Presentation to group of Local Authority Communications Officers on the Potential for Social Media in Local Government. The Wave is coming, we will be judged on how we react to it..

1. Social Media in
Local
Government
Tim Willoughby
Assistant Director
LGCSB
http://blogs.cisco.com/

2. Effective Communication
• Clear Messages
• Reduce Complexity
• Don’t have opinions on
everything
• Good and Bad News

3. Social / Open is forcing Change
With or Without the Owners / Shareholders

5. So far ICT has not fundamentally
changed government
• 1990s: lCT expected
to make government
more
transparent, efficient
and user oriented
• 2005+: disillusion as
bureaucracy still in
existence
• Can Cloud Help?
Jane E. Fountain – Gov 1.0 – Just Replicating the Silos on the Internet

6. What Social Media is…
 A way to connect people online to have
conversations and exchange information
 A way for consumers to communicate directly and
connect with brands and people
 A way for brands to strengthen communities
 Viral, via mobile and web based platforms
What Social Media is Not …
 Social media is not FREE. Takes time investment and
engagement
 A strategy
 Broadcasting
 The are no real experts or gurus
 Driven by tools but people http://linasrivastava.com
http://riptideonline.com
Social Media Basic Training

7. 5 Key Steps – The Journey

8. Social Media presents an Opportunity and a
Challenge
Social Media?
Social Media doesn’t fit into traditional any of our silos
Effective User
Scalability Workflow
Adoption Requirements
Security Performance
Network Voice Video IT Finance Corp Services
Infrastructure Applications

9. confusing
Wide Variety of Social Media
On-Premises Cloud
Video, Voice, Web,
Mobile, Office, Home, Inter- Smartphones, Tablets, Lapt
Social, Business Apps
Company ops, Thin Clients
Wide Variety of Collaboration Technologies

10. Looking at twitter – during the bad
weather…

11. Breakdown of Tweets / Followers
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
Irish Local Authority - Twitter Information County
800
Irish Local Authority - Twitter Information
Followers
600
Irish Local Authority - Twitter Information Tweets
400
200
0

12. Examination of Data
• Need to focus on • Need to carry out a
• #Hashtag conversation
– #Emergency – • Need to manage central
• #Ice, #Snow, # Accident Accounts
– #Road Name • Social Media – Not just
• #N7, #R123, #M7
for Christmas
– #County
• #Carlow, #Laois
– #Events
• #Oxygen, #Fairyhouse, etc

15. Hash Tag

16. Each County can have its own

17. Can Search for a Particular #Tag