Social Media

Running a Council Twitter stream

It’s terrifying. There. I said it. Judge all you like, if you’ve ever run one yourself. Have you? Or have you just sat there in your comfortable ergonomic chair in your comfortable study in your comfortable house sniping at everyone else getting it wrong? Because I hold my hand up freely – I was inRead… Read more »

Social Media Tactics: 5 Engagement Strategies – RSVP for 10/19

Please join us at GovDelivery’s event on Wednesday, October 19th, Social Media’s Role In Cost Effective Solutions. The theme for this week is ways to engage your key stakeholders. Much of this is remembering your customer service skills. One strategy is to think carefully about the way you interact with your community offline, and tryRead… Read more »

Social Media in Times of Emergency

In the month of August, the East Coast was hit with two natural disasters, one foreseen, Hurricane Irene, and one without notice, the August 23rd earthquake. Though one primary form of established media failed—phone service during the earthquake was interrupted for many, if not most—both government agencies and individual citizens used social media to learnRead… Read more »

Social Media Tactis: 5 Strategies to Manage Social Media – RSVP for 10/19

Please join us at GovDelivery’s event on Wednesday, October 19th, Social Media’s Role In Cost Effective Solutions. Managing a social media initiative is no easy task. There are a lot of nuances to properly manage your social media program. If you are currently managing a program, or starting a new social media initiative, here areRead… Read more »

I Am Ninja: TweetDeck as a Killer App

The profile for @DODASSMC reads: “The Army’s Director of Online and Social Media Division coordinates these monthly meetings for professional development and networking of DOD social media folks.” For the past two months, I’ve had the pleasure of addressing that group, and I’ve come to realize that it’s time for me to embrace (resurrect?) myRead… Read more »

Hurricane Irene: GIS, Social Media, and Big Data Shine

As Katherine Maher pointed out on Twitter, no one gets credit when contingency plans work. And it is truly amazing how much government-citizen information collaboration has evolved–not to mention the growth of data journalism even in the most traditional news outlets. The average citizen had a wealth of accurate (and useful) hurricane information to chooseRead… Read more »

People Power: Harnessing Citizen Energy Via Social Media

Last week, I had the opportunity to present for the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) summer meeting along with Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. Earlier this year, he announced that Baltimore County would be launching 23 technology initiatives and he shared a bit about their social media efforts to communicate more effectively with citizens onRead… Read more »

Managing and Protecting Information on Social Networks

GAO recently did a study of Federal agencies using various social media sites. Since many agencies have started to explore how to use social media to achieve the objectives of the agencies mission, the GAO wanted to explore how social media services may pose risks to both personal and government information. The GAO was taskedRead… Read more »

Great Social Media Lessons from the DoD All Service Social Media Conference (DoDASSMC)

Today I had the chance to go to the Department of Defense All Service Social Media Conference (DODASSMC) at Georgetown University’s Clarendon Campus. If you are a community manager or interested in connecting with people running social media programs, you should for sure check out the group. Today there were four speakers, everyone did aRead… Read more »