Our government is too big not to get social media

There is an interesting conversation going on within our 360° Digital Influence team blog sparked by a post from Brian Giesen regarding the death of Web 1.0 for government. The question of whether our government gets social media or fundamental issues around the Internet is a false question. There is no monolithic "government." There is a diverse collection of people across different agencies and departments, most of who are trying anything they can do their jobs better. That includes exploring and adopting social media. I don't find the institutional inertia inside government agencies any thicker than many corporations.

There is lots of evidence that individuals throughout government are exploring and becoming expert with how to use social media productively. While there is plenty of evidence that others are struggling. In such a big ecosystem like "government" that is completely understandable.

Technology is complicated

Today's Washington Post Business section covers the hearings yesterday garding Internet privacy in relation to data mining and ad targeting. The story was in the print edition and I cannot find it online but the intersting points were:

• one Congressman citing the use of the term "cookies" and feeling the need to learn a new dictionary
• the general sense that the discusison aqbout technology, data and privacy in realtion to Internet advertising was too complex to really understand within the scope of the session

But the campaigns lead the way

Both parties are using social media to the fullest. That's common knowledge. It's not just the 2 big candidates but plenty of the others who run every year that are deep into the tools, communities and methodologies of social media and just good use of the Web.

• Obama for America
• John McCain for President
• Josh Hallet on local campaign sites
• Jerry Weinstein at The Huffington Post on the Personal Democracy Forum

And then they get elected

Look at Robert Scoble's trip to the Hill this past month. he found plenty of folks who "get it" including Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. See his video collection here.

Comments

[Martha Garvey]

Our government's agencies and institutions are definitely blogging...I'm particularly a fan of the TSA blog, the Evolution of Security, which is making an honest effort to answer questions, amend procedures, become more transparent, via their blog. You can find that blog, and many others, via this page:

http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/News/blog.shtml

[Samantha Warren]

Our government? Maybe. Our military? Pffft.

In my opinion, that is where social media makes the greatest impact. Not only does it help the moral of our soldiers, but it also gives the American public a window into the lives of those serving our nation. Regardless of the emotional effect, its just basic PR. It gives human characteristics to issues (both negative and positive). The DOD is a huge percentage of the US government... too large to be ignored in the social media debate.

http://tinyurl.com/4p5tgj

[John Bell]

@Martha - thanks for the list
@Samantha - Are there parts of DOD that are open to using social media or is it just too against the grain of security for us to expect that to happen?

[Samantha Warren]

I believe it will happen eventually, many are open to it... but it will take a shift in leadership and culture that will only happen over time. While security is an issue, culture is really the driving force. Social Media in its truest sense is an uncensored conversation. The army for example allows soldiers to blog, but with the over site of their leadership. They made an attempt with http://www.army.mil/GiJill/ to have an official blog, supported by the leadership, but there are no comments. There are definately many in DOD and our military branches who "get it" we just have to wait until they are promoted to a rank that permits them to have a greater say in the decision making.