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 »
The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program had a problem: it was paying out way too much in unearned benefits to program participants. This was happening because participants weren’t reporting their income often enough. As participants’ incomes went up, their SSI eligibility went down – but they continued receiving SSI benefits basedRead… Read more »
Originally posted on the GovDelivery blog. You have tackled organizational goal setting, audience development, branding, audience acquisition, multi-channel marketing, and next you need to identify areas where you can gain greater awareness and participation to drive value for your organization and the citizens you serve. Audience engagement (and re-engagement) is a leading goal for public-sector communicators. But,Read… Read more »
Federal customer experience (CX) professionals are trying to wage a conventional war against bad CX. But they usually don’t have the budget, personnel, or authorities they need to win big, decisive battles. That’s why federal CX pros should consider changing their approach and use some proven CX guerrilla tactics instead. To make the most ofRead… Read more »
It’s been a rough nine months for federal cybersecurity. The huge Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack is just the latest in a series of incidents that make people skeptical of Washington’s ability to protect their personal information. Since last fall, we’ve witnessed hacks of the: OPM. Last week’s cybersecurity failure at OPM wasn’t its firstRead… Read more »
Hackers, hackers everywhere. If you’ve been following the news recently, the “hacker” label probably doesn’t give you a warm-fuzzy sensation. But hackers aren’t always bad guys. To the software development community, hacking simply means taking a piece of code and altering it. It can be used for wrongdoing, but it can also be used toRead… Read more »