Presentation for beginners in the world of social media use in government agencies, specifically recreation.

1. Getting Started with Social Media
Carol A. Spencer
Web Manager, County of Morris NJ
Treasurer, National Assoc of Gov’t Webmasters
PA Parks & Recreation
March 21, 2011

2. Getting Started with Social Media
• How we got here
• Where is “here”?
• Social media: the technologies
• Putting it all together
• Managing social media
• Some resources

3. Traditional Broadcast Media Types
One to Many
Push Technologies:
Mailings
Newspapers / Magazines
TV & Radio Ads
One ad or press release
is read, seen or heard
by many, many people.
It’s also NOT seen
by many, many people.

4. A Shrinking Tech World
Mainframe photo courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cote/

5. Society is every changing…
People got busier
Reading time was reduced
Advertisers had to get creative
Computers got personal
The Internet went graphical
Phones became mobile
Entrepreneurs found ways to start
Entrepreneurs found ways to merge
merging devices, technologies
applications and technologies
into a single device.

6. So, here we are….
Mini
&
Mobile

7. It’s all on the phone
Phone  Text Messages 
Camera/Video  Music

8. It’s all on the phone
Email  Browser  Social Media

9. It’s all on the phone (or is it a phone?)
YouTube  VOIP Calls  Live Sports  TV

10. Where is “here”?
•
•
•
2 billion Google searches daily (2009)
2.5 million Wikipedia articles in English
Video (12/2009)
• 67.3 million videos viewed
• US: 5.1 billion views; 187 per viewer on average
•
Video (12/2010) – 179 million viewers/month in 2010
• 88.6 million videos viewed
• US: 5.8 billion views; 201 per viewer on average
•
•
•
•
•
Twitter passed the NY Times in visitors in April ‘09
900,000 new blog posts every 24 hours
153M unique Facebook visitors in the US in Dec ‘10
Wall Street Journal US daily print circulation: 1.67M
Wall Street Journal online monthly visitors: 20M
Source: wsj.com, comscore.com, pewresearch.com

11. Where is “here”?
•
75% of the world accesses the web through a phone
•
77.3% of the US population has internet access
•
43% are on Facebook
•
Newspaper ad revenue was down almost 65% from 2003 to
2009. Google delivered 1 trillion ads in 2010.
•
In November, digital books outsold paper books.
•
There are over 100 billion active domain names today.
•
In December, there were 63.2M US smartphone subscribers
– 47% use mobile media
– Twitter & FB had a 71% & 121% increase in mobile usage

12. The Social Space

13. Social Media Technologies
•
•
•
•
•
RSS Feeds
Blogs
Widgets
Video / Photo Sharing
Social Networking
•
•
•
•
•
Social News Sites
Podcasting
Wikis
Virtual Worlds
Mashups
All of these technologies have been created
for the purpose of sharing information
in a many to many environment

14. The Big Names for Government
Facebook
Flickr
Twitter
RSS Feed
Blogger
YouTube
And some new ones….
Scribd.com
UStream.tv

15. Facebook - FREE
Facebook is a Social Network
• Post your status (notices)
• Business pages get “liked”
• Share your photos or videos
• Notify fans about events or meetings
• Comment on anything
• Get a “vanity URL” after 25 “likes”
• Facebook.com/MorrisCountyNJ

17. Twitter - FREE
Twitter is a Micro-blog
• 140 character limit
• Sign up and “follow” posters
• Post “tweets” about anything
• Include links to other information
• Send / receive via web or mobile device
• RT (retweet) & D (direct message) & @
(public replies)
• Twitter.com/MorrisCountyNJ

18. Twitter Tools
• Tweetdeck.com
(follow multiple Twitter accounts and Facebook)
• Hootsuite.com
(schedule tweets for later, team members)
• Tweetake.com
(backup Twitter)
• Backupify.com
(backup Twitter, blogs, Facebook & more)
• Yoono.com
(follow multiple social accounts at once)
• Mashable.com
(tons of twitter / social media information)

20. Flickr - FREE
Flickr is a photo sharing site
• Upload digital photos
• Create sets of related photos
• Tag photos with people’s names or
event details
• Produce slideshows
• Share via email or website embed
• Allow citizen upload (approval)
• Find others’ photos and stock photos
• Flickr.com/MorrisCountyNJ

23. YouTube - FREE
YouTube provides a video channel
• Approved government channel removes
usual 10 minute or 1 gig limit
• Record with digital camera
• Embed in a website or FB
• Your message unfiltered
• Internet is a visual medium. Use it.
• YouTube.com/MorrisCountyNJ
• MorrisMinutes

26. Scribd - FREE
Scribd is a document sharing site
• You upload (publish) documents
• Reading formats: scroll, book, slideshow
• Viewers comment, download, rate, print
• Readers share via FB, Twitter, email or
website embed
• Supported formats: pdf, ppt, doc, xls
• Detailed stats
• Scribd.com/MorrisCountyNJ

28. RSS Feeds - FREE
An RSS Feed is a subscription.
• When new information is added to a webpage,
it is sent to subscribers instantly.
• Subscribers don’t have to keep visiting a
website to get information.
• Subscribers decide what information they want
to receive and where they want it delivered.
• You know your information is being read.

30. Blogger - FREE
A Blog is a Journal.
• Blogging tells a story.
• Allowing comments is optional.
• Commenting promotes trust and
communicates openness.
• Blogs can contain photos or videos.
• Blogs can include links to FB or
other sites.
• Readers feel involved, connected

31. Blogs: Conversations w/
Constituents
It’s okay for government to blog. The Federal Government has over 100.

32. UStream.tv - FREE
UStream.tv streams live video
• Live, interactive broadcast platform
• High quality allows graphic overlays,
polls, invited co-hosts
• Viewers can personally interact with
whomever is broadcasting
• Broadcast to viewer AND viewer to
viewer interaction
• UStream.tv/MorrisCountyNJ
(not live yet)

33. Morris County’s Semi-Automated Process
PIO
issues a
press
release
The web group uploads a
catalog or brochure to
Scribd.com
Creates in MS Word
Scribd subscribers are
automatically notified.
Post on the website using
Blogger.
Scribd can automatically
tweet about it.
(Create a custom template)
Or, use Hootsuite to tweet
about it manually.
Can use links and graphics,
even videos in the blog post
Create a video. Embed in
website. Upload to YouTube.
Announce with Hootsuite or
via press release.
Using RSS Feeds,
subscribers sign up to get
notified via email or in a
reader. Home page “What’s
New” is auto-updated.
Website
Subscribers are notified.
Blogger auto-emails press
releases to web group.
Facebook pulls from Hootsuite
through ping.fm. Ping.fm updates
FB pages and allows for easily
adding additional social networks.
The web group creates a tweet
with Hootsuite. Include link to
website press release. Followers
automatically notified.
Constant Contact notifies the web group when the PIO
publishes a newsletter. We tweet that in Hootsuite.

34. Managing Social Media
Have Policies
•
Commenting (TSA.gov)
•
Employee use (IBM.com)
•
Toolkit (cdc.gov/socialmedia, mass.gov)
•
Don’t reinvent the wheel
(govsocmed.pbworks.com)
Have Structure
•
Use a consistent vanity URL
•
Speak in a consistent tone of voice
•
Have one primary account for each tool
Multiple accounts creates:
– Poor branding
– Inconsistent messaging

35. Government Focused Resources
NAGW.org:
National Association of Government Webmasters
Members receive listserv access, free webinars,
National Conference discounts
GovLoop.com:
Social Network for government employees
USA.gov:
list of Federal blogs, widgets, and more
WebContent.gov:
lots of information about social media and
government
How-tos
YouTube.com
MorrisCountyNJ.gov/learning20

36. Contact Information
Morris County NJ
Website MorrisCountyNJ.gov
Twitter Twitter.com/MorrisCountyNJ
Facebook Facebook.com/MorrisCountyNJ
YouTube YouTube.com/MorrisCountyNJ
Scribd Scribd.com/MorrisCountyNJ
Email CSpencer@co.Morris.NJ.US
National Association of Government Webmasters
Website NAGW.org
Twitter Twitter.com/NAGW
Facebook Facebook.com/NAGW.org
GovLoop Govloop.com/group/NAGW
Email Treasurer@NAGW.org

37. Getting Started with Social Media
Carol A. Spencer
Web Manager, County of Morris NJ
Treasurer, National Assoc of Gov’t Webmasters
PA Parks & Recreation
March 21, 2011