The Buzz Bin

Since the last time we covered federal social media en masse (Federal Blogging Poised to Take Off) your government has done more to embrace the latest communication tools! In fact, the federal government’s social media usage has begun in earnest, and is enjoying a healthy period of adoption (Image credit: Lynn).

Consider the following widespread adoption of "Government 2.0 (yuck!):"

• Robert Carey, CIO of the Navy has announced intent to start a blog. This is a significant step for the burgeoning federal IT sector
• Widespread use of social media in the campaigns
• The intelligence community is building its own private social network called A Space
• Hillary Clinton is advocating widespread blogging in the military establishment and civilian agencies
• Milblogging continues in spite of DoD’s efforts to stop it.
• The White house has experimented with blogging, including its most recent trip to the Middle East.
• Senator Dodd’s life-streaming approach to 23 social networks

The examples go on and on. Internal wikis, social networks, etc. Heck, friend and ultra-open social media expert Shel Israel speak here in DC at a Social Media for Government conference.

Difficulties in Federal Social Media

Yet there are challenges ahead. Perhaps the biggest seems to be the inordinate amount of control that public sector organizations want in their social media efforts.  Political PR revolves around command and control, and most of these organizations will not give it up. 

Controlling the message can be a maniacal endeavor for these organizations… And one that just flattens the liveliness of public sector social media efforts. It will probably take an act of courage for one of these organizations to loosen the message control and unleash the power of social media. But once one does it…

Next is the ongoing astroturf problem that occurs in Washington.  And don’t kid yourself, FEMA got busted, but others are doing it both in and out of the government.

Lastly, the general contracting community in DC has yet to adapt to social media.  Yeah, I hear you. No one wants a Halliburton or Blackwater blog.  But what about one for the F-35 joint strike fighter project?  Federal contractors have a lot to gain from social media, yet they fear it.  They are even more reactionary than their customers. It may be the mid-tier to small contractors who start before Lockheed, Raytheon and the like begin.

Fear of reprisal and negative public backlash really hurts federal social media. Consider how many black eyes the government and its contractors take for even the slightest wrong.  As a result, social media has been stunted, and comments are rare.  If comments do occur, they are often done through an anonymous handle.

Still much progress has been made. DC has the largest Facebook community in the country. And a regime change cannot hurt as the Bush administration’s communications policy has been very control oriented. More shall be revealed…