stevenclift.

com

e-democracy.org

@democracy

Social Media:
Local Government Use
Slides available now:
http://slideshare.net/netclift
Introduction
 Government by Day,
Citizen by Night

15+ years of experience “interacting’

online within and “around” government
E-Democracy.org Today
Hosts 30+ Local “Issues Forums”

Mix of technology – e-mail, web,

web feeds, Facebook, Twitter

 Ford Foundation-funded “Inclusive

Social Media” effort in low income,
high immigrant communities
(including Somali community in Minneapolis)
Perspective
Model Use of Social Media
 1. What the government lawyers don’t
scare you (officials) from using.
 2. What the open government advocates
and social media mavens want.
 3. What the public expects and to which
they actually respond.
 Discussion on CityCamp Exchange:
 http://e-democracy.org/citycamp
“Digital Embassies” - Edelman
 Reaching people “where they are” via third party
social media tools versus websites you ”own”
 Pick a tool, any tool

Source: Jeffery Levy, EPA

Gov Online – PewInternet.org
April 2010 report brings fresh data:  Agree or disagree on
82% of internet users (representing 61% of all
American adults) looked for information or
impact of social media
completed a transaction on a government
website in the 12 months preceding this survey:
in government
 48% of internet users have looked for information
about a public policy or issue online with their
local, state or federal government

 46% have looked up what services a government

agency provides

 31% use online platforms such as blogs, social

networking sites, email, online video or text
messaging to get government information

 23% participate in the online debate around

government policies or issues
Gov Online – PewInternet.org
 April 2010 report
further reports:  21% who feel
government posting on
Facebook, Twitter very
important:
 17% Whites
 31% African-American
 33% Hispanic

 18% College Educated

 30% W/O High School
Degree
Examples
Necessity Helps – Disaster Response
Use of
Twitter
during
San
Bruno
gas fire in California #sanbrunofire
Tweeting assisted by nearby San
Carlos gov that used Twitter actively
More: http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/09/san-bruno-fire/
Official City Facebook Pages

 Collecting links:
 http://pages.e-democracy.org/Minnesota_government_Facebook_Pages
Why does St. Paul have more fans?
Also on YouTube
5857 Mpls, 6700 St. Paul
What is a “Liker” worth?
Representation – Mayor Rybak
Uses mix of social tools. Official blog.
Why must official sites be boring?
Representation – Mayor Rybak
Very active on
Twitter and
Facebook

Appear to be
“personal” use.

Not officially
linked.
Representation – Cllr. Cam Gordon
City of
Minneapolis
provides “toolkit”:
 Home page CMS
 Map, Picture,
Pages with Links
 E-Newsletter
 Date Book
Representation – Cllr. Cam Gordon
Cam
“represents”
across Net:
 Blog
 Facebook
Profile
 Neighbor Issues
Forums
Engagement
 UK Lessons
 AskBristol.org
 Redbridge.gov.uk –
Budget balancer
 Engagement - Public Input
 Santa Cruz – UserVoice
 Kings County, WA
 Manor “Labs” Texas
Engagement - Lessons
Ongoing v. time-limited
Recruit, recruit, recruit
Expectations - Describe space
accurately – who is LISTENING
Facilitate – First person is best
“Seed and Weed” – Actively share
information and address problems in
dialogue.
Engagement – Ooops.
 Santa Cruz –
UserVoice was
time-limited
example … now
generates error,
gather lessons
when you can

 ParticipateDB.or
g – Excellent
listing of projects
and tools
Local “Community Sites”, Facebook
 Stillwater,
MN page has
10,000 friends
(over 50% of
local
residents)

 Citizen-run,
what about
government?
But wait, something is wrong …

Be the government that connects

with people.
Help your government get it.
Pick your tools
and serve

Conclusion …
 It is time for both
government and
elected officials to
connect with their
citizens where they
“are” online and not
wait for them to
come to you.
Further Resources
Government 2.0 Report Collection

http://e-democracy.org/sunshine
 20+ Government 2.0 Reports Linked

 Earn Five “Suns,” 25 Draft Indicators

 Drafting guide for national League of Women Voters
 Representation
 Decision-Making
 Information
 Engagement
 Online Features
Webinars, Unconferences
 Using Technology to Build Community
In-Depth Webinar, Podcast:
 http://e-democracy.org/webinars

 CityCamp – Local Gov 2.0 meet Citizens

2.0
 http://citycamp.com
 http://e-democracy.org/citycamp - Forum
Twitter Hashtags

#edem – General e-democracy

#opengov – Open Government
#gov20 – Government 2.0
#opendata – Open Data
#hyperlocal – Local News
#citycamp – Local mix of everything
above
Contact
 Steven Clift
 clift@e-democracy.org
 @democracy on Twitter
 +1-612-234-7072
 netclift – on Skype

 Links
 http://blog.e-democracy.org
 http://e-democracy.org/p3
 http://stevenclift.com

 Slides also available from:

 http://www.slideshare.net/netclift