In our last class we discussed social media and government (local, state, federal). Can social media be a useful tool for government or is simply throwing window dressing up to make it look as if government organizations are keeping up with trends without adding any real benefit? I found a couple of interesting articles about it on Mashable. They are older, but do discuss some interesting ways that social media is used by government with discernible impact.
The first is Five Ways Government Works Better with Social Media, from 2010. Twitter has become a useful tool for swiftly communicating information about all sorts of things from what you had for breakfast to organizing a protest. The EPA supposedly harnessed the power of Twitter to relay information about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The agency had a special web page set up for the disaster and had a dedicated Twitter account. This sounded very promising, but when I went to Twitter to explore the account @Oil_Spill_2010 it yielded 3 tweets and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's account, @LisaPJackson which was also set up during the Gulf Oil Spill had no activity. Not sure this is a stellar example of government communication and transparency. I did however find a Flickr account that showed the EPA's efforts in the Gulf. Maybe the article should have highlighted that. Perhaps a better example of government agencies making use of Twitter is the second on in the list which includes FEMA, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and the National Weather Service using Twitter to communicate emergency information and also to gather weather information.
The article also points to how the government might spin off their own versions of social media tools to facilitate communication and collaboration within an agency. One such venture is Spacebook. This was launched in 2009 as "an internal expert networking site for NASA employees that allows new and established staff to get to know the agency's diverse community of scientists, engineers, project managers, and support personnel."
A second Mashable article titled How Social Media Can Effect Real Social and Governmental Change, by Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist, discusses how social media can aid in government efficiency and transparency. It focuses more on how API platforms like the ones that social media tools are built on can be used by third parties to create tools using government data. Once such tool that I found very interesting is SeeClickFix. Using this app a citizen can report problems such as a pothole or stoplight outage by taking a picture and adding a geotag and uploading it. They can also use it to receive alerts or to start conversations about needs in the community. Of course the local government would have to adopt such a service, but it would be another way to communicate with local citizens and make it easier to report problems.
As these examples demonstrate adopting social media tools just for the sake of saying you are using them helps no one and just bogs down a slow moving bureaucracy even more. If used in a more appropriate and thoughtful manner social media can add value and help speed government service and aid in communication.
With that in mind I will leave you with what I think can be viewed as both window dressing and an actual stab at involving the citizens in their government: We the People. This is the White House website that allows anyone to begin a petition that, if it garners enough signatures in the allotted time, will be responded to by the government. There are some legitimate petitions and some that make me weep for humanity. I was glad to see however there is some levity: This isn't the petition response you're looking for.
The first is Five Ways Government Works Better with Social Media, from 2010. Twitter has become a useful tool for swiftly communicating information about all sorts of things from what you had for breakfast to organizing a protest. The EPA supposedly harnessed the power of Twitter to relay information about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The agency had a special web page set up for the disaster and had a dedicated Twitter account. This sounded very promising, but when I went to Twitter to explore the account @Oil_Spill_2010 it yielded 3 tweets and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's account, @LisaPJackson which was also set up during the Gulf Oil Spill had no activity. Not sure this is a stellar example of government communication and transparency. I did however find a Flickr account that showed the EPA's efforts in the Gulf. Maybe the article should have highlighted that. Perhaps a better example of government agencies making use of Twitter is the second on in the list which includes FEMA, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and the National Weather Service using Twitter to communicate emergency information and also to gather weather information.
The article also points to how the government might spin off their own versions of social media tools to facilitate communication and collaboration within an agency. One such venture is Spacebook. This was launched in 2009 as "an internal expert networking site for NASA employees that allows new and established staff to get to know the agency's diverse community of scientists, engineers, project managers, and support personnel."
A second Mashable article titled How Social Media Can Effect Real Social and Governmental Change, by Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist, discusses how social media can aid in government efficiency and transparency. It focuses more on how API platforms like the ones that social media tools are built on can be used by third parties to create tools using government data. Once such tool that I found very interesting is SeeClickFix. Using this app a citizen can report problems such as a pothole or stoplight outage by taking a picture and adding a geotag and uploading it. They can also use it to receive alerts or to start conversations about needs in the community. Of course the local government would have to adopt such a service, but it would be another way to communicate with local citizens and make it easier to report problems.
As these examples demonstrate adopting social media tools just for the sake of saying you are using them helps no one and just bogs down a slow moving bureaucracy even more. If used in a more appropriate and thoughtful manner social media can add value and help speed government service and aid in communication.
With that in mind I will leave you with what I think can be viewed as both window dressing and an actual stab at involving the citizens in their government: We the People. This is the White House website that allows anyone to begin a petition that, if it garners enough signatures in the allotted time, will be responded to by the government. There are some legitimate petitions and some that make me weep for humanity. I was glad to see however there is some levity: This isn't the petition response you're looking for.
What a brilliant, thoughtful post! In my post, I touched on what the White House's stance on technology and the digital divide a bit, and it reminds me of their efforts with the petitions like you talked about.
ReplyDeleteI continue to think that the focus when trying to close the digital divide caused by poverty, the answer comes in the form of cell phones rather than PCs or other digital devices. After our discussion on poverty and the efforts to alleviate it using phones through banking, I wish we had more of these services in the U.S.! Our phones are so expensive, and the data packages and monthly fees add up as well. I wonder how businesses are able to sell phones to the impoverished for mere dollars.
I too find it interesting about using phones in these other countries and that they are often accessible. Our phones and plans are so expensive. Perhaps the phones they use do not have the same bell and whistles, but still. It would be interesting to know what the difference is. I have several friends who do not have computers at home, but have smart phones. Having both would be too expensive, so they chose the phone because they can benefit from the connectivity. It is amazing how much you can do through your phone. I have not set foot inside a bank in years. I rarely even go to the ATM anymore now that I can deposit a check simply by scanning it with my phone. When I went overseas last year I even ordered my Euros online. You can have them delivered to your home or pick them up at a bank branch.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. It is a very valid point to mention the "window dressings." Often times companies, individuals, and even government jump on a "wagon" of sorts but never follow through. Social Media seems to be the latest bandwagon that is out and about. I think the benefits to having easy access to information through social media feeds and websites is very helpful, but this seems to increase the divide. How do we expand the reach of government through technology to all people? I saw several youtube videos this week with titles mentioning the US as a third world country. I think there are parts of the US that are in a third world country environment, but because that is the minority most people leave them out of the planning and processing. I think these technologies being used in other countries to help the poor should be extended to Americans.
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