she ever had a real presence on Twitter. 

Granted, these men and women have calendars that are impossibly full, and to expect them to actively participate in social networking might seem… well… naive.  But they did before.  Before the election, there were constant and consistent updates, information, and comments shared through Twitter.  Now these tools that made meaningful connections with citizens and voters have been seemingly abandoned. 

I had hope when I was pointed in the direction yesterday of @TheWhiteHouse.  Like many, I figured that the Obama administration would just transition that connection to a larger, broader scale and encompass the White House in general.  This account’s earliest tweet available is from September 6, 2007.  Maybe they were handing over the account like they do the Lincoln bedroom.  I had hopes for this.  That is, until today.  Today, the account changed the Bio to read:  “Links to news about the white house; unaffiliated with the white house.”

My original intent for this post was to be a handful of examples of governmental agencies that have gotten involved in social media.  I was planning on splitting the posts up.  Now, I have to reevaluate whether that’s even worth it. 

Yesterday, @USSupremeCourt, @HouseFloor, and @SenateFloor all changed their avatars from the official seals to the generic avatar given to new users.  Their bios all changed over night to Some version of “Not affiliated with the actual *INSERT GOV AGENCY*”  Needless to say, this is disappointing.  For a single day I had the hopes that things were starting to gel, that connectivity and that the information availability problem was solving itself.  It turns out that’s not true.  Those official looking accounts are no better than @IRS_gov.  Granted, the aforementioned accounts at least took the pains to provide accurate details and links, but ultimately, they aren’t sanctioned by the US Government.

@HomelandSecurit and @NationalDebt look accurate enough, but they have no discriminating Bios.  By the way, our threat level is Yellow and the National Debt is at $10,626,877,048,913.08.

I suppose I should have seen this coming after reading the reaction of the Staff to the status of technology at the White House.  I can only hope that these regressions only mean that these government agencies will be figuring out how to vet information and distribute it via social media on their terms rather than not at all.

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21
Jan

New Administration, New Media

   Posted by: Dawn Tags: , ,

Yesterday was the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States.  It was momentous, it was fascinating, and it was historical.  You don’t have to agree with positions or political parties to recognize those facts.  I’m not interested in discussing politics, or affiliations, but I am interested in discussing the uses of New Media and technology in the world of government and politics.  It’s no secret that this election cycle saw more use of the Internet and new media for fundraising, campaign ads, and mobilization of grass roots efforts on both sides.  I’m curious to see whether this continues.  Yesterday was a changing of the guard, and I hope that those changes are toward innovation and communication.

It was also the technological gate being thrown open to the public with the relaunching of the White House’s official site design, including an official Blog and the Briefing Room.  The Briefing Room appears to be the collective place for all White House generated New/Social media, including the Blog, videos, press releases, photos, the Weekly Video Address, and even executive orders and proclamations.  The site itself seems more logically organized and accessible than it has been in the past, so that’s certainly a step in the right direction.

As the first blog post on the new site, Macon Phillips, Director of New Media for the White House, outlined the intended uses for the site and blog, not least important of which are Communication and Participation.  I’m curious to see just how effective this proves to be.  Under the heading of “Participation” he states that:

One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it.

I am excited about this opportunity, but I invite you to remember that just because comments are welcome and encouraged, it doesn’t mean that they will necessarily be considered.  Perhaps that’s left over cynicism, and I hope I’m wrong, because if this administration makes the concerted effort to appeal to people on a personal, connected level and it turns out to be only a facade and lip service, then they have a long, long way to fall already.  It’s easy to disappoint the public when your approval ratings are the lowest in history and those numbers don’t necessarily change much, but when you advocate change and hope and involvement and you have the photo negative equivalent in the public approval ratings of your predecessor, you have a lot of room to screw up, and people’s hopes crashing echo louder and longer than any one of those marching bands that participated in yesterday’s parade.

I’m encouraged by the fact that the White House has a Director of New Media.  I hope he is able to convey the importance of community and social psychology to those individuals who are manning the various platforms.  I hope those individuals in charge listen.  I think it’s a sign of times and attitudes changing that Macon Phillips’ position even exists.

I’ve compiled a list of some governmental agencies and individuals you can find on Twitter now, including @thewhitehouse, and how they seem to be engaging the public.  Look for that either later today or tomorrow.  What do you think about this change?  Take a gander at the blog and let me know your thoughts.  Will you utilize these new features?  What might stop you from participating in that way?

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