Making Social Media Boring (or at least trying to)
Social media has had a pretty impressive run over the past few years. Some of the credit is well deserved and some of the hype is probably, well, hyperbolic. If we want government to realize the full value of social media, we need to make it boring. We need to make it a part of our standard business processes and something deemed nothing more than (and nothing less than) every other element considered essential to a successful project.
As a way to kickoff this conversation, I would like to suggest three ways to make social media just another thing that government does (and does well):
Starting with a Safety Net
Social media is clearly not only for the young ; however it is still something new to many organizations, and individuals working in government may have little direct experience with it. We can hardly fault those hesitant to dive head first into social networks when the main messages they may still hear are of risks and threats and where the boundaries between public and private are sometimes fuzzy. Moreover, social media is often difficult to grasp until you actually do take those first few steps and get your feet wet. This being the case, greater effort should be put into using social media INTERNALLY. This has the dual benefit of providing a safe space for people to experience these tools while also providing some very tangible benefits to the organization in terms of collaboration and knowledge management.
Building a Bigger Tent
Currently, the vast majority of government activities in social media are focused on communication or public affairs projects. However, one of the real strengths of social media is that just about EVERYONE can use these tools to do their job more effectively. There are, of course, caveats to every situation but some possible examples include: Human Resources using Twitter to answer recruiting questions; Researchers using wikis to collaborate and share information; Crisis Managers using monitoring tools to get an accurate, real-time, picture of unfolding events. Democratizing the availability and use of social media is a key step in getting greater buy-in for these tools and in making their use more the rule than the exception.
Making Ourselves Accountable
One of the signs of technological maturity is that people begin to take a much more critical look at the demonstrable effectiveness of a tool, process or project. Social media is beginning to move increasingly to the point where people want to know how social media is impacting mission. What is the Return on Investment (ROI) or, in terms more aligned with the gestalt of social media, what is the Return on Engagement (ROE)? Those of us using these tools should not fear this scrutiny but rather embrace it as an opportunity to deepen our understanding and make a stronger case for why government should be devoting resources to social media. We need to get to the point where no one is asking IF social media is effective but have rather come to EXPECT evidence of its impact with every project where it is used.
And, YES, This is Relevant for What We do
A recent Pew Internet report established the concept of “peer-to-peer healthcare” where the sharing aspects of social media increasingly merge with people’s natural tendency to turn to friends and family for support and advice around health care issues. However, it is not only patients that are going online to look for healthcare information, public health practitioners and organizations of all types are using these tools as well to engage, learn and share. For example, there are more than 3,000 hospital social networking sites in the U.S. and, every Sunday, there is lively discussion among health care professionals in a weekly #HCSM chat (Healthcare Communications & Social Media. And see this directory of healthcare twitter chats )
For us to remain relevant, if we want our information to be there at the point in which a person is making a behavioral decision, we need to participate in social media. And to be successful and to get everyone involved, we will also need to make it boring.
Does this makes sense? If not, drop in a comment and let me know. If so, get to work.
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