Is Social Media Safe for Government Organizations?

Recently, I've been interviewing government public affairs practioners to discuss the use of social media. There are unique concerns that government agencies face regarding privacy policies, communication laws and relationships with their constituents. One of the main reasons public agencies hesitate to participate in social media is fear of the unknown - there is a lack of research addressing how communication laws apply to social media platforms.

For my presentation in Advanced PR Writing, I've been trying to uncover some of the main risks that government agencies should overcome in order to safely participate in social media. So far, I've found that there are three main communication laws that organizations should be aware of in order to safeguard themselves:

1. Copyright Infringement - Agencies should follow the same copyright laws that they would for other publications and pay special attention to crediting sources and observing copyright laws for posting photos and information from other blogs and Web sites.

2. Privacy Policy - In order to ensure that the private information of an organization's constituents is not illegally disclosed, agencies should monitor the conversation and moderate comments, posts and information when necessary.

3. Defamation of Character - Due to the nature of blogs and social media platforms that allow the posting of photos and comments, government organizations must rely upon moderation and monitoring to avoid incidents of libel and slander.

Check out my slideshare presentation below to see a visual interpretation of this information:

Social Media for Government Organizations

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: government social)

Social Media Research

Due to the fact that social networking is such a new phenomenon, it can be very difficult to measure its value. At Razorfish, they are finding ways to quantify the impact that individual users have on social networks. Check out this great slide presentation that explains just how influential social networking really is and how social graphing can help us to understand it.
Welcome to the Social World

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialproducts internet)

The "Real Me" Online

In my professional and personal life, I am used to managing many different identities. Rather than completely separate the two, I strive for different facets of my life to intersect. The way I approach my online interactions is no different.

Professors and employers alike will advise that you should very carefully manage your online identity. What you post on Facebook or Twitter has the potential of being viewed not only by your peers, but also by a potential employer. Kelli Matthews of PRos in Training sums it up with, "If you don't want people to know about some facet of your life either a) don't do it or b) don't put it online."

I think this is great advice but it leads me to wonder about the aspects of your life that you want to share with certain people and in a certain context. For instance, many people will tell you that you should not have photos of yourself with a beer in hand on your Facebook page. In my "real" or "offline" life, I certainly don't broadcast my partying habits to the world, but friends, co-workers and even my supervisors are certainly aware that I'm social and go out from time to time.

In the same context, I think that it is acceptable to show photos on Facebook that paint the picture of myself as an outgoing person who enjoys social activities with my friends. Katie Horley of The World of PR According to Miss Horley wonders if she should delete her Facebook account altogether for the purpose of maintaining a professional identity and settles for cleaning up photos and utilizing privacy settings. These are great steps. For me, I think I will continue to keep the same approach that has been working in real life - by communicating myself through a mix of activities that show I can be professional and have a lot of fun at the same time.

Social media elevator statement

Calling all entry-level practitioners...you love social media, right? You have had a Facebook page for years, you watch YouTube on your iPhone and even if you're just starting to get into Twitter, you understand the game. Some of you might even claim that you're a social media expert (which I would advise against).

Now the question is: can you advocate for social media use within your organization?

This is the challenge I found myself up against recently. In attempting to initiate use of social media within various organizations I work with, I've discovered that there is a big difference between using and understanding social media and knowing how to communicate it to others. When recently asked the question, "why should our organization have a Facebook page?" I found myself momentarily speechless.

Fortunately I recovered and managed to share several reasons why I think Facebook is an effective platform for communicating with young people. However, it made me realize that I need to be more prepared next time. My endorsement of social media needs an "elevator statement" - a message that I can quickly use to summarize its uses and benefits. I'll be giving this idea more thought because I want to ensure that my elevator speech opens doors rather than closes them (pun intended). In the meantime, I would love to know - how would you pitch social media to an organization in less than 30 seconds?

Blogging for Advanced PR Writing

I've recently added a new title to my profile -- student -- and I will be blogging for my Advanced Public Relations Writing class at the University of Oregon. The course covers a wide range of social media and I'm looking forward to learning and sharing ideas with my classmates and professor, Tiffany Gallicano, PH.D. My posts will still be driven by my personal interests, but I'll likely have a new source of inspiration and hopefully a more frequest posting schedule.

If you're interested in checking out the blogs of my classmates, visit The PR Post.

Up for Air

It's been about a month since my last post. I'm new to the blogosphere but I still know enough to realize that I should have included a post indicating that I would be on a blogger break.

I hope I didn't lose you.

I have to admit, I have barely managed to tread water this summer. From planning large special events and outdoor concerts to supervising operations of a community theater, I have experienced my share of challenges in the last few months. I have also been fortunate to learn many lessons about time management, media relations and internal communications which I hope to write about on this blog in the coming weeks.

For me, writing has always been like breathing and I am happy to report -- I'm ready to come up for air.

Banner Ads on Social Media Guest List

If you've ever faced opposition trying to convince a traditional media advocate to participate in social media, you know that even when you finally receive a tentative "green-light," you are often given the directive to control the conversation to the point of strangling it. Marketers, especially, seem to have trouble moving beyond the top-down, one-way communication strategies that are no longer effective in a world where people trust their peers more than advertisers and so-called experts.

As marketing begins to make the shift to social media, we have the opportunity to witness the baby steps that companies will employ to address a fundamental change in the way we understand advertising as a whole. For example, consider "AdFrames" from VideoEgg.

"AdFrames^SM is a performance-based ad offering designed specifically for brand advertisers."

AdFrames are media-rich advertisements (fully expandable videos) that are priced based on a cost-per-engagement model. The idea of charging a company only for advertisements that users engage in is designed to encourage more effective advertisements and greater accountability on the part of the advertising firm. However, the problem is that VideoEgg defines "engagement" in this context as users scrolling over a video advertisement long enough for it to expand. What is not accounted for is whether or not the user responded in some way to the ad. Was the advertisement enjoyable? Did it entertain, inform, persuade? Tracking the length of time that ads are viewed will not answer these questions.

The challenge in merging banner ads with social media is to allow users to truly "engage" with the advertisement in the same way that someone might interact with a blog -- by leaving comments, sharing it with their friends, and even, being able to change the outcome of the ad itself. VideoEgg uses real-time RSS feeds to update an ad experience, for instance, by updating an ad to reflect the top-scoring team at a basketball game. But, what if fans could control the ad through real-time comments, interactions, or votes that influenced the next display? Would you remember an advertisement that you changed?

Change is definitely on the way. Today, Pluck and Avenue ARazorfish announced that "the two companies have signed an agreement to develop and market the industry's first offering to inject social media features like customer comments and user-generated content into mainstream digital advertisements." Instead of giving advertisers more control over the message they deliver, users will finally be given the chance to make ads meaningful to their experience.

It sure beats shooting a duck to win a prize.