Comments on: Is Social Media a Square Peg in a Round Hole?

By: Govy

Govy — Sun, 25 May 2008 17:44:18 +0000

@suzemuse:
I agree that, right now, there is the perception of the square peg in a round hole when it comes to social media/Web 2.0 and the government. But in the U.S., for example, the government has operated in the same top-down fashion for 200+ years. But I can tell you that there’s not just a few people in the government that want to move the government into social media, and REALLY participate in it directly. There are fully organized groups with the backing of GSA, to help move the government world into a more social one. As I mentioned in my post, and that you commented on, it’s going to take a long time to happen…but not as long as many think. Because there’s such a big push for it and a younger generation of people are entering the workforce and looking for these types of tools in the government work space, the government is being forced just by the very nature of change to move more into the social media world. If you organization is not keeping up with the times and the way that society and socialization is being revamped, then you’ll never attract the workforce you need. You also won’t be able to communicate to the citizens in the way they expect you too. That’s the problem that U.S government, Canadian, and many, many other governments are facing. So they have to change, and they will, much faster than they probably want to. Because of that, I think you will see government “burst wide open” and they’ll finally be propelled into the current times rather than always being a decade, or two, behind. Great post Suzemuse!
http://justagovy.blogspot.com/2008/05/is-social-media-square-peg-in-round.html?showComment=1211634420000#c5603098478854861624

By: Deanna White

Deanna White — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:05:42 +0000

Great post. Well said. I agree… government and big conglomerates have bigger challenges with social media based on their infrastructure, having worked on the “big brand” side of the fence myself. It would be nice to see more organizations participate as it is a great venue for audiences to contribute to and learn about important and emerging issues and opportunities.

Deanna White
http://storylinepr.wordpress.com/

By: Paul Dettman

Paul Dettman — Sat, 10 May 2008 11:56:23 +0000

I’m working on this right now, and firmly believe that corporations can use social networking tools/software, as long as they don’t try to be ‘hip’. I see these things as a way for colleagues to collaborate in a post-email era. Now that everyone is self-employed, or looking to be (!) the links in your personal network are almost certain to be stronger than your work ones. But if you can’t leverage your work contacts, you’ll never break free – it’s a Catch-22. Something like twitter built into an enterprise system like RIM’s BlackBerry server is the way I see it working out.

By: Robin

Robin — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:38:18 +0000

Hi Sue,
I would add one nuance to the answers to your question “is it possible we are trying to force social media into a space where it doesn’t belong?” As far as the federal government is concerned, the answer is a resounding “no” and one need only check out the objectives listed in the federal goverment communications policy to see why government is a space in which social media does belong. The policy has 10 objectives but the crucial one is #6: Consult the public, listen to and take account of people’s interests and concerns when establishing priorities, developing policies, and planning programs and services.
Social media offer a variety of tools to help the government do this way better: the challenge is recommending the appropriate tools.

By: Simon Chen

Simon Chen — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:49:23 +0000

I also enjoyed the Meetup and agree with Kristina Mausser’s comments and the spirit of Sue’s post. A communicator’s ’shiny object fascination’ is akin to what Seth Godin calls a ‘meatball sundae’ in his latest book of the same name.

I work for a company that develops online social technologies. I like to say that the biggest compliment we can receive is that our products ‘don’t get in the way.’ At the end of the day, we develop and sell tools that help people connect, communicate and collaborate. Our products are not necessarily the cool, new thing out there that our customers should focus on. Instead, the ‘cool’ thing is that our products enable our customers and their stakeholders to solve customer service problems, build better products, communicate more effectively, etc. Our software tools are tactics and are most effective when they are used for the right reasons (strategies). We all will do better to not, as Godin would say, mix meatballs with sundaes.

By: Alex (harzack86)

Alex (harzack86) — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:55:42 +0000

Good post! I think you hit the nail on the head there.
I believe there is a place for social networking or anything “2.0″ in the enterprise or the government. Two things we need to consider are what people need, and how people communicate. If we look at the new “y” generation, they are not communicating with email anymore, it’s “has been” already, quite surprising for someone of my generation (not even 40) who has seen the raise of email communication over snail mail and phone, and will soon see the fall of this media. So, I guess enterprises need to revisit how they let their employees communicate, as the next generation of employees won’t use emails so much but will likely use anything close to what social networking is today or will be tomorrow. The big question is, and you’ve highlighted this very well in your post, how will these enterprise control, secure and retain this new communication media. Then, what people need is probably an even more complex question, but certainly, they are overwhelmed by a tremendous amount of information surrounding them in various (and independents = not talking to each others) systems, and they want to make a better use of this. So search, interoperability and integration, retention and archiving of information, all that will also need to be included in the equation…
Then, I might not be able to tell more as my current “Giant Corp” probably doesn’t allow me to do so
Cheers.

By: Zoey Castelino

Zoey Castelino — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:20:03 +0000

Excellent post. Well said! I think Social Media is still something people are unsure of and it will a little while longer before everyone – or at least the majority of people – agree on what works and what doesn’t.

By: Kristina Mausser

Kristina Mausser — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:54:35 +0000

Excellent post! I often compare Social Media to the web industry’s fascination with Flash a few years ago. It didn’t matter if Audio/Visual was needed to effectively communicate and market the product/service – a Flash splash page was in order regardless.

Social Media is one tool out of many available that can help eMarketers and Communicators build and reinforce messaging. Adopting technology for the sake of technology – or shiny object fascination – is never the right way to go in and of itself. Solution-based approaches will always reap the highest returns and provide the most value in the long run.