Types of Social Media

What is Social Media?

Social Media integrates technology, social interaction, and content creation using the "wisdom of crowds" to collaboratively connect online information. Through social media, people or groups can create, organize, edit, comment on, combine, and share content.

Government agencies regularly use social media to interact with their customers. Here are the most commonly-used types of social media in government:

• Blogs (e.g., WordPress)
• Social Networks (e.g., Facebook)
• Microblogs (e.g., Twitter)
• Wikis (e.g., Wikipedia)
• Video
• Podcasts
• Discussion Forums
• RSS Feeds
• Social Media Releases
• Photo Sharing (e.g., Flickr)

Resources 

• Apps.gov NOW: Get Blogs, Wikis and other Gov 2.0 tools that are free and compliant
• Timeline of U.S. government use of Social Media/Gov 2.0
• Government 2.0: Federal Agency Use of Web 2.0 Technologies, 111th Congress, 2010, statement of David McClure, Ph.D.
  (PDF, 16 MB, 22 pages, July 2010, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• OMB Memorandum 10-23, Guidance for Agency Use of Third-Party Websites and Applications
  (PDF, 78 KB, 9 pages, June 2010, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• Open Government, Transparency, and Social Media Presentation
  (PDF, 11,490 KB, 87 pages, April 2009, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• New Media Across Government (video on YouTube)
• Examples of Agencies Using Online Content and Technology to Achieve Mission and Goals
  (PDF, 45 KB, 5 pages, December 2008, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• Matrix of Web 2.0 Technology Tools and Government
  (PDF, 45 KB, 2 pages, March 2008, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• Records Management and Recent Web Technologies, National Archives
• Social Software and National Security: An Initial Net Assessment, National Defense University research paper
  (PDF, 527.86 KB, 42 pages, April 2009, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• The Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds

Content Lead: Jonathan Rubin
Page Reviewed/Updated: January 19, 2011