12 Big Ideas & Predictions for 2013

We saw some big changes across the federal government with the introduction of the Digital Government Strategy in 2012. And it was a big year for innovation at the Department of Health & Human Services, where I’m part of a great team that’s working to transform us into the digital age. Looking forward, 2013 promises to be even bigger!

My colleagues at the Digital Communications Division at HHS and the Federal Web Managers Council have teamed up to bring you 12 big ideas & predictions for 2013:

1. Help Wanted: Community Manager, Social Media Manager, Social Media Strategist, Social Media Coordinator will become official titles for positions within the federal government. Why does this matter? The right social media team can react quickly and effectively in time of crisis and take advantage of a Super Bowl-sized opportunity on the fly.
2. 2013 will be the year that ‘m-dot’ died. More web managers will move to responsive design for their websites or mobile apps for targeted content.
3. Not just responsive design. Responsive content too! Citizen engagement and better customer service will lead to a self-sustaining feedback loop that fuels constant iteration and constant site improvement.
4. At your service! The success of the Project MyUSA (formerly MyGov) will mean we are finally giving citizens the level of customization and personalization they’ve been getting for years from private sector services.
5. May I have your attention please? The use of rotating homepage billboards will continue regardless of their value or interest to the public.
6. AP… what? Structured content and “content as data” will be game changers. This year, everybody will finally understand what an API is and what it does.
7. #%@! Analytics & sentiment analysis will have a big impact on social media strategy in 2013 and beyond.
8. [INFOGRAPHIC] Infographics like this will grow in importance as a light, sharable, and printable alternative to video.
9. Here’s to your health! Health data will hit the mainstream as key parts of the Affordable Care Act kick in later this year. And HealthData.gov will exceed 500 open datasets.
10. Open Government: Open source platforms will continue to dominate as content management systems offer opportunities for collaboration across the federal government.
11. Git with the program! If you haven’t heard of GitHub, Twitter Bootstrap, and LESS CSS, you will by the end of 2013. They may change the way we do web.
12. Not just for zombies. Gamification, incentivization, and competition on social media platforms will help our content to go viral. Engagement – it’s not just for zombies anymore.

Let us know what you think and share your own ideas and predictions in the comments. Stay tuned for 12 more predictions coming soon…

Reblogged from the Digital Gov blog.