The White House’s Open Government initiative encourages citizens to become more actively engaged in budget decisions in their communities. How does this work in practice? Do busy citizens actually get involved? Inspired by successful efforts in Brazil and other countries around the world, several U.S. communities have undertaken pilot efforts to allow citizens to directlyRead… Read more »
Here’s a conversation that I have quite frequently during training courses when we play Dave Briggs’ evergreen Digital Engagement Game: Me: So, tell me how you’ll implement your plan… Team: Well, we’ll [do creative stuff with social media] and work with our stakeholder group to get the message out to the audience. Me: So, areRead… Read more »
I’ve been tracking the number of Australian Federal politicians using Australia’s leading social channels for two years now, seeing the number using at least one of Facebook and Twitter grow from 79% in April 2012 to 90% in November 2013 to a current level of 92%. What’s even more interesting is in the details, whichRead… Read more »
A few years ago I heard it said by political advisors that one hand-written letter to a Minister counts for more than 100 emails on the same topic.The perception was that if someone sat down and wrote their thoughts in long-hand it showed more interest and commitment than if they typed and posted them onlineRead… Read more »
Why is your organization on social media? Is it just because everyone else is doing it? Or are you trying to reach more people, to engage with your customers, to educate, entertain, and be part of a conversation? People are pretty good these days about scanning through their feeds, and weeding out anything that doesn’tRead… Read more »
We were intrigued by this commsgodigital piece on the ways that Pinterest can be used by local government officials for public engagement, and we wanted to share it with the NCDD community. The article was penned by Andrew Coulson, a local community engagement officer, and you can read it below or find the original commsgodigitalRead… Read more »
Why don’t companies “get” social? Why do consultants have such a hard time helping clients to leverage social networks and tools for business value? Perhaps it is because in ‘doing social,’ (rather than being social), you become the FWA. The “friends with benefits” is a well-understood concept, which I will not describe further; but I’dRead… Read more »
By John Simpson, Engagement Consultant If you missed our earlier post, check out part one of our digital engagement blog series. This blog series will go into each of these basics reviewed in our webinar onStakeholder Engagement in Federal Government to provide some next steps you can take to improve your agency’s digital engagement strategy.Read… Read more »
This is part two of a three-part series on how analytics can help improve public safety and keep communities safe. You can read part one here. For public safety officials today, Facebook and Twitter play an integral role in informing the public about current events. Social data from hashtags, tweets, and comments provide unparalleled amountsRead… Read more »
Although we’re in at least the seventh decade of the Digital Era, and people realize how integral social and digital technologies are to both our personal and professional lives, there is still a very strong tendency to underestimate the critical role of digital property in managing a brand identity, pursuing goals and objectives, and managingRead… Read more »