“And we danced all night to the best song ever!” – One Direction, Best Song Ever I have a confession to make. I am 28 years old, and I am a One Direction fan. It’s true. I have no shame when it comes to this confession. I am not even ashamed to tell you IRead… Read more »
Many Americans are really stressed about one thing right now, and that’s back to school. With about 70 million students expected in kindergarten through college in Fall 2015, everyone’s paying attention to back-to-school messages. Now’s the time to talk to your audiences about how your agency can help them during this hectic period. School administrators and teachers are looking forRead… Read more »
If you somehow haven’t heard of Yelp, it’s a website and app where anyone can review just about anything. People mostly seem to head to Yelp when they’re busting to share their glowing praise or their boiling rage. Now, as announced by DigitalGov, Yelp has a terms of service for official government use. Agencies can claim orRead… Read more »
I represented the agency’s tourism office at the Ohio State Fair this past weekend. What a ride (in a literal and figurative sense). We discussed our strategies and goals to ensure consistent messaging. At the fair, we presented our newest calendar of events, hiking maps, and travel guides. Some tech-savvy users download the app on-site.Read… Read more »
While we are not in control of the conversation, government workers can still listen and contribute to it. We can seed it with facts and ideas. We can respond to questions. We can be human, even as we maintain a thoughtful and focused public presence. All by leveraging the power of online communications.
After slogging through the Great Recession, cities are making a comeback in a big way. Residents have been flocking to urban areas across America to take advantage of jobs, parks, convenience and amenities. Population growth in large cities exceeded 1% on average from 2010 – 2013, and cities gained more residents in the first few yearsRead… Read more »
Federal agency and department presence on social media varies widely—some have multiple accounts on various platforms while others have just a page or two that is updated infrequently. I wanted to find out what makes some sites more useful than others, so I set out to look at as many federal social media pages asRead… Read more »
If you’ve ever taken an online training, chances are you’ve been either bored or distracted (unless it was a GovLoop training). Staying focused becomes an increasingly difficult task when you throw other work or answering emails in the mix. So how do we overcome this? How can we make trainings and presentations more engaging, especiallyRead… Read more »
Have you read the results of the Government Business Council’s new “Digital Disconnect” survey? The results are fascinating, and I could go on for quite some time about them (just ask my dogs, who have been listening to me rant about the survey all morning). However, at the moment I will focus on the resultRead… Read more »
It’s finally here. That time of year when seemingly half of the federal workforce flees the city for a well-deserved vacation. It’s a magical time for those of us who stay behind: Less traffic shortens our commutes, the Starbuck’s and food truck lines are shorter, and fewer people at meetings means more decisions get made.Read… Read more »