A presentation on the applications of Social Media (Web 2.0) tools in Local Authorities. Knowledge Management, Collaboration, Communications, openness and transparency

1. The use of Social Media in Local Authorities Mark O’Toole, Kilkenny County Council.

2. Topics What is Social Media? Some of the most common social media tools and examples of those tools in use Why Should local government use Social Media? 5 Steps to implement a social media strategy Monitoring and interacting with social media Some sample social media policies and guidelines Some barriers to implementation.

3. What is Social Media?

4. Shift Happens New Web 2.0 tools facilitate collaboration. Team based work / collaboration Internal Collaboration / Collaboration with engaged citizens Knowledge Management- managing implicit knowledge (connecting people across departments and hierarchical boundaries) Digital Divide / Net-Generation - prepare for the future but don’t exclude anyone

5. What is Social Media? What is Social Media (Web 2.0)? Content, Conversation, Communication, community- it is not broadcast only. User-Generated Content Users Want to Create and Co-Create Content Edit Content Rate Content Comment on Content Discuss Content Tag and Organize Content Mash Content with other Content Personalize Content Share Content

6. What is Social Media

7. Some of the most common tools..

8. Architecting for Collaboration Organisational Culture (reward hoarding or reward sharing?) Management approach (open or controlled?) Staff skills (training/exposure to tools) Budgets (proprietary enterprise software or open source?)

9. RSS(Really simple syndication)

10. Google Reader

11. Blogs External Government Blogs

12. Wikis http://www.screwturn.eu/ open source wiki ASP.NET

13. External Wikis – Kilkenny County Council Local Area Plans

14. Lap.kilkennycoco.ie

15. Youtube

17. Flickr- Bring your photos to the people

19. Podcasting

21. Microblogging

22. Facebook

23. Facebook Social networking isn’t just for young people- there are over 1.2 million Facebook users in Ireland Age Profiles of Irish Facebook Users (Mulley Communications January 2010)

24. Social Bookmarking

25. Social Boomarking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbbmcNgpXcg

26. Crowdsourcing

27. Crowdsourcing

28. Crowdsourcing

29. Why Should Local Government use Social Media?

30. To successfully implement social media tools for your organisation You will need.. an understanding of social media a clearly defined strategy the right tools the job the resources to implement your plan

31. Step 1 step 1- understand social media toolslearn how they work and what they offer they can allow you to: enable internal collaboration allow information sharing with external partners exchange information with the public keep pace with fast moving events in real time harness the collective ingenuity of the public to support your mission

32. Step 2 Focus on your goals and choose the right tools to solicit the public’s thoughts on an issue you could .. send out an email post a notice on your homepage Tweet a question write a blog post inviting customers to share their ideas as comments (or use custom sites to invite feedback, fixmystreet, lap.kilkennycoco.ie)

33. Step 3 make sure you can support multiple communications tools social media sites that sit untended can lose their value very quickly-remember -it’s a conversation allocate or reallocate resources to implement the tools you have chosen, like any business tool , social media requires an investment of resources in order to make it work, this investment will likely primarily be staff hours. after an initial investment you may find these tools enable your staff to work more efficiently and quickly and improve performance

34. Step 4 before implementing plan, define what success looks like and how you are going to measure it. often social media can save money. but its strength really lies in increasing audience engagement which helps you accomplish your mission.examples of measurements include subscriptions page views blog views clickthroughs

35. Step 5 implement your plan, like any project, using social media requires strategic thinking. start small and see which initiatives work and which don’t

36. Monitoring and Interacting with Social Media Create feeds to search the ‘blogosphere’ Create feeds to search twitter Create feeds to search google news (DEMO of Google Reader and Google Realtime) Twitter is the place to be for breaking news and ‘live’ stories. #latelate #morningireland #rtefl (the Frontline) #rtept (primetime) search for these hashtags on search.twitter.com during the programmes and you will see the debate unfolding across the country.

37. Feedback 2.0 key principles - openness -collaboration –community transparency-trust

38. Social Media Policies

39. Guidelines for Participation online UK Civil service Code The Code sets out the four core values that underpin every civil servant’s work. Integrity – putting the obligations of public service above personal interests Honesty – being truthful and open Objectivity – basing advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence Impartiality – acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving governments of different political parties equally well

40. UK Civil Servant Guidelines for online participation Principles for participation online 1. Be credible Be accurate, fair, thorough and transparent. 2. Be consistent Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation. Be cordial, honest and professional at all times. 3. Be responsive When you gain insight, share it where appropriate. 4. Be integrated Wherever possible, align online participation with other offline communications. 5. Be a civil servant Remember that you are an ambassador for your organisation. Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of your department or agency.

41. Barriers to implementation All interactive websites pose certain security risks- from webmail to filesharing. Find a balance. In the US the CDC have a network of PCs on a network specifically resourced to allow staff to utilise social media. These PCs are not connected to the organisations primary network. Most companies seem to be using these tools without problems. Security issues become public and are solved very quickly

42. Further resources My blog: www.rialtas.net Mark.otoole@kilkennycoco.ie Twitter: @convex02l See also: webcontent.gov My Delicious Bookmarks around this talk are at: http://bit.ly/9W0lAZ