Voila, people. My presentation from today at the ALI Social Media for Government conference.  Since I try to follow the 10/20/30 rule, you will not be able to use this presentation as a moving backdrop to your spoken word denunciation of the egos and self-importance of “social media gurus.”

I’ll let you in on a secret: everything I learned about public speaking i learned by participating in “subway debates” at Trinity College.

You can also follow the twitter blow-by-blow from @thornley, @markgoren, @quepol and others: Twitter search log here.

(the clown in shadows reference is to the second slide of my deck)

Let’s assume you work for a government body that is deeply involved in highly contentious issues - issues that are very interesting (and frustrating) to communities both online and offline. Let’s also assume that your organization has very little chance of changing the fundamental policies and procedures that frame these issues in the public’s eyes.

In other words, you’re largely a punching bag, buffeted by public opinion, proposals and criticism from activists and civil society groups, and general incredulity from the public. Is it worth developing a proactive social media program? It’s always worthwhile to put passive social media measures into place - extensive monitoring of the conversations and debates taking place online, the measurement of shifting opinion and perception among your various communities, perhaps some element of limited participation in comment fields and on discussion boards.

But is it worth the effort to launch a blog or similar long term initiative if your comment fields will get filled with criticism, claims that your social media work is simply parroting or reinforcing your traditional media work, or growing references to critical reports, video clips and commentary that undermines the very point you were trying to make (see this post from the Transportation Safety Administration blog post where they try to explain the relatively small numbers of people actually stopped by no-fly lists)?

What if your efforts to keep comment fields relevant and abuse-free means you effectively build in discontinuity into your so-called “conversation”? Take, for example, the purgatory established for non-serious comments on the UK Identity and Passport Service consultation blog, mylifemyid.org? Or the cutting criticism found at the foot of the launch posting for the same site?

What’s the real question when considering your options? Is your organization ready to take a beating in the name of consultation, openness and conversation? After all, if your daily business is to argue the benefits of an unpopular policy or program, do you have the tools, the staff or even the operational flexibility to reflect and absorb any of the criticism or constructive commentary you are sure to receive as part of a social media campaign?

Or should your approach to social media be more self serving? Forget all those promises of access, change, conversation, progress and participative government touted by aspirational and inspirational social media consultants - why not just create a blog and accompanying campaign as part of an effort to engage your critics on as many battlefields as possible?

After all, you can’t rebut the argument if you don’t even have a ticket to the debate.

In some cases, it may be useful for a government organization to create a blog and implement other social media tactics to argue their side - even if the readers and commenters will have no hope of effecting any change AT ALL.

The key, as always, is use the tool effectively and understand the terrain upon which you have chosen to engage your enemy. It’s go big or go home. It’s time to break out of your institutional language, your ingrained reticence to confront opposition and your dependence upon senior administrators to speak on behalf of the organization. That’s probably why the TSA blog recently called out all its lurkers - the large majority of the 4000 unique readers per week* that the TSA blog receives - to submit questions to be answered in coming weeks.

It’s almost the Rocky School of Social Media (trademark pending) - when faced with overwhelming odds, continue to engage your opponent, seek out their weak spots, and hope that the more supportive members of the general public help push you through to the end. Paint the benefits of your issue in the most positive light possible, and simply be seen engaging your detractors.

After all, if they’re going to criticize you anyway, why not draw them to a site where you control the colour scheme and the blogroll?

*there’s a metric for you - compare your uniques and comment traffic to that of the TSA blog, which is undoubtedly a lightning rod for criticism on public policy issues.

*cross-posted from sosaidthe.org*

Technorati Tags: govt 2.0, egovernment, corporate blog, government blog

• The tribe of underground surreptitious train sketchers. There may be a quick but quality portrait of you sitting in someone’s portfolio. (Los Angeles Times)

• How the Sonic Guys ad campaign came to life. (Kansas City Pitch)

“… To make the point that Sonic doesn’t nuke its hamburgers in microwaves, T.J. and Pete asked a competitor’s cashier to microwave a bag of popcorn for them. “They would be like, ‘We can’t microwave your popcorn. We’re busy microwaving burgers,’” McKay says. “The smarter, more strategic stuff, that’s when we knew that it was bigger than a prank or a Jackass-kind of thing. That’s when we knew it was good.”

Pete and T.J.’s antics became brasher and more irreverent. In a traffic-jammed drive-thru lane, T.J. called the restaurant and asked if the restaurant could use a hand in speeding up the line. …”

• Tom Watson, British MP and Minister for E-Government, is BLOWING MY MIND with his twitter use. (And Hazel Blears, the Minister for Communities, started blogging and twittering today)

• Jack Kerouac, from the original scroll of “On the Road” in Memehuffer:

“People aren’t interested in facts but in ejaculations“ (journal entry, December 1949)”

Technorati Tags: Sonic Drive In, ads, Kerouac, egovernment, Tom Watson, subway artists

I think the statement from 10 Downing Street says it all:

“…Gordon Brown will visit the US next week, his second trip to the country as Prime Minister.

The Downing Street website will run a live microsite including images, rolling updates and a Twitter feed throughout the PM’s stay from 16 - 19 April. Log on from Wednesday to follow the PM’s activities.

Mr Brown is expected to visit Boston, the United Nations in New York and meet President Bush at the White House in Washington. His meetings will focus on the global economy and other areas of mutual bilateral interest.

Gordon Brown’s first trip to the US as PM saw him travel to Camp David in July last year.

If I was a real social media nerd, or a real politics nerd, I would ask:

• does this mean there’s a communications assistant responsible for the twitter feed?
• what sort of vetting process is there for twitter messages? On the fly?
• is the content going to concentrate on policy announcements? Any chance of side remarks about the entrees at the state dinner? Snide remarks about the little kids handing over flowers at events?
• what sort of twitter app are they going to use? Is it on a BlackBerry, Treo or other PDA?

h/t to Simon Dickson

Technorati Tags: government communications, United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, twitter, public diplomacy

Ofcom, the British media regulator, has just released hundreds of pages of qualitative and quantitative research into participation in social networks.

There’s the predictable division of social network members into cute little persona or caricatures, and then there’s a much more detailed breakdown of the impulses, activities and omissions of people participating in social networks.

I think it’s essential reading for anyone at all interested in the behaviour of youth online, as well as those interested in how regulators and ombudsmen view online activities.

Interestingly, Ofcom has also recorded a commentary on YouTube to accompany the release. Granted, it’s a one-sided commentary that evokes memories of Betacam video sent out to regional offices from corporate headquarters, but it does add a layer of interactivity and visual stimulation.

The qualitative research suggests five distinct groups of people who use social networking sites :

• Alpha Socialisers – mostly male, under 25s, who use sites in intense short bursts to flirt, meet new people and be entertained.
• Attention Seekers – mostly female, who crave attention and comments from others, often by posting photos and customising their profiles.
• Followers – males and females of all ages who join sites to keep up with what their peers are doing.
• Faithfuls – older males and females generally aged over 20, who typically use social networking sites to rekindle old friendships, often from school or university.
• Functionals – mostly older males who tend to be single-minded in using sites for a particular purpose.

The qualitative research also suggests three distinct groups of people who do not use social networking sites:

• Concerned about safety – often older people and parents concerned about safety online, in particular making personal details available online.
• Technically inexperienced – often people over 30 years old who lack confidence in using the internet and computers.
• Intellectual rejecters – often older teens and young adults who have no interest in social networking sites and see them as a waste of time.

Technorati Tags: Ofcom, Facebook, MySpace, youth online

I had a chance to speak to a passel of Canadian government communicators about social media yesterday, and I promised them I would post a number of useful links to help them work around implementing social media in their workplaces.

So here goes:

• How the Social Web Came to Be, Part 1 and Part 2 and a linear time line in pdf
• Social Media Marketing vs. Social Marketing, via the Church of the Customer blog
• Network of Public Sector Communicators - a New Zealand blog written by a govt type
• 26 free tools to monitor buzz and online conversation. This is a must read, folks!
• Blog search tools: Google, Technorati, Blogpulse, IceRocket, Bloglines,
• E-government and Web 2.0, from Cisco.
• Introduction to Twitter (via KDPaine and Jeremiah)
• Big Brands and Facebook, a Forrester presentation
• the Three Types of Government Blogger, by me
• Four Tenets of the Community Manager, by Jeremiah, and even more detail and advice from Jake McKee

I’ve obviously missed a lot of resources, and I encourage my readers to mention more in the comments, so I can pass them along to the more disadvantaged.

An outsider’s point of view on the reluctance by most governments to embrace social media and new digital methods of citizen participation. From Anthony Williams, Is government ready for the Web 2.0 era?:

“…Lets face it; democracy is hard. The act of making policy is inevitably easier when conducted away from the critical eye of interest groups, the media, and ordinary citizens. Truly representative and fully-engaged democratic decision-making has so far proven next to impossible in all but the smallest and most committed organizations. As more and more critical issues escape the confines of local and national jurisdictions, however, the democratic deficit will only widen. That is why it is imperative that we envision and enact new ways to harness communication technologies to narrow that gap before the very legitimacy and effectiveness of government collapses. …”

Pointer from Martin Hofmann.

Agency vs. Corporate. One is more flexible. One is better paying. One offers a greater variety of projects for new associates. The other likely has a better health plan. I’m here, folks, to argue for another employer for young public relations and marketing types: the government.

Yes, it can be tradition-bound. Yes, your friends likely do not think it’s cool. Chances are, one of your managers will be wearing a short-sleeved shirt - in winter. Your business cards are certainly boring. There will be no fancy lunches …

Still, there are very good reasons to give some thought to working in government communications.

(This is the first of an irregular series meant to argue for a career as a government communicator - written by a government communicator.)

Argument 1: Variety is the spice of life.

I often hear the agency vs. corporate argument framed as a choice between creative opportunity and stifled imagination. My impression is that government communications is subject to an even more cocked eye.

Truth is, the apparently generic job of government communicator can touch upon all of the following tasks during a career. Or in one month:

• Media analyst
• Public opinion research analyst
  
• Communications strategist
• Speechwriter
• Spokesperson
• Policy analyst
  
• Consultations expert
• Publications project manager
• Risk communicator
• Internal communications
• Senior counsel
  
• Brand manager
• E-communications specialist
• Events manager
• And many more …

These roles are available to the new graduate as well as the experienced communicator: while government demands hierarchy, it also produces learning plans, training funds and opportunities for growth.

Next argument to be covered: government work doesn’t mean professional or personal stagnation.

Technorati Tags: government communications, agency, communicator

The Prime Minister of Canada is podcasting, after a fashion, as Joe points out. This puts our Conservative government out ahead of its peers in Old Blighty, who have only made one attempt in the format. It was a funny and imaginative attempt, however.

In June, comedian Eddie Izzard accompanied PM Blair on a trip to the European Council meeting in Brussels. His ersatz podcast is missing the formal professional elements Joe suggests are necessary in a Prime Ministerial podcast (summary, professional intro, formal host), but it does attempt to cast an amusing light on the complexities of the UK’s relationship with the European Union (hint: many Brits don’t understand it).

Neville and Stuart first had comments on Izzard’s podcast. I have to agree with Neville that the attempt didn’t come across as a stellar piece of public information or public policy analysis, but it is one of several steps taken by the government to make information about the EU more accessible to the average Briton.

More impressive is the effort of the US Embassy in London to move its public diplomacy efforts into podcasting. There are now 18 podcasts available on differing themes, issued quite regularly. The material may be skewed towards US interests (naturally) but it does make public the work of accredited and visiting US officials in the UK.

(Back during the Canadian election, mynameisKate discussed the social media initiatives of the Conservative Party of Canada in greater detail at onedegree.ca)

The WPost had some fun this week with a communications plan drafted by a Bush appointee to the Customs and Border Protection Bureau.

In the plan, Kristi Clemens, assistant commissioner in the Bureaus’s public affairs division, exhorted public affairs staff to:

“Reassure the citizens of the United States … Repeat the message. . . . Repeat until we are completely exhausted by it.”

But Ms. Clemens was backpedalling at about 60 mph once higher-ups in the Homeland Security organization found out about her work:

“I developed a draft communications plan intended to spur debate on how we could effectively communicate some of our recent border security improvements and more efficiently structure CBP public affairs’ activities which are spread out across the country,” Clemens said in a statement. “The draft plan was an internal CBP product that was never shared outside of my staff nor executed.”

Public affairs staffers in governments around the world can feel the warmth in the pleasant, but backhanded, compliment for Clemens’ work from her Deputy Secretary, James Loy, who described the plan as a:

“piece likely produced by well-meaning, enterprising public affairs folks.”

Ouch. Am I the only one visualizing Gomer Pyle or Corporal Klinger?