Social Media Management News

Social Media Management News :: Sept | Oct 2010 Government Sector

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Government Sector 

Is Emergency Response Social Media Ready?

Sixty nine percent of Americans think emergency response agencies should be regularly monitoring and responding to requests for help on social media and agency websites. And three out of four would expect help to arrive within an hour.

This is according to a study by the American Red Cross in advance of last month's Emergency Social Data Summit.

More than half would text message an agency in an emergency, if the option was available and 44% would use a social network to ask others to request help.

These are compelling numbers indicating just how deeply social media is becoming integrated into our communications habits and expectations.

[ Resources for you ]

Web Users Increasingly Rely on Social Media to Seek Help in a Disaster Survey Press Release

| Read American Red Cross Press Release |

Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies American Red Cross Survey Report

| Download Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies American Red Cross Survey Report (PDF) |

White Paper: The Case for Integrating Crisis Response with Social Media

| Read The Case for Integrating Crisis Response with Social Media (on Scribd) |

Cops Using Twitter: Grade = "C"

Cops2.0, the blog of the Canadian Association of Police on Social Media, posts about the association's first research report on how police in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. are using Twitter. CAPSM analyzed nearly 1100 police Twitter users in these regions from April, 2010 through July, applying 25 different criteria.

CAPSM set out to determine 1) whether and how police were using Twitter, 2) if they were including disclaimers or polices about social media use, and 3) if they were including off-duty activities or personal opinions in tweets.

Only 8 out of the 1083 accounts were Twitter verified accounts. Verified accounts are still in beta at Twitter and only available since June (and are currently unavailable), but few agencies are on top of applying for a "verified account" badge. These are aimed at government agencies (and celebrities) so followers are assured the account is a legitimate agency.

Apparently Facebook to Twitter integration is low among police agencies - hovering around 10% of agencies actively working to pull one group of people toward another engagement tool. Forty-one percent of accounts were deemed as "sparse" by CAPSM.

Only one agency, the London Metropolitan Police, included a link to their Twitter policy. And, only 9 U.S. agencies had any kind of legal disclaimer.

The report does show that police are Tweeting appropriate information. The Brits are more talkative, Canadians have the highest number of followers and followees, and Americans have the most accounts, but the fewest followers and less active accounts.

Read the full report to get details of how agencies are handling their Twitter accounts and CAPSM's recommendations.

[ Resources for you ]

A Survey of Official and Unofficial Law Enforcement Twitter Accounts in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States

| Read, download or print A Survey of Official and Unofficial Law Enforcement Twitter Accounts in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States (on Scribd) |

Social Media Management News :: July | Aug 2010 Government Sector

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Government Sector

The U. S. Department of Defense and the State Department are officially sanctioning the use of social media, including permitting the personal use of social networks on work computers.

In a Foreign Affairs Manual on Information Management, the Departments acknowledge the roles social networking play in conducting diplomatic, public affairs, intelligence-gathering and internal collaboration activities, and provide guidance in the document for the use of social media.

Social media is allowed on both classified and unclassified Department networks.

The Department manual has a section specifically addressing the personal use of social media on government networks.  It also specifies that social content must be Section 508 compliant, highlights important records management compliance issues and requires separate social media "terms of use" be posted on official sites.

This is an excellent example of a comprehensive government social media policy. It incorporates many of the "best practices" that we have been encouraging our government clients to adopt in their policies. We wholehearted recommend you review it for how these apply to your agency.

[ Resources for you ]

Using Social Media: U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 5—Information Management

| Download U.S. Department of State Policy: Using Social Media (5 FAM 79)0 (PDF) |

News Update: Be Careful How You Archive Social Site Content 

Last month, we gave you a "heads-up" that a case before the courts (Facebook v PowerVentures) might impact how you archive or aggregate content from Facebook and other social media sites to comply with records acts provisions.

The good news is a U.S. federal court ruled in this case that violating a website terms of use is not a crime.  However, the court ruled that if a social site sets up technological barriers for scraping content - even if done simply to enforce terms of use - any service that bypasses them in order to scrape a users own content may violate California's computer crime laws.

If your agency is using a service, such as Power.com, to aggregate your data from several networks, be sure to ask if the service has an agreement with the networks to access and aggregate the data.

More importantly, find out if they use any technologies to circumvent any of the site's blocking mechanisms and if they have been asked to stop collecting the data.  And, of course, don't code around barriers set up by any social site.

In an increasingly cloud-based world it is sometimes difficult to tell where your aggregation service is headquartered.  It may be important to find out - even if they have offices in your country - to ensure they are aware if ab subject to the laws that impact you.

[ Resources for you ]

LawUpdates.com commentary: Facebook v. Power Ventures: Facebook Terms of Use Against Scraping

| Read article: Facebook v. Power Ventures: Facebook Terms of Use Against Scraping |

Social Media Management News :: June 2010 Government Sector

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Government Sector

 

 

Federal government agencies have new guidelines on the use of social media and web measurement and customization technologies.

In two separate memos released last week, the federal Office of Management and Budget  updated its guidelines on privacy, use of third party websites and the appropriate use of "cookies" for web user customization and analytics.

Some key guidance for government agencies:

• The same e-services and information found on any third party sites must also be available on the appropriate .gov website.  No user should be required to join a third-party site to have access to that information or e-service.
• There must clear notice and personal choice with the use of measurement and customization technologies.  Agencies must provide an easy opt-out for both.
• The OMB provides 11 required additions to privacy policies when web measurement or customization is used.
• If using multi-session customization features that require personally identifiable information, the agency must have written approval of the appropriate CIO or privacy officer.
• Agencies are required to conduct a privacy assessment when using a third parity site, specifically adapting it to the features of the site. The privacy assessment should be posted on the agency's official website.
• Agencies should update their privacy policies to address their use of third party websites.
• The appropriate privacy policy should be posted on the third party site or application.

[ Resources for you ]

OMB Memo: Guidance for Agency Use of Third Party Websites and Applications

| Download OMB M-10-22, Guidance for Agency Use of Third Party Websites & Applications (PDF) |

OMB Memo: Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization

| Download OMB M-10-23, Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization (PDF) |

Do you have the right to aggregate information from Facebook?

Facebook doesn't think so.  In fact, they think it is criminal.

The case of Facebook vs Power Ventures could have implications for government agencies who comply with public records acts by archiving information posted on their Facebook pages and other social network presences using automated tools.

Power.com offers a tool that aggregates a user's information across several networks and assists in exporting their data from Facebook.  Facebook says Power Ventures is breaking California criminal law because their terms of service prohibits users from accessing information by automated means.

The issues here are important. 

For one, the outcome may determine if a violation of a private company's terms of service can be a criminal rather than a civil offense (people have faced criminal charges in the past for terms of service violations). 

Secondly, government agencies have legitimate and compelling regulatory reasons for aggregating (or "scraping") social network content and for exporting it to their own systems for storage and reference.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief with the court to provide information on the possible impact on social network users.  EFF has developed a Bill of Rights for Social Network Users.  Although it is not a widely adopted standard, it does serve to inform on the stand EFF takes in its substantial advocacy efforts surrounding social networking issues. 

[ Resources for you ]

EFF summary article: It's Your Data, It's Your Bot: It's Not a Crime

| Read Electronic Frontier Article: Facebook vs Power Venture |

A Bill of Rights for Social Network Users

| Read EFF Social Network User Bill of Rights |

Twitter is hiring a Government Liaison.

The position will be Twitter's first Washington D.C. based employee and will launch the company's public policy department.  The liaison will be responsible for helping Twitter better understand public sector needs, as well as helping agencies and policymakers be effective in connecting with constituents through the service.

[ Resources for you ]

Twitter Government Liaison Job Description

| See Government Liaison Job Description |

Social Media Management News :: May 2010 Government Sector

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Government Sector

Some 61% of all American adults (82% of Internet users) looked for information or completed a transaction on a government website in the last 12 months. 

Overall, their online activities with government are wide-ranging.

A new survey out by the Pew Internet and American Life project, delves deeply into and how Americans interact with government information, including in social media.

Users rely heavily on search engines to guide them to government information - and the majority use multiple channels to interact with government agencies. 

Not surprisingly, Pew finds government outreach on social media sites has particular relevance for younger people, and notably minority and low-income voters feel this form of government outreach is quite important.

The typical "government user" engaged in at least four of eleven distinct behaviors Pew identifies - and the 31% of "social media government users" engaged in least one of six social media behaviors with government information. Fully 95% of government social media users visited a government website in the preceding twelve months, with the typical government social media user visiting five such websites.

Read the full report online or download the findings.   We highly recommend the report to support and inform your government communication activities. Share it with your colleagues.

[ Resources for you ]

Pew Internet Government Online

| Read the Online Government Pew Preport online |

| Download the Online Government Pew report (PDF) |

Do new "real-time" search features raise issues for the democratic process?

Two academics at Wellesley College conclude that the "real-time" search features the major search engines have recently instituted could be manipulated to spread misinformation about candidates or falsely enlarge apparent voter support for a candidate or issue. 

In their recent paper, "From Obscurity to Prominence in Minutes: Political Speech and Real-Time Search" they argue the new real-time results, pulled within moments of posting to sites like Twitter and news sites, "provides disproportionate exposure to personal opinions, fabricated content, unverified events, lies and misrepresentations that otherwise would not find their way in the first page, giving them the opportunity to spread virally." 

To support their argument they analyze political community behavior on Twitter in the recent Massachusetts senate race.

[ Resources for you ]

From Obscurity to Prominence in Minutes: Political Speech and Real-Time Search

| Get the paper by Wellesley Professors Panagiotis Takis Metaxas and Eni Mustafaraj (PDF) |

Legal opinion on administration of school board Facebook pages holds relevant lessons for public agencies.

Attorney firm Dinsmore & Shohl published a particularly good article on issues a school board should consider before creating or approving a Facebook page. While the article references school boards and Ohio law, the issues highlighted are applicable to almost every public agency and serves as a guide to those managing public-sector social media presences.

[ Resources for you ]

Legal issues for a school board to consider before creating or approving a Facebook page

| Read the article at Dinsomre & Shoh |

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Government Sector

Making the Most of Social Media: 7 Lessons from Successful Cities is part "manual," part report written for local governments that are beginning to experiment with social media.  It comes to you from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.  

The report's emphasis is on the use of specific applications, such as Facebook and Twitter, by government managers and communications directors.  It presents seven practices gathered through interviews with 79 successful cities - and liberally shares practical tips and brief case studies.  A definite must read for any public sector communicator.

[ Resources for you ]

Making the Most of Social Media: 7 Lessons from Successful Cities

| Download Making the Most of Social Media: 7 Lessons from Successful Cities (PDF) |

The Federal Communications Commission has launched a project examining the Future of Media and Information Needs of Communities in a Digital Age. Public comments will be accepted through May 7, 2010.  The FCC is holding a second day-long public workshop on April 30 as part of the project.  The workshop will cover public and non-commercial media outlets, relevant government policies, and the needs, assets and roles of non-commercial media in serving the information needs of communities, among other topics.

The FCC cites a report by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy as influential in helping to structure the FCC’s inquiry.  The Knight commission concluded that while Americans have vast information needs, these needs are being met unequally and that many communities are completely unserved or are woefully underserved.

[ Resources for you ]

The Future of Media and Information Needs of Communities in a Digital Age

| FCC Future of Media project website |

Knight Commission Informing Communities: Sustaining Democrary in the Digital Age

| Read or download Informing Communities: Sustaining Democrarcy in the Digital Age |