Social Media Success Kit

8/3/2019 Social Media Success Kit

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7 Lesss r Sccessl Ciies

Making the Most o

social Media

3814 Wal Sree

Pilaelpia, PA 19104

www.els.pe.e

Lea ArChrs Kngsle

Eirs

Allson Brmmel,Catherne Lamb, Jack Hggns

Researc Assciaes

Andre Bros, Callan Smth


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aBoUt the els institUte o goVeRnMent

The Fels Institute o Government is the University o Pennsylvanias graduate program in public policy

and public management. Fels was ounded in 1937 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Samuel Simeon

Fels o the Fels Naptha Soap Company in response to a wave o corruption and mismanagement in

Pennsylvania government. Originally established or the purpose o training local government ocials,

over time Fels broadened its mission; it now prepares its students or public leadership positions in

city, state, and Federal agencies, elective politics, nonprot organizations, and private rms with

close connections to the public sector. Its 1,800 living alumni work in leadership roles across the US

and around the world.

Combining the strengths o Penn aculty, sta, and students with a network o aliated senior

consultants, Fels Research & Consulting Group brings academic depth and practical know-how to the

tough strategic and management challenges acing governments and nonprot organizations today.

Although we have expertise in a broad span o issues, we specialize in three policy areas: urban

revitalization and regional competitiveness, K-12 education, and sustainability issues. Within these

policy areas and others, we apply a variety o approaches to help our clients and partners get better

results, move ideas into action and pay or results that matter

the PRoMising PRactices seRies

With increasing requency, people in both the government and civic spheres are asked to nd and use

evidence-based solutions or community problems: solutions that have been proven to produce eective

results. Public sector employees oten lack the resources and time to mine or promising practices to

address challenges their cities and towns are acing. In response to this need, Fels Research &

Consulting Group created our Promising Practice series, which compiles public sector solutions on

timely subjects in accessible reports. This report is the third in the Promising Practices series.

For more inormation, or to nd out more about Fels, visit http://www.els.upenn.edu


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taBle o contents

intRodUction

About This Manual ................................2

About Social Media and Governments .....2

Methodology In Brie .............................4

oVeRVieW o indingsWhy Governments Adopt Social Media .... 5

Skepticism and Experimentation ...........6

PRoMising PRactices

Face Your Fears .................................... 9

Manage Up ........................................12

Get Your Team Straight ........................ 14

Build Your Audience............................ 15

Find Your Voice ...................................18Sel Evaluate ......................................23

Get Started ........................................24

MethodologY

Survey ............................................... 26

Interviews .......................................... 27


4/39| FELS InStItutE oF GovERnmEnt

aBoUt this ManUal

Making the Most of Social Mediais written or local governmentscities, counties, town-

ships and their aliatesthat are beginning to experiment with social media and would

like to get more out o them. Its emphasis is on the use o specic applications, such as

Facebook and Twitter, by government managers and communications directors. More than

two dozen early adopters were interviewed or this report. Their experiences oer some

lessons to local governments about what sorts o tools social media oer, how to integrate

them into a busy oce, and how to use them creatively to be more eective.

Existing reports on social media are overwhelmingly written by technology enthusiasts

or commissioned by IT consulting rms, and they tend to make grand claims about the

transormational nature o social media. This is not that kind o report. For more than

70 years, the Fels Institute has worked with hundreds o state and local governments to

tackle the practical challenges o delivering results that matter to citizens. We hope that

this report will help you to put social media squarely at the service o work you are alreadyaccountable or, as part o a job you already knowand perhaps to help you to do that job

even better.

aBoUt social Media and goVeRnMents

I you are amiliar with Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter, you have an intuitive sense o social

media that is as good as most ormal descriptions. Rather than ocusing on the terminology around

Web 2.0, think o these applications as communications channelsthat have a dierent set o

rules and habits than traditional types o news and broadcast media.i Social media tend to be:

wirv rr urv. Social media acilitate conversations rather than stories.

Much o the value added to posts is provided by users who respond and recommend them,

oten in near real-time.

wPr rr u. Users exercise great discretion over their personal channel,

subscribing to only the inormation they want and ignoring the rest.

wnrrw ru wr rr br. Even a large government social media

audience is small by the standards o radio or television broadcasts. But social media acili-

tate a more voluntary, interactive, and symmetrical relationship between an agency and its

audience, and the right message can travel extremely quickly through these networks to thegeneral public.

This excitement about interactive application platorms represents a major shit in thinking on the

part o public organizations, which or the early part o the decade were ocused on expanding

i Tim OReilly is credited with popularizing the term Web 2.0, though he seems to eel ambivalent about having done so. His article,

What is Web 2.0 is an excellent description o its history, denition, and relationship to social media applications. OReilly, Tim.

What is Web 2.0? September 3, 2005. http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html (accessed August 2009).


5/39mAkInG thE moSt oF SoCIAL mEdI

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE JuST

BEGiNNiNG TO uSE SOCiAL MEDiA

50% ciies a cial Faceb presece

as Jly 2009, g e i see ese

a a leas e epare a i ae a

presece; e pblic saey. oly 13 e

ciies we sreye a a cial Faceb

presece wi re a 500 as16%.

Rgly al44% r sreye ci-

ies i ae a twier presece i Jly

2009, g e i see a a leas e

epare acie twier. oly 7r

9%a a twier presece wi re

a 500 llwers.

e-Government.ii The archetypical e-Government

application is a web portal, an authoritative one stop

shop or citizens and businesses to access govern-

ment inormation and services. In contrast, social

media and Web 2.0 applications emphasize inter-

activity, co-creation o content, subscription-based

inormation services, and third-party applicationdevelopment. Governments who struggled to draw the

public to one comprehensive Internet portal are nding

they may gain more by pushing their inormation out

to the many channels already inhabited by the public:

traditional, social, and mobile.

Social media command a large and ast-increasing

audience. Hal o American adults have used at least

one o these services, up rom just 8% our years

ago.iii Social media users still tend to be young but are

growing more representative o the general population

each year, and the majority o all adult users are now

over the age o 35. These users are creating and sharing

a tremendous amount o inormation: 500 million

pieces o content on Facebook every day and 200,000

new blog posts on the Wordpress platorm alone.iv In

sum, a broad cross-section o Americans have moved

to social media sites in the past hal decade and this

trend is still accelerating.v Social media applications

are now main stream.vi

Local governments reactions to this expansion have been mixed. Some have made these services

a central part o their communications strategies with the public and the press. Many others are

ambivalent or concerned that social media are a distraction that they may nonetheless be asked

to do something clever with. Underlying both o these points o view is a keen awareness on the

ii An excellent discussion o the Hype Cycle, the decline o e-Government portals and the move toward more granular, multi-channel

communications strategies is available by ree subscription in Di Maio, Andrea. The E-Government Hype Cycle Meets Web 2.0 Gartner,

2007. http:// www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?id=527920 (accessed August 2009).

iii Lamhart, Amanda. The Democratization o Online Social Networks. The Pew Internet & American Lie Project. Oct 8, 2009.http://www.pewinternet.org (accessed August, 2009). See also Ms. Lamharts Adults and Social Networking Websites rom January

2009, also published by Pew.

iv Facebook provides current usage statistics at http://www.acebook.com/press/ino.php?statistics, Wordpress at http://en.wordpress.com/stats/.

v See in particular the Slate article reerenced below which reports that 600,000 people join Facebook every day and that network

eects are the sites strongest selling point. As with the adoption o telephones or the Internet, the most compelling reason to join

Facebook is that lots o people are joining Facebook. Manjoo, Farhad. Can Anyone Stop Facebook? Slate.com, December 3, 2009.

http://www.slate.com/id/2237376/ (accessed Dec. 4, 2009) .

vi The New Oxord American Dictionary has gotten into the act as well. Its 2009 word o the year is unriend.



part o most public inormation ocers that newspaper readership is declining, the quality o

local coverage is rustratingly uneven, and the communications arms o governments are going

to have to nd new outlets. Gail Ortiz, the Communications Manager or Santa Clarita, Caliornia

has been thinking about this since the Los Angeles Timesclosed its local oce and essentially

ceased covering the town. A lot o local news, she suggests, can degenerate into republishing city

press releases as the major players exit. In response, her department has had to be creative about

using new media to get the citys message out.vii

Rachel Strauch-Nelson in the Madison, WisconsinMayors Oce acknowledged the same challenge:

We are also coping with shrinking news rooms, so sometimes I will take a camera and tape a news

conerence that the mayor is at and well put it on YouTube even i the media dont make it there.viii

Lynette Shaull in Winston-Salem, North Carolina summed up the general agreement among this

reports interviewees: Governments need to do whatever we can to communicate, and that means

you go where the people are.ix

Implicit here is a point worth reiterating: social media services like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and

video sites are communications toolsand not more than that. Cities put o by the new technolo-

gies sometimes locate them in IT departments instead o inormation oces; Web 2.0 literature

occasionally suggests that these services can undamentally transorm the constituent-government

relationship. The message rom the practitioners interviewed by Fels and the premise o this report

is more measured. Social media provide new and promising ways or governments to communicate

the value they provide their constituents and in some cases they oer cities a way to create additional

value by providing more targeted, useul, inormation and opportunities or additional discussion.

This is a new set o tools or a job that government communicators already know very well.

MethodologY in BRie

The inormation rom this report is derived rom a sample survey o high-perorming governments

and a series o interviews with government practitioners. Both methods are described in more

detail at the end o this document.

SAMpLE SuRVEy Of HiGH-pERfORMiNG GOVERNMENTSNo list exists o governments with a reputation or great use o social media, but several organiza-

tions have indexed leaders in the area o e-Government.x These are cities and townships that

viiOrtiz, Gail - Communications Manager or Santa Clarita, Caliornia with Ryan Drake, Webmaster and Evan Thomaston, Audio/Visual.

July 28, 2009. Interview by Callan Smith. Audiorecording. Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.

viii Strauch-Nelson, Rachel and Sarah Edgerton - Oce o the Mayor or Madison, Wisconsin. July 20, 2009. Interview by Jack Higgins.

Audiorecording. Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.

ix Shaull, Lynette - Web Content Creator in the Marketing and Communications Department o Winston-Salem, North Carolina. July 23,

2009. Interview by Jack Higgins. Audiorecording. Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.

x See methodology section or ull discussion. The Fels Institute chose cities rom three surveys: the 2008 E-Cities Survey rom

Rutgers Universitys E-Governance Institute, the Center or Digital Governments 2009 Digital Cities Survey, and the Charles Kaylors

Municipality eGovernment Assessment Project (MeGAP) rom 2002.



have been innovative in their use o technology over the past six to eight years, and who can reasonably

be expected to lead the adoption o social media applications as well. 79 o these cities, ranging

in size rom less than 70,000 to greater than one million residents, were surveyed by Fels in July

2009 or their use o Facebook, Twitter, online video, blogs, and RSS eeds. Relevant results are

published throughout this report.

pRACTiTiONER iNTERViEwSA subset o the cities surveyed by Fels were approached or ollow-up interviews. Twenty one citiesresponded, and Fels conducted interviews with representatives o each government including pub-

lic inormation ocers, chies o sta, and directors o public saety. A ull list o cities surveyed

and description o the personal interviews is available at the back o this report. The insights rom

these interviews orm the backbone o the Fels Institutes recommendations.

WhY local goVeRnMents adoPt social Media

Governments report a number o motivations or experimenting with social media and the great

majority report satisaction with these experiments. Fels interviewees ranked the importance o

social media to their overall communications strategy as 3.7 out o 5, and nearly all believe their

importance will increase.

This optimistic ranking refects a strong desire on the part o local governments to create an un-

mediated line o communications with their constituents and to reach (younger) audiences that

are dicult to target in other ways. This comment rom Boyton Beachs Director o Public Aairs,

Wayne Segal, is representative:

I see blogging and all social media as a way to extend our reach to people who might not get

their news rom more traditional sources and I look on it as a way to be more interactive with

our residents. [] That is what we want.xi

Moreover, cities are excited that social media attract audiences that place a high value on receiving

their inormation. These are people who opt in, who subscribe to news rom their local government

rather than glance past it in the local section o the daily paper. Frustration with those daily papers

is an aggravating actor in some cities development o social media. Several inormation ocers

elt that the local press was either missing in action or likely to print only negative or salacious

stories. This can lead city line departments and the civil service to push ahead o their communi-

cations team in an eort to spread the good news. As Philadelphias then-Assistant Managing

Director, Je Friedman, explained:

The value to us is being able to reach so many people at one time or zero cost. Again, we are

such a big organization and there is so much going on. Certainly we eel as part o this adminis-

tration that were doing a great deal o really antastic, transormational work and that we need

to get this out to people. We need to tell people whats going on. And no one centrally here, or

xi Segal, Wayne Director o Public Aairs or Boynton Beach, Florida. July 21, 2009. Interview by Andrew Biros. Audiorecording. Fels

Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.



in the major media, is going to have the time to reach out and identiy a constituency and push

out this inormation. So I think its a desire to let people know, heres what were doing and

to ask what do you think o what were doing?

Indeed, the zero cost is a actor that was stressed again and again by Fels Institute interviewees.

The recent recession has let government managers with ewer ways to pursue more and better

press as budgets or fiers, publications and pressers have been reduced with most local budgetcuts. Social media services provide a ree alternative which require little or no training to implement.

In most cases, governments are just beginning to experiment with them. The average age o a

municipal Facebook site during the period o Fels research or this publication in mid-2009, or

example, was just ve months. Even cities that have been recognized as e-Government leaders are

just beginning to experiment in this new area.

Elected ocials are requently catalysts or the adoption o social media. Many used it to some

eect in their campaigns or public oce and believe it can be adopted as a tool or governance.

These ocials oten cite the Obama administration as the gold standard here, though it is not

always clear how to directly apply the lessons o a national campaign to local government.xii Several

inormation oces cited the role o strong executive leadership in reorienting their cities electronic

communications strategies, including Mesa, Arizona and Huntsville, Alabama.xiii But while this

kind o top-down implementation can be extremely eective, many cities began their experimentation

with social media in the other directionrom the departmental level upand are now challenged to

coordinate separate and overlapping eorts.

skePticisM and exPeRiMentation

Not all cities are using the same technologies and not all cities use the same services the same

way. Even among cities that are relatively quick to adopt new technologies, some have avoided

social media out o skepticism about their useulness, hassle o management, legal concerns, or

potential or political embarrassment. The Fels Institutes survey ound that, as o July 2009, as

many as a third o the cities recognized or their leadership in the area o e-Government several

years ago had not yet implemented any major social media technology. On the other hand, this

cohort o non-participants is quickly shrinking.

Most o our respondents were extremely positive about their use o social media and its utility to

local governmentssurprisingly so. While the right way to approach these technologies may vary

rom organization to organization, our survey suggests that, among the great diversity o experi-

ments being conducted by local governments, some things do work better than others.

The rest o this report is a kind o cook book with seven suggestions or nding the right recipe or

using social media in your jurisdiction. Its recommendations cover startup, structure, management,

xii For more on this, see Valdes, Ray. Social Media Lessons rom the U.S. Presidential Campaign. Gartner. November 19, 2008.

http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=163114 (accessed July 2009).

xiii This is outlined in more detail in the Manage Up promising practice.



and sel-evaluation, and the report nishes with the message so requently communicated to the

Fels Institute by the public ocials we spoke with:

The question is really why not? Why wouldnt you be doing these things? The reality is, in

our population, we have people rom newborns to one hundred year olds; we have every type o

ethnicity you can imagine. For us not to try and do things to reach more people would be silly.

Peter Robbins, West Palm Beach.xiv

We hope this report helps you to experiment just that much more eectively.

xiv Robbins, Peter - Public Inormation Ocer or West Palm Beach, Forida. July 21, 2009. Interview by Chris Kingsley. Audiorecording.

Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.



seVen PRoMising PRactices RoM sUccessUl cities

pROMiSiNG pRACTiCES SuMMARy

fACE yOuR fEARSLocal governments ace several common hurdles to the adoption o social media.

But in many cases cities have ound their concerns about legality, increased workload, and the

potential or public criticism to be manageable and unwarranted.

MANAGE up Cities with high-perorming social media sites are typically led by communications

oces that take direct responsibility or this eort and who enjoy the approval and (oten) participa-

tion o the important elected ocials and legal authorities in the jurisdiction. New communications

strategies do not percolate rom the ront desk to the board room, no matter how good they are.

GET yOuR TEAM STRAiGHT Ask what resources you will need and what limits you are likely to ace.

Even cities blessed with strong leadership around social media strategies are unlikely to be able

to make this transition throughout the public bureaucracy without the enthusiastic participation o

at least the mayors oce, inormation technology sta, and public inormation ocers rom key

departments.

BuiLD yOuR AuDiENCE Use press coverage, integrate your social media presence with your website

and other communications channels, cross promote, and (e)mail. Be innovative. The most

undamental measure o your eectiveness is the size o your audience.

fiND yOuR VOiCE There is no right way to use these tools but most cities nd they get better

results i they post regularly, keep it social, know their tools, and nd creative ways to interact with

their audience. Dont assume that you know how to communicate well through these channels and

dont be araid to experiment - or even to ask your users or help.

SELf-EVALuATE At a minimum, track your audience, monitor the way they interact with your social

media presence, and repeat your most successul experiments. Faithul sel-evaluation will give

you valuable clues about how to improve your perormance and hold you accountable or better

resultsthis is not less true o social media than more straightorward government initiatives.

GET STARTED Social media has a large, growing audience and these tools present little downside

risk. For many local governments the opportunity or better public engagement and the desire to

spread the good news is extremely attractive.



NO. 1 fACE yOuR fEARS

Local governments report a variety o concerns associated with social media services around

y, wr, and the potential or direct pub rm. Few governments have ound that

these issues present much o a problem in practice, but it is important to address these ears up

ront. Each is considered below.

LEGALiTy

Many local governments do not include their legal counsel in the decision to begin using social

media, but those who do recommend it. I nothing else, review your jurisdictions open records

complianceand sunshine lawsand, i the regulations in these areas are unusually strict, ask or

the state attorney generals interpretation o their application to social media.

Open records laws require that government entities make available all public correspondence,

on demand, to state citizens. Floridas state law is particularly comprehensive and Floridas

attorney general has reused to exempt social media sites rom these record-keeping requirements,

although it is wholly unclear what the applicable time period or retention would be, as the lawwas written beore these web technologies were envisioned.xv

In practice, even governments in Florida have ound ways to ignore or accommodate this rule and

move orward. Some towns make no special provision or open records laws, trusting to the search

capabilities o the social media tools themselves. Others have developed backup strategies o

varying complexity. The Fels Institute did not nd any concern over open records laws outside o

Florida.

Your options: Even lacking a strong legal requirement, the Fels Institute strongly advises that

public organizations not count on social media services to archive or store important public inor-

mation. These services are under no obligation to do so. Governments can, however, take certain

steps to store and access old data on their own:

wThe Internet Archive (Way Back Machine) can access someold web content, and is particu-

larly useul or access to older municipal websites and blogs.xvi A more complete record could

be maintained by your webmaster and his or her system administrators.xvi

wServices like Twitter XML, TweetTake and TwitterBackup can archive your citys Twitter presence.

Look or similar services or each o your social media channels. Facebook does not have a

comparable tool, but services like SocialSae may grow to include some o these eatures.

wBoth West Palm Beach and Tampa take screen snapshots o their Facebook presences and

store these as an incomplete but secure record o each days interactions. Tampa and Madison,

Wisconsin also make it a point that most content posted to their social media presences is

xv Florida states open records law states that:(1) It is the policy of this state that all state, county, and municipal records are open for

personal inspection and copying by any person. Providing access to public records is a duty of each agency. Its application to social

media is listed in the Florida Attorney Generals Opinion 09-19 in 2009.

xvi The Internet Archive is online at http://www.archive.org.


12/390 | FELS InStItutE oF GovERnmEnt

wRiTE ONCE, READ EVERywHERE

Ciies a are siply lig ps eir

exisig press releases rg ew caels

a ew aiece ig l e exaple

mais, Wiscsi. te ciys ceralize

ews release syse receies paes r

re a iry epares. tese paes

are pse i real ie a ariey ca-

els iclig maiss RSS ees, websie,

twier acc, a Faceb sie. tis i

aai ca be crcial i a bsy pressce, g ay wl sress a i is js

e rs sep war bilig a relaisip

wi yr csies lie.

also published (and stored) elsewhere, although this method cannot capture comments,

conversation, and user-generated content.xvii

None o these eorts are completely comprehensive, but together they represent a good-aith eort.

su w may place additional restrictions on how public ocials may communicate with

each other, or example by prohibiting ormal or inormal gathering o two or more members o apublic board or commission to discuss some matter on which oreseeable action will be taken by

the board or commission. This includes electronic communication such as email and message boards.

Your options: As a rule o thumb, public and elected ocials should not communicate with each

other about public business online and should avoid online relationships that could create the

appearance o a confict o interests.xviii

wORKLOAD

Many cities worry that social media initiatives will

require a major investment o time on the part o an

organizations sta. Fear o establishing a presence and

then not having the time to adequately maintain it can

be a major concern or smaller cities, in particular.

With ew exceptions, the practitioners interviewed by

Fels rejected this conclusion. Though nearly every city

stressed that some centralized control over content

publishing is important, many delegated the work o

adapting press releases and drating posts or social

media sites to interns. College-aged interns and

younger sta have a natural voice or this work,

according to many public inormation ocers. The

implication is that most cities have, or can easily

acquire, assistance. Jessie Brodersen o Mesa,

Arizonas says o Mesas social media presence that;

There are a ton o people across the city who contribute to it. [] Frankly, its not even me

adding content. I check it out and make sure its workingpeople come to me i something is

not workingbut theyre the ones disseminating the inormation. The system is really not so

bad. I wish morepeople were involved.xix

xvii Madison, Wisconsin is particularly aggressive about using a write once, publish everyone strategy that uses Twitter and Facebook

as channels or content produced (and stored) elsewhere. This is done mainly or eciency but has implications or the citys record

keeping strategy as well.

xviii The Florida Supreme Court ruled in its opinion 2009-20 that state judges may not riend lawyers on social networking sites like

Facebook, or example, arguing that doing so constitutes an appearance o impropriety and might cast reasonable doubt on the

judges capacity to act impartially.

xix Brodersen, Jessie - Web Specialist in the Public Inormation Oce o Mesa, Arizona. July 22, 2009. Interview by Andrew Biros.



13/39mAkInG thE moSt oF SoCIAL mEdIA

RiCHMOND pOLiCE

te Ric Plice depare creae is

Faceb page i Jaary 2009 a bega sig

twier ree s laer. te aiece r

b serices as grw qicly, 1,700 a

2,000 llwers respeciely, a b receie

aily paes. tese icle secriy paes,

ies r e cie plice, a e daily

G newsa eare a icles cer

acclaes, ciize recgii, a psiie

ces r resies. Pblic Aairs ocer

die Wag acwlege a e epar-

e was iiially ccere, sayig we were

peig rseles p r criicis i a place

were a is ar plice. Preisly i peple

call a eyre egaie, y eal wi eir

ccer, raser see w ca aress

eir ccer, r ey wrie a leer. tere are

caels. B is is ew, i ers w

eal wi egaie eebac.xxi As i ap-

pee, aer al a year se ms. Wag a

ly ree a sigle ce: a -clr

(b cplieary) rear ab e e

epares eale cers. Is a grea way

ge irai all e g igs

we , becase seies peple ly ear

ab e egaie igs.

Governments report that social media are not much o a drain on their resources. Survey respon-

dents ranked the average time investment required to launch and maintain social media sites, on a

scale o 1-5, as a 2, corresponding to very little. Interestingly, nearly all rated the importance

o these media as between 3-5 and 80% believe that their importance is increasing. Cities who

have adopted social media technologies view them as a modest investment with the potential or

major returns.

puBLiC CRiTiCiSM

Public managers requently worry that social media

could open their departments up or criticism in a

venue where they have very little control. Most managers

are amiliar with unruly online message boards and

Godwins law.xx The Fels Institutes research

suggests that this kind o criticism is likely where

users remain anonymous, such as the comments

section o many blogs and video hosting services.

Sites with a strong association between online and

o-line identities, by contrast, remain civil. No pub-

lic agency interviewed by the Fels Institute reported

signicant controversy on their Facebook site and

several, including the Richmond Police Department,

reported that they are overwhelmingly more likely to

receive accolades than criticism online.

Huntsville, Alabama went a step urther, hosting

an open town hall online and promoting the citys

Facebook page as a spot or active discussion. The

mayors Chie o Sta, Trent Willis, was initially

reluctant:

Its easy to say that you want to be transparent, and

we had the same internal discussionbelieve me,

it tore me in hal too [] especially in the blogo-

sphere where there is this anonymity. With

Facebook, people90% o the timeare cordial

and respectul because it is their name and associ-

ated with it. So we eliminated that anonymity.xxii

xx Godwins Law is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 which has become an Internet adage: As an online discussion

grows longer, the probability o a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.

xxi Waugh, Dionne - Public Inormation Ocers, Richmond Police Department, Public Aairs Unit. July 17, 2009. Interview by Chris

Kingsley. Audiorecording. Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.

xxii Willis, Trent - Chie o Sta and Communications Director o Huntsville, Alabama. July 20, 2009. Interview by Chris Kingsley.




Mary Hancock in Virginia Beach shared this same concern over public criticism but decided, even-

tually, that it came with the job as a public manager. Youre always going to have nay-sayers in

local government. [] But its OK i someone disagrees with you, because that can help you make

better decisions.xxiii

Most cities report that the potential or establishing a positive relationship with constituents out-

weighs the down-side risk and they emphasize that it is important to have someone on sta helpset the tone in this new space. Facebooks lack o anonymity appears to be an important actor

here, and direct discussion on other channels should be either careully monitored or, in most

cases, disabled.

NO.2 MANAGE up

Cities with high-perorming social media sites are typically led by communications oces that

take direct responsibility or this eort, and that enjoy the approval and (oten) participation o the

important elected ocials and legal authorities in the jurisdiction. Yet this is not the way many city

social media presences were created, and this is not the way many are managed.

Oten, less senior public employees are rst movers when it comes to social media initiatives.

Many use these applications personally and introduce them into their workplace as an experiment.

Because these services are all essentially ree, it is relatively easy to do this without oversight.

Several departments may do this independently and more or less simultaneously, without any sort

o coordination rom the executive or communications oces. Results are mixed, but social media

in these cities typically have smaller audiences, less resources, less visibilityand in the end, less

impact.

Margaret Coulter and Kim Kann in Chandler, Arizona, strongly recommend taking the time to

manage these relationships in advance:

Its important to educate department directors and city ocials on the purpose o social media.

Many o them are not well versed in using such tools and may think it is rivolous or a waste o

time, but once they see how it operates and see examples o how they can use it to get their

message to the public, they become very supportive.

CASE STuDyALEXANDRiA

ar, Vr pr r mp mpm by mmu

rr w m up v prbm. a rb by ty cr, drr ar

of cmmu:

By, w r m w ry, w cmmu of,

b w w w w w wu . a w ry quy,

vr p 4 r 5 m w m w y-w mmur, w

xxiii Hancock, Mary Media and Communications Group in Virginia Beach, Virginia. July 2009. Interview by Catherine Lamb. Audiorecording.

Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.



mmu pp ruu r f: p, fr, um rv, .

W r pu, w m u, w pr y mr r -

rp. W p m w w , w w wu

r m w u, p p

pv w.

W pprv y mr, puy y mr, y ry um rurrr, Mr. cr w b mm prm rur r. t

br, p, r ar m ur m b

urvy iu.

A clear lesson rom this survey is that governments without a clear idea o how they intend to use

social media tools have not been very successul with them, and that this theory o action must be

presented to government leadership or approval at some point relatively early in the process. New com-

munications strategies do not percolate rom the ront desk to the board room, no matter how good.

CuLTuRE VS. pOLiCywHATS THE RiGHT BALANCE?

may e Fels Isies ieriewees eie a ce clre acrs eaily i wa ey were able

accplis. Pilaelpias aagig irecr als i ers a bias r aci, r exaple, a ay c-

icais cers escribe scial eia as a aral exesi eir alreay ery pr-acie ces.

tis is a ipra pi: clear a braly ers expecais ar ce se scial eia are c

re eecie a carel pribiis. tg sals are beer a e pri. I se cases, is is e-

bee i e ciy geres clre. Lisa Wras, r exaple, es wrry c ab A Arbrs

sewa isribe scial eia presece:

Ay ciy eplyee is ery, ery ailiar wi r Free Irai Ac (FoIA) laws a we are FoIA

csaly r eails a pblic ces. Ayig I lie I w cl be e r page e AArbr ews, s is seig we lie wi all e ie. I a cerai a exaple e p y ea

a wl ae e ccere as i wl relae twier r Faceb a we alreay experiece wi

e ls a we ae.xx

ta sai, ay ciies ey ee ae a plicy aage p, eep eir legal ea r eir ayr

crable, a prie a basis r crrecig ba beair. oe, lcal geres creae w: e lis

ieral wrfw a respsibiliies, a a sec plicy ae explici eir expecais se w se

a paricipae i ese scial eia sies. A pblic accepable se plicy, r exaple, ca ae eirial

ecisis c less pail.

Borrow a policy. tere is ee creae ese plicies r scrac. Fels srgly reces brrwig er a peer ciy r crrespe i pressial assciais sc as e naial Assciai Gere

Cicars (nAGC). te llwig sies als er se alable eplaes:

w mig.rg w WebCe.g

xxv Wonderash, Lisa - Unit Manager or the Communications Division in Ann Arbor, Michigan. July 24, 2009. Interview by Jack Higgins.




NO.3 GET yOuR TEAM STRAiGHT

A second conclusion implicit in Alexandrias experience and conrmed by several other govern-

ments surveyed by the Fels Institute is that the team implementing your social media strategy

matters a great deal. Even cities blessed with strong leadership around these strategies are unlikely

to be able to roll this out across the public bureaucracy without the enthusiastic participation o

the mayors oce, inormation technology sta, and public inormation ocers rom several keydepartments. Begin by getting this team right.

CASE STuDyHuNTSViLLE

huv Myr tmmy B w 2008. h mp mr, tr W,

bm b w myr b mr m m

w u ur mp y vrm. h m

r rm y rm y prm w w r

m wu zp [huv] pruvy. s Mr. W mprm m

ur wr y b r rp w y wbmr.

ovr ur m, w wr r vru huv y wb. W ru Mr 2009, mpf ry r y m pr

huv b p r 6,000 mmbr y y.

CASE STuDyMADiSON

M, W b w m rp bw myr f

y wbmr. t cmmu drr R sru-n, y r

bw myr v w y mmu:

i r w r r wr w . Bu

vry r m myr m ry ry w u m

r. i r br r. a bu v [ur

wbmr] m wr r pry r ry r y

vrm.xxiv

hv b m ry u w - muu m, sru-

n prpr rm pr y prm rpr, y,

r w v , w mv rwr rm r.

More generally, cities beginning this work should ask themselves several questions about what

rur they need and what m they are likely to ace. The answers to those questions will

suggest which relationships to build beore moving orward.

ResoURces include the raw materialnews, commentary, audio & visual contentand the

sta needed to adapt this material or social media channels. Content that exists in other places

throughout the organization can be routed through these new outlets but be sure you have access,

xxiv Strauch-Nelson, Rachel and Sarah Edgerton - Oce o the Mayor or Madison, Wisconsin. July 20, 2009. Interview by Jack Higgins.




through your relationships, to the original source, or at least the right to syndicate it. Who is creating

this content? Whose permission do you need to use it?

Adapting and curatingcontent takes time. Sta makes all the dierence, here, and many cities

interviewed by the Fels Institute have ound that younger and more junior sta members have ex-

cellent judgment about what content and tone are appropriate or the sites. Use interns. Above all,

ensure you have enough people who are both comortable with, and enthusiastic about, the task.This can be delegated.

Creatingoriginal content specically or these new audiences can be especially valuable, but takes

more time. Recruit help. Some cities have discovered enthusiastic short-term writers in their Parks

and Recreation departments, or libraries. Its worth taking the time to nd these people, wherever

they may be in your organization.

Integratingyour social media presence with existing outlets like government websites and various

print publications requires good working relationships across department lines. Establish these

relationships early.

liMits to social media initiatives are likely to come rom inormation technology departments or

communications departments concerned with protocol.

Protocol around message control is important. Be sure there is a clear set o policies around who

can post what. Be sure, too, that you have the authority to post the content you intend to. Many

cities adapt or create interdepartmental working groups to meet around these issues. Peter Robbins,

in West Palm Beach, describes his:

We have a communications committee here that the police, libraries, etc., are on, where we

all come together and talk as a team. We take it on a case by case basis, but we want to make

sure that people are using [these tools] or productive reasons and that theyre getting the type

o communication out that we want gotten out.

IT departments present a second challenge, and are sometimes particularly loath to allow sta

access to social media sites like Facebookciting either security or productivity concerns. Negotiate

with IT sta early and in good-aith. The communications directors the Fels Institute spoke with

ound that they were oten able to strike a compromise in which at least a portion o their cities

employees received exemption rom Internet lters.

NO.4 BuiLD yOuR AuDiENCE

The most undamental measure o your eectiveness, and the most easily measured, is the size

o your audience. Yet this is an area where many cities struggle. Oten, managers rely on organic

growth to take the place o actively marketing this communications channel. The Fels Institute

believes this is a missed opportunity and has collected some promising ways to expand the reach o

municipal social media audiences rom government practitioners who take this seriously.



pRESS COVERAGE

Traditional media are still the rst places to look or publicity, and many Fels Institute interviewees

had beneted rom the relative novelty o local governments embracing these tools. Media love

stories about mediaeven social mediaand the astest-growing cities have received a lot o help

rom their local television stations and newspapers.xxvi

Sometimes social media can leverage additional press coverage. Reporters are usually the secondgroup to ollow local governments channels, immediately ater public employees. They seem

to use it really heavily, in Mesa, according to Jessie Broden in the citys Communication Oce.

They dont pay attention to our email listservs or news releases anymore.xxvii

Ater the police ocers, they were the second group o people to sign up to be ans on Facebook

and ollowers on Twitter o the Richmond Police Department, agreed Dionne Waugh. A week ater

their rst video eed, Ask the Chie, was published, a television station called to do an interview

about it.xxviii

Santa Clarita actually ranchises the video content they create to online local papers or ree, witha condition that they link back to the city website. This achieves the dual purpose o netting the

city a bigger audience or its material and creating a ree advertisement or its growing portolio o

directly-managed social media.xxix

MAiN wEBSiTE

At a minimum, local governments should publish a centralized list o channels available to resi-

dents and visitors: audio, video, RSS, Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. Alexandria, Virginia does this

extremely well, as does Madison, Wisconsin. Use recognizable social media tool icons and link

these consistently across the website where specic types o media area available.

CROSS pROMOTiON

Social media are at their best when promiscuous. Organizations should reerence their own social

media channels early and oten and be generous about linking to external news and new media as

well. Chandler, Arizona uses their main Twitter account to re-tweet messages rom specic departments

and to reer residents to the accounts o various public ocials. They recommend a holistic

approach to communications tools:

I you are already producing press releases, newsletters, and have a web presence, it shouldnt

take more than a couple minutes a day to keep Twitter, Facebook and listserv accounts updated.

xxvi This was a nearly universal experience among the practitioners interviewed by the Fels Institute, and particularly in Winston-Salem,

Huntsville, and Mesa.

xxvii Brodersen, Jessie - Web Specialist in the Public Inormation Oce o Mesa, Arizona. July 22, 2009. Interview by Andrew Biros.


xxviii Waugh, Dionne - Public Inormation Ocers, Richmond Police Department, Public Aairs Unit. July 17, 2009. Interview by Chris


xxix Ortiz, Gail - Communications Manager or Santa Clarita, Caliornia with Ryan Drake, Webmaster and Evan Thomaston, Audio/Visual.

July 28, 2009. Interview by Callan Smith. Audiorecording. Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.



You just need to edit down the material rom articles and press release to a brie news bite o

about 140 characters or Twitter and not a whole lot more or Facebook and copy and paste it to

the two accounts. You can attach a link to a web article or even link to a newspaper article you

might want to promote. Also, i you are ollowing the right people, you may have opportunities

to re-tweet news that you pick up rom other people and spread the word to a wider audience.xxx

This general philosophy o connectedness guides most o the successul social media sitessurveyed by the Fels Institute. The reciprocal nature o this kind o short-orm communication

means that cities almost always attract a larger audience by being generous with their reerrals.

EXiSTiNG NEwSLETTERS AND (E)MAiLiNGS

Local governments already direct a huge amount o mail to their residents as newsletters and utility

bills, and through a variety o electronic listservs. West Palm Beach is among those that try to up

sell their residents by including a link to their electronic newsletter in utility bills and links to

various online media through the electronic newsletter. To West Palm Beach Public Inormation

Ocer Peter Robbins, there is a ollow-on environmental benet here:

We are trying to use a lot less energy and paper and ink here in the city. I we can use Facebook

and Twitter as part o our tool belt to get the word to a ew thousand more people, maybe thats

a ew thousand less fiers and posters we have to print up.xxxi

BE iNNOVATiVE

Cities have other ways o getting in ront o an audience that are less obvious but no less eective:

Santa Claritas city manager voices the towns on-hold message, which now includes a plug or the

citys Facebook and Twitter eeds. The city also advertises its Twitter account on the signage or its

major capital works projects. Residents whose commutes, or example, are aected by major road

reconstruction can get regular updates on each projects progress. Santa Clarita uses the opportu-

nity to rame the inconvenience in terms o residents tax dollars at work, and to cross promote

its other social media channels. According to Santa Claritas Evan Thomaston:

[It is] a continuing goal not only make people aware when we are out in the community, but

also to let our sta members know to use this as a resource and let them know these resources

are available. Its a very grass-roots eort.

Have un with it, advises Boulder, Colorado. Their Division o Parking Services sends the occa-

sional tweet to go say hi to Craig, the parking attendant at 14th and Walnut Streets or a hal

xxx Coulter, Margaret - Communications Manager in the Communications and Public Aairs Oce o Chandler, Arizona with Kim Kann,

Web Editor. July 20, 2009. Interview by Jack Higgins. Audiorecording. Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.

xxxi Robbins, Peter - Public Inormation Ocer or West Palm Beach, Forida. July 21, 2009. Interview by Chris Kingsley. Audiorecord-

ing. Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.



xxxii Labreque, Leslie and Jodie Carroll o Boulder, Colorado. July 27, 2009. Interview by Callan Smith. Audiorecording. Fels Institute

o Government, University o Pennsylvania.

xxxiii Lopez, Liana Director o Public Aairs or Tampa, Florida. July 28, 2009. Interview by Callan Smith. Audiorecording. Fels


iS THERE SuCH A THiNG AS

ANTi-SOCiAL MEDiA?

Abslely. A g eii ig be ews

y care ab r peple y

lie. Periically easre yrsel agais

is becar. Wl e irai y are

seig er scial eia ae r egag-

ig cersai a a baseball gae r ccail

pary? d y al c r al ly ab

yrsel? d y as qesis? Periically

reiewig yr scial eia presece wi

is i i is a re sel exercise a

y ig i.

an hours ree parking.xxxiiPeople appreciate the occasional puckish note rom the city deskand

they orward it on.

uSE THE TOOLS wELL

Perhaps the best way to attract an audience is to keep it lively and ocus very deliberately on creating

content your ollowers nd valuable. The conventions around tone, requency, and content in

social media are somewhat dierent than traditional press outlets, and many cities have ound itsimportant to develop an authentic voice in this new medium.

NO.5 fiND yOuR VOiCE

Think o the value o your social media presence as a unction o both its sizeand velocitythat is,

the size o the audience and how ast and ar your inormation travels beyond its initial pool o recipi-

ents through their social networks. Our conversations with government communicators suggest that

the second piece o this equation, velocity, is important and can be aected by decisions you make

about voice, content, and the relationship you create between your oce and your audience.

The message rom high-perorming cities is clear: dont assume that you know how to communi-

cate well through these channels and dont be araid to experiment; even ask your users or help.

No consensus exists on how to use these tools. Cities such as Huntsville, Alabama have elaborate

Facebook pages and relatively little presence on Twitter. Others nd Twitter more valuable. Many

cities produce little, i any, online video while or some, such as West Palm Beach, Florida, online

video is an extremely valuable and popular service. There is no right way to do this. But here are

some rules o thumb:

pOST REGuLARLy

Most successul cities have rm commitments to

not miss a day on main channels such as Facebook

and Twitter and to post at least weekly on blogs and

video channels. Several nd that they get the best

results with two to three posts per day. While much

o this material may be adapted rom press releases

or area events, not every post should be so perunc-

tory. Have the resources ready to do this when you

launch your account, advises Liana Lopez in Tampa,

Florida, because theres nothing worse than having

something and not being to update it and provide

quality inormation.xxxiii



BuT wHATS A HASHTAG?

twier as a ber syacical ceis

a are ysiyig begiers, begiig wi

#e asag. twier sers aac e #

sig bere a wr aggregae ces i

caegries lie #Peix r #SrWac

s a relae wees ca be rea geer a

searce by er twier sers. Fr re

asags, as well as e ses Rt, @ a

re, see e gie twier a masable.c:

asable.c/gieb/wier/

KEEp iT SOCiAL

What makes media social? Posts should be consumable and associative. Messages should con-

tain a single idea, like a quick burst o conversation rather than a monologue, and should oten be

placed in context as a response to another post or summary o an article o-site. Posts dont have

to stand alone, and they usually should not. Instead, recommend and link to other articles, sites,

and posts. Ask questions or exhort your audience. Even inormational posts should be written with

the implied request that they be orwarded.

KNOw yOuR TOOLS

You may approach each channel somewhat dierently, o course. From Chandler, Arizona:

We have ound or us there seems to be a dierent

demographic or each tool. The Facebook user

tends to be younger and interested in special

events and entertainment opportunities. This

has been a great resource to reach a young

audience that doesnt typically ollow municipalinormation. The Twitter ollower seems to be

more interested in hard news and inormation

about city services and acilities. We get more

direct questions that need ollow up through

Twitter. [] It seems that Twitter users like to

talk and get an answer, while Facebook users

tend to want just to comment.xxxiv

This varies rom place to place. Huntsville has conducted entire online debates through Facebook,

but just hasnt ound the correct unction or Twitter yet.

LiSTEN (& RESpOND, wHEN AppROpRiATE)

Boulder, Colorado and Mesa, Arizona particularly like Twitters hash tags and the ability to monitor

and respond to certain conversations. Says Jessie Brodersen in Mesas Communications Oce:

Twitter has been really interesting. And not just Twitter itsel. I have Tweet Deck up on a

computer in my oce so that I can ollow the people that I normally ollow but can also do a

search. So I search or anyone who happens to tweet the word Mesa. I think Ive surprised

a couple o residents when I read, I saw a City o Mesa truck fying down my street. This is

ridiculous. I wonder what the city would say. I tweeted her directly: The City would say, I

need a truck number so that I can do something about it!xxxv

xxxiv Coulter, Margaret - Communications Manager in the Communications and Public Aairs Oce o Chandler, Arizona with Kim Kann,

Web Editor. July 20, 2009. Interview by Jack Higgins. Audiorecording. Fels Institute o Government, University o Pennsylvania.

xxxv Brodersen, Jessie - Web Specialist in the Public Inormation Oce o Mesa, Arizona. July 22, 2009. Interview by Andrew Biros.




TwiTTER#BiT.Ly

te 140 caracer lii wees aes li sreers crcial. Serices lie Bi.Ly als prie a asbar

wi irai ab weer peple are llwig se lis. p://bi.ly/

#TwEETDECK

oers a cpreesie way srig liple wee cersais a aagig glbal searces r pariclar#asags. upae twier, Faceb, mySpace a LieI irecly r is applicai. p://www.wee-

ec.c/

#SOCiALOOMpH a #HOOTSuiTE

tw rer aagee sies a allw ciies rgaize liple sers a twier accs, scele -

re wees, a rac irai ab eir llwers a psig abis. Seeral aagers ieriewe by Fels

se ese ls ps eir wees i e re, beer-crresp wi eir wsips ees calears

r eir persal wr sceles. p://www.scialp.c/ a p://sie.c/

#wORDpRESS TwiTTER TOOLS

A exaple iegraig a blg a twier acc i b irecis; twier pss appear e blg a e

blg aaically creaes twier pss wi apprpriaely sree uRLs. tis i iegrai is icreas-

igly c. p://wrpress.rg/exe/plgis/wier-ls/

#TwEETSTATS

A siple, clea ierace grap yr w se twier, er ie. p://weesas.c/

#TwiTALyzER

use is applicai rac e eecieess yr ee acrss e crieria: ifece, sigal--ise rai,

geersiy, elciy a cl. Iegraes wi bi.ly a Ggle Aalyics cllec irai ab aiece

clic-rg a iegrai wi yr blg r websie.

TOOLS



fACEBOOKfACEBOOK iNSiGHT

tis bil-i l r Faceb pages allws y rac yr le rac, basic egrapic irai

ab yr as, a e qaliy ieraci wi yr as er ie.

yOuTuBEyOuTuBE iNSiGHT

Siilar Facebs prc, Ytbe Isig ers a asbar wi irai iewersip, egrap-

ics, a e lcai yr aiece. Wa w re? Searc r Isig Ytbe.

pODCASTSpODBEAN

tis pcas pblisig l pries a se ls r aalyzig yr aiece. Pbea racs e ber

sreas a wlas iiial epises er ays, wees a s. I als iegraes wi Ggle maps

pipi e lcai yr liseers.

TOOLS



Boulder monitors chatter around the city and responds to direct questions, while Huntsville has

used Facebook or issue-based polling. So it really just allows us to communicate with the pub-

lic, says Chie o Sta Twent Willis. Its raw unltered eedback, and we have it our nger tips

ree o charge. Its been a wonderul resource.

Some cities eel that government communicators who block or discourage two-way communication

may want to avoid social media altogether. According to Chandler, Arizona:

When you send out a message, you shouldnt be surprised to get a message back. In act, you

know you are using these tools correctly when the public does respond to you. It shows they

nd your messages useul. []I a city doesnt want to be interactive, they should stick to

newsletters, press releases and public service announcements and skip social media.

ASK fOR ADViCE

Finally, several respondents mentioned to the Fels Institute that they had turned to their audience

or advice as they tried to strike the right tone. Peter Robbins, in West Palm Beach, decided he

needed to retool his approach ater a post o his urging water conservation received a chorus o

virtual boos.

I got into a conversation with a guya polite conversationand said, you know what, were

new to this. I I were to tell you how to conserve water, what would you want to hear? What

would be eective? I was able to have that conversation with this gentleman and he was great

about it. He said, Keep it up beat, you know, or tell us to do a rain dance. Be a little more subtle.

[] And I really took that to heart. Its amazing to be able to have that two-way communication.

Again, this is an area where internsproperly managedcan be extremely useul to a busy city

public inormation ocer.

ADD VALuE TO yOuR SOCiAL MEDiA pRESENCE 3 STAGES

STAGE ONE:

uSE wHAT yOu

HAVE

STAGE TwO:

ADD wHAT yOu KNOw

STAGE THREE:

LEARN wHAT yOuR

AuDiENCE KNOwS

Caracerize byoe-Way, Iraial,

Liearoe-Way, Scial, Assciaie tw-Way, discrsie

Exaples

RSS, Ees Calear,

Press Releases, A-

ae twier/FB

Receais (Eirials,

Bsers), Ies Ieres a

appeal e aieces ieres,

all ciy s.

Isapllig, slici irai

(Ric Plice gss,Bs & Pilaelpia 3-1-1),

eleae ces, begi

cersais

Persaliy/

AieFral, Pblic Recr Iral, Persal Friely, Scial



NO.6 SELf-EVALuATE

It is a Fels Institute axiom that anything worth doing is worth measuringand doing better. Faithul

sel-evaluation will give you valuable clues about how to improve your perormance and can hold

you accountable or better results. This is not less true o social media than more straightorward

government initiatives, though the metrics are less precise than one might like.

TRACK yOuR AuDiENCE (& iTS GROwTH)

The single best measure o your success with social media, as we have written, is the size o your

audience. Periodically record this gure or each o your channels and chart your growth against

initiatives you have taken to grow this audience. What seems to work? How does your audience

compare with peer governments?

It can be more dicult to dig beneath these top level gures to disaggregate your audience by age,

gender, residency, or the way they use your services, but some social media applications provide

a set o tools that you can use to get much o this inormation. Facebook and YouTubes Insight

tools provide surprisingly extensive inormation on service subscribers that cities can use to chart

their growth over time. Twitter does not provide a similar service.

For inormation on how social media use is trending in the United States as a whole, check the Pew

Internet and American Lie Project. These semi-annual surveys provide extremely useul data about

the demographic prole o people who use social media and mobile services, and are an excellent

starting point or thinking about where you can best invest your time and eort.xxxvi

MONiTOR uSAGE

Knowing howand how otenpeople use your services is sometimes more useul than knowing

whois using them. Many blogs include track back unctions that will notiy you when others link

to your posts. Google Analytics is one o several services that can provide extensive data on trac

to web services such as blogs, including inormation on how people are reerred to your site, how

long they stay, and what they view. ULR shorteners like Bit.ly can track a limited (but useul) set

o inormation about who clicks through links you distribute through social media services like

Twitter and Facebook, which is a great way o siting what your audience nds interesting and use-

ul rom what they ignore.

EMuLATE yOuR OwN SuCCESS

Many cities describe struggling to nd a sweet spot or creating material to post to social media

channels. The right combination o length, content, and tone can vary rom channel to channel and

may depend in large part on the demographic o each citys audience (see above). The overwhelm-

ing advice rom cities interviewed by the Fels Institute was to experiment liberally and to watch

careully to see what works.

xxxvi The Pew Internet and American Lie Project. http://www.pewinternet.org/.



xxxvii Waugh, Dionne - Public Inormation Ocers, Richmond Police Department, Public Aairs Unit. July 17, 2009. Interview by Chris


Managers dened what worked dierently depending on the situation. Sometimes it meant that

a post had inspired an online conversation or sparked an important connection; these are anecdotal

but important outcomes. Sometimes posts have more clearly measurable goals like increasing

attendance to city events or having as many people as possible click through to a news release on

the city website. These are social media: do more o what your audience responds to and i you

are having troubleas several o the Fels Institute respondents emphasizeddont hesitate to ask

your audience or help.

NO.7 GET STARTED

Social media has a large and growing audienceand its not just kids anymore. Peoples attention

is decreasingly captured by the portal sites pioneered by Internet media companies a decade

ago and emulated by local governments. Instead, people are increasingly able to create their own

channels o inormation, personalized to their interests and tastes. Local governments, naturally,

are eager to be a part o that mix.

As this report has illustrated, there is no single right way to do this. The cities interviewed by the

Fels Institute were almost uniormly enthusiastic about the potential or social media but had a

diverse array o approaches to their use. Some heavily automated their social media presence

so-called, write once, read everywhere strategies. Others emphasized interactivity rather than

uniormity. Several cities were just beginning to experiment with the technology while others had

presented bulleted action plans and received the approval o the town managers. Our research

suggests that some approaches to social media do tend to yield better results than others, and this

reports authors hope that this publication has armed you with ways to think about structuring,

managing, and improving your social media presence.

When asked to oer some nal advice or peers either beginning with, or working to improve, their

social media presence, most o this reports interviewees were very straightorward:

Get your best ace on and jump in said Gail Ortiz in Santa Clarita, Caliornia. Be cautious,

but dont be araid concurred Jessie Broderson in Mesa, Arizona. The world is to the point now

where you either [participate] or you all behind. Dionne Waughs work with the Richmond Police

Department has been emulated by law enorcement agencies in and around Virginia. Be open

and experiment, she advises:

You need to initially be able to explain it to the people who need to approve it [] and to

explain what it is and how it can benet who you work or. And then just be willing to try new

things and interact with people, and realize that they may criticize you or may not like this.

But I think the vast majority are supportive and are willing to help you put more o yoursel out

there. It can be a slow process. Be willing to try things out.xxxvii



At the end o the day, its all about public engagement and trying to have taxpayers under-

stand that there is a value proposition or the money that theyre paying, says Philadelphias Je

Friedman. At their best, argues Kim Walesh in San Jose, Caliornia, governments use social media

to encourage civic engagement.

Its about more people and more diverse people by age, by ethnicity, being involved in helping

to shape policy and local decision-making here. That is what every government entity, local,regional, state, ederal, needs. And the whole underlying philosophy o social media is that

there is intelligence in the crowd; and there is creativity in the crowd; and no ideas or policies

come out o anybodys brain ully hatched, right? There is a power in inputting an idea out

there and having others work the idea and improve on it. Good ideas can come rom anywhere

in a community. They dont just come rom the top or rom people in ormal authority. So i

the public sector can gure this out, it will have better policies and decisions and it will have

a more trusting and transparent relationship with the public.xxxviii

Government communicators understand that these technologies can be ephemeral. David Ramirez

in Phoenix, Arizona:

I wouldnt be surprised i Twitter is something o a relic two years rom now and another tool

comes by. Whatever the next tool comes up, though, were going to jump on it. I think we were

late jumping on this train, quite rankly, because o the apprehension and anxiety some o the

senior management here elt about it. But I think were turning their heads. [] I think people

recognize the value, they recognize its useul, they understand that its not just the young crowd

looking at thisits a wide audience over many demographic and socio-economic groups.xxxix

Local governments will very likely have a new set o tools to wrestle with in several years, argues

Jessie Brodersen in Mesa, Arizona. But thats OK. These social media applications are here now

and i you can use them to better communicate with your constituents, absolutely do it.

xxxviii Walesh, Kim Chie Strategist or San Jose, Caliornia. July 29, 2009. Interview by Andrew Biros. Audiorecording. Fels Institute

o Government, University o Pennsylvania.

xxxix Ramirez, David Public Inormation Ocer or Phoenix, Arizona. July 28, 2009. Interview by Jack Higgins. Audiorecording. Fels




MethodologY

SAMpLE SuRVEy Of HiGH-pERfORMiNG GOVERNMENTS

Research or this document began with a comprehensive list o US cities recognized or their

achievements in E-Government. We drew on highly ranked cities rom three sources:

wThe 2009 Digital Cities Survey, an annual survey conducted by The Center or Digital

Government and Digital Communications, in conjunction with the National League o Cities

(NLC). [http://www.govtech.com/dc/surveys/cities/89]

wThe 2008 US City Survey rom Rutgers Universitys E-Governance Institute.

[http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/Website/researchpg.htm]

wThe 2002 Municipality E-Governance Assessment Project (MeGAP) survey conducted by

Charles Kaylor o the PSI Group. MeGAP provided a selection o smaller cities and towns.

[http://www.psigroup.biz/megap/summary_wave2.php]

The nal list consisted o 79 cities representing populations rom roughly 30,000 to several mil-

lion. Between the dates o July 6th18th 2009, each city was evaluated on its social media

presence, dened as the existence o government run and/or sanctioned Facebook, Twitter, videos,

blogs, RSS and podcasts. The Fels Institute inspected each governments web page or reerences

to these media. I a social media presence could not be ound on a municipalitys home page,

the Fels Institute searched or its presence through the search engines provided by Facebook,

Twitter and YouTube. Each city was searched or as (municipality) government (i.e. Philadelphia

government). I this proved ruitless, a second search was conducted as (municipality) city (i.e.

Philadelphia City). For Facebook, the search consisted only o pagesa more dened search or

organizations and municipalities that excludes individual accounts. The rst three pages o eachsearch engines ndings were reviewed. I a city presence was discovered with no discernable

connection to city government, it was not included.

The Fels Institute examined each citys social media presence and, in the case o Facebook and

Twitter, recorded the number o Fans or Followers, respectively. The presence and requency o

podcasts, video recordings and blogs was noted, and innovative-looking uses o these technologies

were marked or ollow-up. Having compiled the quantitative data o a municipalitys use o social

media, the Fels Institute invited three dozen o the most interesting and active cities or interviews.

Twenty-one interviews were conducted.



250,000 r mr

Aurora, CO

Virginia Beach, VA

Miami, FL

Tucson, AZ

Tampa, FL

Riverside, CA

Mesa, AZ

Corpus Christi, TX

Nashville, TN

Honolulu HI

Houston, TX

Fresno, CA

New Orleans, LA

Washington, DC

Seattle, WA

St. Paul, MN

Kansas City, MO

Albuquerque, NM

Portland, OR

Los Angeles, CA

Charlotte, NC

Denver, CO

San Diego, CA

Dallas, TXSan Jose, CA

New York, NY

Indianapolis, IN

Chicago, IL

Philadelphia, PA

Phoenix, AZ

Sacramento, CA

San Francisco, CA

75,000 250,000

Lincoln, NE

Winston-Salem, NC

Salt Lake City, UT

Madison, WI

Alexandria, VA

Norolk, VA

Irving, TX

Hampton, VA

Hollywood, FL

Cape Coral, FL

Richmond, VA

Chesapeake, VA

Lakewood, CO

Durham, NC

Roanoke, VA

Independence, MO

West Palm Beach, FL

Richardson, TX

Santa Monica, CA

Arvada, CO

Orem, UT

Lawrence, KS

Ann Arbor, MI

Westminster, CO

Boulder, CO

Lees Summit, MO

Pueblo, CO

Huntsville, AL

Chandler, AZ

Augusta, GA

Beaverton, OR

Birmingham, AL

Gilbert, AZ

Davis, CAGlendale CA

Rialto, CA

Santa Clarita, CA

30,000 75,000

Lynchburg, VA

Town o Flower Mound, TX

Town o Jupiter, FL

Town o Blacksburg, VA

Charlottesville, VA

Annapolis, MD

Medord, OR

Delray Beach, FL

Town o Manchester, CT

Boynton Beach, FL

t 79 urvy r w, r ppu r:



pRACTiTiONER iNTERViEwS

During the weeks o July 18thAugust 7th 2009, the Fels Institute conducted ollow-up interviews

with representatives o twenty one o these governments, including public inormation ocers, chies

o sta, and directors o public saety. These twenty-one cities are listed below. The insights rom

these interviews orm the backbone o this report.

iNTERViEwS

ar, Va

Tony Castrilli

Director, Oce o Communications

a arbr, Mi

Lisa Wondrash

Unit Manager, Communications Oce

Bur, coLeslie LaBreque

Inormation Technology

By B, l

Wayne Segal

Director, Public Aairs Oce

cr, aZ

Margaret Coulter, Communications

Kim Kann, Public Aairs

dry B, lGuy Buzzelli, CIO

huu, hi

Keith Roleman

Senior Advisor, IT Department

hu, tx

Patrick Trahan

Mayors Press Secretary

huv, al

Trent Willis

Chie o Sta, Mayors Oce

M, Wi

Rachel Strauch-Nelson, Comm. Director

Sarah Edgerton, Web Master

M, aZ

Jessie Brodersen

Web Specialist, Communications Oce

Mm, l

Kelly Penton

Director, Communications

Pp, Pa

Je Friedman

Assistant Managing Director

P, aZDavid Ramirez

Director, Public Inormation Oce

Rm, Va

Dionne Waugh

Public Inormation Ocer, Police

s J, ca

Kim Walesh

Chie Strategist, City Managers Oce

s cr, ca

Gail Ortiz, Communications Manager

(with Ryan Drake and Evan Thomaston)

tmp, l

Liana Lopez

Director, Public Aairs

Vr B, Va

Mary Hancock

Media and Communications Group

W Pm B, l

Peter Robbins

Public Inormation Ocer

W-sm, nc

Lynette Shaull

Marketing & Communications


31/39

Government-to-Citizen

Communications: Utilising multiple

digital channels effectively

Liz Azyan investigates how government can better communicate

and engage with citizens online with limited resources

Liz Azyan is an independent

researcher and blogger

specialising in government

communication and

engagement online. For more

information, go towww.lgeoresearch.com

There has been a huge shift in how individuals gettheir information. The evolution of the Internet andthe advent of new communication channels such astext messaging and social media are playing a bigrole in the daily lives of citizens everywhere.

Government Communication Today

In order to engage with citizens today, it isimportant for government to communicate in newways, keep the message clear, and makeinformation easy to get. However, technology isonly an enabler and not the solution. Integration ofthe various online tools for access to services andinformation is needed to make the most out of theweb. Online tools are an essential precondition forengagement, but quantity does not mean quality.Active promotion and an integrated approach to

managing digital channels is key to effectivecommunication and engagement.

The rise of the new social web has somewhatoverwhelmed web users with information and ischanging the way they consume it. Today, citizenengagement calls for a more strategic, simpler andmore manageable approach, so that citizens areable to consume and benefit from it. The newsocially informed generation also calls for two-waydialogs as governments are shifting their view ofcitizens as consumers, and allowing citizens tobecome contributors in the development ofgovernment.

Why online communication is important in localgovernment.1

Video

How is government currently engaging with

citizens online?

Governments are increasingly using multiple digital

channels to communicate with citizens. Most ofthem are either using newsletters via email or RSSfeeds Some might also use tools such as web-based

More and more government agencies are taking tosocial media channels such as Twitter, Facebook,YouTube, Blogs and Flickr to communicate withcitizens.

Later we will explore how the Driving Standards

Agency (DSA) uses automated email alerts to advise

thousands of subscribers to changing content

published on its website, DirectGov, Twitter andYouTube. This has enabled DSA to reach and engage

many more citizens and provide better service as adirect result of better promotion and greater

awareness of DSA information sources.

While there is an increase in use of social mediachannels, the most common and visitedcommunication and engagement method is still thegovernment website itself. The challenge remains:how can government use all the various channelseffectively?

What are the challenges that governmentfaces when communicating with the public?

Managing Message Through Multiple Channels.With greater public sector adoption of the variousnew and emerging digital channels, government

and citizens now face the daunting task of findingand cross-referencing relevant information that isdispersed across the web This can quickly become
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xi7g_tM_Bwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xi7g_tM_Bwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xi7g_tM_Bwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xi7g_tM_Bwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xi7g_tM_Bwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xi7g_tM_Bw


32/39

channels. Government agencies need to ensureeach communication can be translated intoimproved services, completion of transactions andincreased satisfaction.

Effective communication will lead to betterengagement with citizens and eventually increasewebsite usage and demand for other lower cost

digital channels.

Citizen Expectations are Increasing WhileBudgets are Decreasing. Tough budgetaryconditions during an economic downturn arehaving a knock on effect on demand for services.Citizens are demanding more services to help themin these tough times, leading to an increase indemand for information. Todays governmentshould be looking ever more closely at newtechnologies to reduce costly traditional means ofcommunication such as mail newsletters and face-

to-face services as a result of this increased budgetpressure. As budget cuts bite, more humanresources will need to be pulled out of the equation.Governments will have to do more with less andwith fewer people.2

More citizens now areaccepting and in many cases prefer email and otherelectronic means as a form of communication. As aresult, government agencies can be moreforthcoming with their information.

The Social Media Challenge. Ever since Obama

won the US election with the help of social media,governments everywhere have enthusiasticallyjumped onto the social media bandwagon withoutrealising that running a campaign is different torunning government, where the vision fortechnology must be filtered through legislation,regulations and commonplace bureaucracy.3

The same rule applies for governmentseverywhere, which means, in order forgovernments to effectively use social media, theymust be more transparent and able to manage

multiple channels of communication effectively.The challenge is gathering those channels into onemeaningful platform or form of delivery thatgovernment will be able to manage easily andcitizens will see as seamless, proactivecommunication.

Social media and local governmentsVideo

The rise of social media also poses another hugechallenge, which is to bridge the gap

(social/technical) between digital natives and therest of us. And the challenge does not stop there.Many web managers dont have access to social

media tools because of legal, security, privacy, andinternal policy concerns.

Reasons why public communication

must be improved

Web 2.0 has changed the governmentcommunication landscape

Web 2.0 has revolutionised how the web works.Whereas in the past, the web would be a portal ofinformation, web 2.0 has injected interactivityonline and changed the way people engage withinformation. Web 2.0 sees web users demandingrelevant and specific information to come to themregularly. It also gives web users the option ofreceiving that information through multiplechannels such as the website, email, text messaging,

RSS and social media. Some users prefer onechannel over another and others might use multiplechannels in multiple locations based on where theyare and what technology is available to them.Over the years, eGovernment has shifted from onlypublishing information to a more transactionalplatform. But web 2.0 has shifted eGovernmentfurther by allowing citizens to consume officialgovernmentinformation where, when and howthey want it.4

Government is now a 2-way Street: The Net

Geners /Gen Y

Don Tapscott, author of Grown Up Digital goes intogreat detail in his book on how net geners or GenY citizens are transforming democracy. The $4million private research study showed that netgeners have developed new ways of thinking,interacting, working and socialising. All of thisentails a whole different way of life, which includesa whole new perspective on how government

should work and interact with citizens.

Net geners are now entering the governmentworkforce and becoming tax-paying citizens. Theirexpectations are pushing government towardssome radical changes in the way they work anddeliver services. They expect the government-citizen relationship to be a two-way street andexpect to get information on demand. Thereforegovernment best practices must be transparent andup-to-date to ensure the net geners citizen

satisfaction is achieved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQV7P5K-blQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQV7P5K-blQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQV7P5K-blQ


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Dont make me think! GovernmentInformation at My Fingertips

Steve Krug, a web usability guru and author ofDont make me think!5 makes some interestingpoints about how we should approach users whenit comes to the web. Government websites arenotoriously known to be one of the most

complicatedand confusing websites to use orunderstand.6

In Canada, New Zealand, and the United States,government web professionals think that theirwebsites are organization-centric, confusing, andcomplicated.

UK government websites are "complex tounderstand and navigate and information useful tocitizens is often hard to find amongst large amountsof policy material not relevant to them," accordingto a report published by the UK National AuditOffice in July 2007.

So Krugs principle of Dont make me think speaksvolumes when it comes to how government shouldbe communicating with citizens.

Governments work on the basis of keeping citizenssatisfied by delivering the services and informationthey need. Failure to understand their needs canlead to dissatisfaction and inability to trust

government.

So the key to citizen satisfaction throughcommunication should lie in the fact thatgovernment communication is delivered through asimple approach that doesnt require them tothink. And this can only be achieved throughmethods of communication and engagement thatthe majority of average citizens have access towhich are, email and text messaging.

Benefits for governments and citizens

However, looking beyond the challenges,government and citizens stand to reap hugeopportunities and benefits from effective utilisationof digital channels. Citizens will be more informedabout public services and lead to the betterment oftheir own life and their community.

Governments on the other hand, will be able to

target citizens specific needs using multiplechannels of communication and loweringcommunication costs significantly.

Avoidable Contact

Local Authorities are expected to deliver betterservices online. If a local authority website fails toprovide the service or information, citizens willnaturally migrate towards higher cost informationchannels for essential information.

Local authorities must ensure that theycommunicate and engage with citizens effectivelythrough their websites, just as they would do

Documents

Social Media Success Kit